Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi traveled to Jordan on October 26 for a series of meetings with Jordanian officials. Among the topics discussed was a desire to “increase cooperation and coordination...
“We are maintaining our military presence in Iraq and Syria,” Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler declared on October 20. Reprising comments he made in February, when he asserted that Turkey “doesn’t...
On October 20, Iranian Ambassador to Iraq Mohammad Kazem Al Sadegh said that Iraq has agreed to “expel the elements of the Iranian separatist terrorist groups from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq or to...
Iraq is at a new crossroads. On October 8 and 12, Iranian drones targeted Kurdish Iranian opposition groups based in northern Iraq. These are just several of more than 1,000 attacks by Iran on Iraq over...
After 11 years of Turkish military presence, Ankara and Baghdad have agreed that Turkish troops will gradually withdraw from the Bashiqa-Zilkan camp in northern Iraq, though no firm timeline has been set. This...
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi indicated that the country would disarm Iranian-backed militias by June 2027, according to a report in The New York Times on September 21. He made the comments during...
The Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS), a Yazidi armed group based in northern Iraq, has agreed to disarm, the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office said on September 11. In the wake of the agreement,...
Kataib Sayyid al Shuhada, an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq, has set conditions for placing its arms under the control of the Iraqi government. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi has sought to...
During the fight against ISIS, the SDF proved that the Kurds were useful allies to the United States. Now they may prove equally useful to the new Syrian government.
Turkey has emerged as one of the leading patrons of Syria’s new government under President Ahmad al-Sharaa, following the December 2024 fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Ankara had built ties with...
Israel conducted airstrikes on the Abu al Duhur military airport in northern Syria during the evening of August 17–18. Syria condemned the strikes as a violation of its sovereignty,...
There is an easy way to read Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to host Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi in Ankara on July 28, and to call the visit “historic”: as an energy...
Syrian President Ahmad al Sharaa met with Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mazloum Abdi in Damascus on April 16. The meeting came two and a half months after an agreement between...
President Donald Trump is right to demand that NATO allies shoulder more of the burden for collective defense. For too long, the United States has underwritten the security of partners who...
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan did not mince words as he toured the Middle East as the war in the region escalated: “It should be especially noted that the primary responsible party...
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is reluctant to get involved in the Iran War, fearing it would hurt his party’s chances in the next election.
Iran and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq increased attacks on the Kurdistan Region of Northern Iraq on March 6 and 7. “Drone and missile attacks targeting sites in the Kurdistan Region’s...
As joint U.S.–Israeli operations have degraded the Islamic Republic’s military capabilities, the conflict is entering its next phase. Washington and Jerusalem are reportedly considering backing armed...
Turkey views Iran’s sizable Kurdish population as a potential threat to Turkey’s internal unity.
Masoud Barzani’s February 6 meeting with SDF commander Mazloum Abdi spotlights a decade of U.S. partnering that helped defeat ISIS in eastern Syria, but never produced a political endgame. After holding territory east of the Euphrates, the SDF suffered setbacks in mid-January clashes and then reached a January 30 understanding that allows Damascus to expand security control in remaining SDF areas. Some fighters could be absorbed into Syria’s army, while U.S. forces weigh next steps for ISIS detainee operations and their remaining footprint.