Orientul Mijlociu

Syria’s President Ahmad Al Shara on Friday issued a decree affirming the rights of Kurdish ⁠Syrians, formally recognising their language ​and restoring citizenship to the country’s largest minority community.

“I have the honour to issue a decree especially for our Kurdish people, which guarantees their rights and some of their privileges in accordance with the law,” he said in a speech, in which he also referred to the Kurds as “the grandchildren of Salahuddin”.

Tehran Chief Prosecutor Ali Salehi responded to a January 16, 2026 statement by U.S. President Donald Trump on Truth Social, in which Trump acknowledged Iran’s leadership for canceling 800 executions of anti-regime protesters. Salehi told IRINN TV (Iran) on January 17, 2026 that Trump “always talks nonsense.” He added that Iran’s treatment of the rioters has been “decisive, deterrent, and direct,” with many cases culminating in indictments and being referred to the courts.

The CEO of the Syrian Petroleum Company, Youssef Qablawi, said oil production at al-Omar field in Deir Ezzor Governorate fell from around 50,000 barrels per day in previous years to less than 5,000 barrels per day currently, due to damage to the wells and the lack of rehabilitation in past periods.

As the rivalry between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi sharpens in Yemen and beyond, Turkey has begun edging closer to Saudi Arabia. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has openly acknowledged Saudi concerns, saying in a televised interview, on January 8, that “developments in the region — especially recent ones — pose a threat to Saudi Arabia.” Shortly afterward, reports emerged that Ankara was seeking to join the Saudi-Pakistani defense pact signed last September, which frames an attack on either country as “an aggression against both.” That “one for all, all for one” language — echoing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) Article 5 mutual defense clause — has fueled claims in Washington and the Middle East that a new regional order is taking shape: a Turkey-Saudi axis backed by a NATO-like defense architecture, implicitly aligned against Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Protesters who took to the streets in Iran say the media is wrongly portraying monarchists as leading the uprising.

A week after Iranian security forces violently crushed the latest anti-regime protests, the streets are quiet for now, but a battle over who speaks for the uprising has erupted.

As deadly riots burn Iranian cities, Western media ignores the shocking wave of violence, turning instead to US government-funded NGOs for data. The one-sided portrayal has helped push Trump to the brink of authorizing renewed US attacks.

Western media has ignored a growing trove of video evidence showing terrorist tactics deployed across Iran by protesters described by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as “largely peaceful.” Recent videos published both by Iranian state media and anti-government forces reveal public lynchings of unarmed guards, the torching of mosques, arson attacks on municipal buildings, marketplaces and fire stations, and mobs of armed gunmen opening fire in the heart of Iranian cities.

Nouvelles révélations sur Nazanin Baradaran, l’agente des services étrangers, dont l’arrestation a été annoncée par les Gardiens de la révolution durant les émeutes meurtrières qui ont frappé l’Iran ces dernières semaines. Un reportage réalisé par l’agence iranienne Irib news, indique qu’elle est la personnalité la plus importante parmi les meneurs des émeutes.

The US-backed, Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capitulated to the Syrian government in a ceasefire agreement on January 18.[1] The government compelled the SDF to agree after a combination of government operations and tribal uprisings caused the SDF to withdraw from nearly half of its territory and most of the heavily Arab areas.[2] The ceasefire agreement cedes all of Deir ez Zor and Raqqa provinces to the government, effective immediately.[3] Hasakah Province will integrate into the Syrian state over time.[4] The government will control the ISIS detention facilities and al Hol internally-displaced persons (IDP) camp, which holds many ISIS supporters.[5] The SDF will integrate its military forces into the Syrian Ministry of Defense as individuals — a major concession that SDF leaders have been refusing because it leaves Kurdish areas without a reliable defense force of their own.[6] Kobani will have a security force that is formed from the city’s residents.[7] This ceasefire represents a capitulation by the SDF, which has resisted these long-standing demands of the Syrian government.[8] This is a significant defeat for SDF moderates such as SDF commander Mazloum Abdi and civilian leader Ilham Ahmed, both of whom supported prior ceasefires in Aleppo but were thwarted by hardliners who were close to the PKK.

Clashes have continued between the Syrian army and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) along the Tishreen Dam axis (eastern Aleppo governorate) since the morning of Sunday, 18 January, marking a new field escalation in the area.

A military source told Enab Baladi that the fighting has been accompanied by exchanges of shelling and the use of heavy weapons, noting that Syrian army units have deployed tanks and armored vehicles toward the dam’s surroundings as part of an ongoing military operation.