Orientul Mijlociu

Is the new Turkish-Saudi-Pakistani defense pact an attempt at an Islamic NATO or a strategic self-sabotage?

Excerpt

The idea of a budding “Islamic NATO” under Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia might seem bold and fresh in a period of Middle Eastern “realignment.” But don’t dismiss it out of hand as the emergence of a symbolic new regional alliance: the trilateral convergence risks creating conflicting security commitments. In the event that a pact is signed, NATO’s southern flank might face strategic incoherence if Ankara’s obligations were to diverge from the alliance’s priorities, challenging coordination with Washington and European partners.

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria commented on Saturday, 17 January 2026, on a decree issued by Syria’s transitional president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, regarding Kurdish rights in Syria.

It said the decree could be considered a first step, but that it does not meet the aspirations and hopes of the Syrian people, who have made great sacrifices and waged a real revolution to obtain their legitimate rights and build a democratic state where everyone can live a free and dignified life based on justice and equality.

Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani discussed the situation in Syria and prospects for resolving the Kurdish cause with Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), during a meeting on Wednesday.

Recent clashes between Damascus and the Kurdish forces in Aleppo highlight the risk that stalling integration talks may trigger broader violence.

Since its signing on March 10, no tangible progress has been made on the eight-point agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian Interim Government to facilitate SDF integration into the Interim Government’s armed forces. Instead, the talks have run past the agreement’s provision for implementation to be reached by the end of 2025, and violence between the two sides quickly unfolded in Aleppo once the talks stalled after the deadline.

As protests grow, regime leaders have no clear options for scaring Iranians off the streets, intimidating foreign powers, or escaping their wider strategic crisis.

For all the military weapons remaining in the Iranian regime’s arsenal, it has finally been deprived of the one that authoritarians rely upon most: fear. For almost five decades, the Iranian regime has brutally repressed its own people while sowing mayhem in the Middle East and beyond. But the regime may have finally entered a strategic crisis from which it will not be able to escape.

What began as clashes in Aleppo’s Kurdish neighbourhoods is now reshaping life in Iraqi Kurdistan, from street protests to media shifts and refugee tensions.

Clashes between Syrian government forces and Kurdish armed groups in Ashrafia and Sheikh Maqsoud, Kurdish-populated neighbourhoods of Aleppo, have notably altered the political and social dynamics within Iraqi Kurdistan.

Preşedintele sirian Ahmed al-Sharaa a publicat vineri un decret prin care acordă drepturi naţionale kurzilor din Siria, recunoscând în mod oficial limba kurdă, în contextul în care armata siriană este angajată în lupte cu forţe kurde în nordul Siriei, relatează AFP. În acest decret, Ahmed al-Sharaa proclamă kurda „limbă naţională”, care poate fi predată în şcoli publice în zone în care această minoritate este prezentă puternic. Armata siriană a anunţat sâmbătă că a preluat controlul oraşului Deir Hafer, la est de Alep, în urma unor confruntări armate recente în această regiune situată în nordul Siriei.