The Syrian army, aided by Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces, has for the past several days been conducting an intensive military campaign in southern Syria. These forces are trying to regain control of areas controlled by the Syrian rebels and radical Islamist groups, some of whom are close to the border...

• Kindle

Syrian government troops, bolstered by Hezbollah militants and officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), are continuing a recently-launched offensive in southern Syria. Opposition forces had been making inroads in the region, but on Tuesday the pro-regime forces had “taken a string of villages and hills” along the border of the Israeli...

• Kindle

Iran sought to block a condemnation of Syria for using chemical weapons at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Colum Lynch of Foreign Policy reported Wednesday. According to Lynch: Iran tried to block a move by the United States and Russia to present a mildly worded statement to...

• Kindle

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels dissolved Yemen’s parliament and issued a series of decrees calling for a transitional government for a two-year period. Al Arabiya reports: One of the decrees mandated the establishment of a transitional national council that would replace the Yemeni parliament. Supporters, who convened in the capital of...

• Kindle

President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy shows a consistent favoritism of Iran, according to an analysis written Monday by Michael Doran of the Hudson Institute. Citing the 2006 report of the Iraq Study Group, Doran’s central thesis is that Obama has embrace the report’s conclusion that Washington should work more closely...

• Kindle

Concern over their pilots’ safety and the growing role of Iran in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has prompted the United Arab Emirates to drop out of the American-led coalition fighting the terror group, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. The United Arab Emirates...

• Kindle

The Jordanian government announced on Monday that its ambassador to Israel will return to Tel Aviv. According to The New York Times, the ambassador, Walid Obeidat, is scheduled to arrive back in Israel this week. The Jerusalem Post reported that “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the Jordanian decision, calling it...

• Kindle

A video released today shows the execution by burning of a Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh, who was captured by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) when his plane was shot down in December near Raqqa in Syria. The BBC reports: Jordan has confirmed the death of pilot Moaz...

• Kindle

After the alleged Israeli attack on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights ten days ago, the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir published an article entitled “More than reaction, less than war“( Arabic link) in which the author explained Hezbollah’s wish to avenge the death of its senior member in southern Syria, but...

• Kindle

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has suffered losses this week in both Syria and Iraq. In Syria, Kurdish forces were able to regain complete control of the strategic town of Kobane, which is located near the Turkish border.  In Iraq, army forces have liberated the eastern province of Diyala...

• Kindle