The Cradle has previously deconstructed the Pentagon’s online bot and troll operations targeting Iran. These wide-ranging efforts, over many years, sought to destabilize the Iranian government by disseminating and inciting negative sentiment against it, on a variety of social media platforms.
Local sources confirmed that there were likely casualties among US forces, as the missiles reportedly struck the facility’s housing section
Washington’s military base in the occupied Al-Omar oilfield in Syria’s eastern governorate of Deir Ezzor, came under intense rocket fire late on 30 December in what has been described as the largest attack “of its kind,” with media suggesting the likelihood of US military casualties.
The IRGC’s intelligence agency is currently identifying other members of this network that are operating both inside and outside the country
Seven individuals active during the recent riots in Iran’s Kerman Province with ties to the United Kingdom were detained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on 25 December, Tasnim news agency reported.
According to the Syrian news agency SANA, demonstrations against the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the US occupation in Syria continue to grow.
The protests, which are still ongoing on 27 December, demand the expulsion of US forces and their regional allies from the Deir Ezzor province.
Experts say US sanctions failed to reach their ultimate objective of forcing Iran into major political and military concessions
The Islamic Republic of Iran will receive an entire squadron of Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Russia as Tehran and Moscow strengthen their defense and economic collaboration in defiance of broad sanctions and coercive measures, Al-Manar news reported on 28 December.
The Turkish foreign minister also vowed to continue the fight against ‘terrorism’ in Syria
Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told media on 29 December that Ankara is willing to withdraw from the territory it occupies in northern Syria and hand it over to Damascus in the event that “political stability” is reached.
Tehran takes a hard stand as Xi Jinping discovers the Persian Gulf can be a diplomatic minefield.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the first Chinese Consulate-General in Iran’s southern port city of Bandar Abbas on 21 December, Ambassador Chang Hua affirmed China’s support for Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
On 12 December, under the pretext of environmentalism, dozens of state-backed “eco-activists” from Azerbaijan blocked the only land corridor connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh.
The blockade created a humanitarian crisis for the 120,000 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh, cutting them off from the outside world. This is not the first time Baku has taken such a provocative action. Azerbaijan has long been pushing for the creation of the “Zangezur corridor” to connect itself to close ally Turkiye through southern Armenia, thereby cutting off the strategic Armenia-Iran border.
This report will review some of the history and ideology of the Turkish organization Ülkü Ocakları (“Idealist Hearths”) also known as the Bozkurtlar (“Grey Wolves”) before examining the actions of its leadership and members as recorded in open sources. These activities include: fighting in Syria and Azerbaijan outside of conventional Turkish military forces; praising those killed from official organization outlets; shipments of supplies to armed groups in Syria; and praise from official outlets for Shamil Basayev, a chechen terrorist leader who directed dozens of attacks in Russia that killed hundreds of civilians. The Ülkü Ocakları is an arm of the Milliyetçi Halk Partisi (MHP), which is the smaller of two parties in a coalition governing the country, the other being President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s AKP.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent shock waves round the world. As our look ahead to 2023 shows, several other crises loom as well.
Will he or won’t he? This time last year, that was the question. Russian President Vladimir Putin had massed almost two hundred thousand troops on Ukraine’s borders. U.S. intelligence warned that Russia was preparing for all-out war. All the signs pointed to an assault, bar one: it seemed unthinkable.