February 11, 2024 Eurasia, Iran, Middle Orient
Iran has long backed a network of armed groups in the Middle East to advance its regional interests. These groups, which include U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and which sometimes style themselves the “Axis of Resistance,” have conducted attacks on U.S., Israeli, and other targets for years. The number, pace, …
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February 11, 2024 Eurasia, Middle Orient
Yemen is a conflict-afflicted nation along the strategic Bab al Mandab Strait, one of the world’s most active shipping lanes. Since 2015, a civil war has pitted the Iran-backed Houthi movement against Yemen’s internationally recognized government, its backers, and other anti-Houthi forces. Foreign intervention complicates the conflict, which has contributed …
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February 11, 2024 Eurasia
Before Russia’s unprovoked February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the United States and the United Kingdom undertook an aggressive public and private information campaign to attempt to achieve two concurrent objectives. The primary goal was to convince their allies of the threat of Russia’s pending offensive (and to smooth the mobilization …
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February 11, 2024 Eurasia, Iran, Middle Orient
From the empty expanse of the desert, one of Jordan’s worst nightmares unfolded: the death of US troops on its soil. On 28 January, an attack drone infiltrated the darkness surrounding an isolated US outpost along Jordan’s border with Syria, known as Tower 22. The drone crept past the advanced …
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February 11, 2024 Eurasia, Middle Orient
Given that the U.S. presence is vital for the survival of the AANES, the prospect of withdrawal leaves the entire issue uncertain Akil Mahfouz writes in Athr Press. While the Autonomous Administration and the SDF exert significant control in eastern Syria, the region faces persistent high levels of perceived threats. …
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February 11, 2024 Eurasia, Middle Orient
Observers posit that the arrest campaign may be primarily driven by personal vendettas among regime officers, according to Baladi News. In recent hours, Syrian regime forces initiated a wave of arrests impacting numerous individuals, including prominent figures in the city of Quneitra, encompassing leaders of various detachments and checkpoints, as …
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February 11, 2024 Eurasia, Iran, Middle Orient
Iran aims to reinforce its forces in its areas of presence in Syria, according to Baladi News. Informed sources have disclosed that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard militias have withdrawn thousands of Syrian members affiliated with them from the Aleppo governorate. These members were relocated to positions in the governorates of …
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February 11, 2024 Eurasia, Middle Orient
Your daily brief of the English-speaking press on Syria. Explosions have been reported near a US army base in Syria following an attack linked to retaliatory US airstrikes against Iranian-aligned groups and their positions. Meanwhile, the United Nations and human rights organizations have called for increased aid for Syria, one …
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February 11, 2024 Eurasia, Kavkaz
In December, three months after the devastating September 2023 Azerbaijani offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh displaced more than 100,000 Armenians, Yerevan and Baku engaged in bilateral talks that “reconfirmed their intention to normalize relations and to reach a peace treaty on the basis of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial …
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February 11, 2024 Eurasia, Iran, Kavkaz, Middle Orient
Rapid geopolitical change is curtailing Russian power in the South Caucasus, boosting the influence of Middle Eastern countries and bookending the region’s “post-Soviet” history. The South Caucasus is undergoing a geopolitical transformation. The war in Ukraine and the effective resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan mean that …
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