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.
SDF Commander tells Asharq Al-Awsat he won’t visit Damascus before conditions for political solution are available.
Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Mazloum Abdi said the American administration of former President Donald Trump “betrayed” its allies in the SDF when it did not oppose the Turkish infiltration in Syria in late 2019. In an interview to Asharq Al-Awsat, he revealed that the current administration has prevented Türkiye from carrying out a new operation in Syria.
U.S. forces have received from an opposition military faction the body of ISIS leader Abu al-Hasan al-Hashemi al-Qurashi, according to al-Modon.
U.S. forces have received from an opposition military faction the body of ISIS leader Abu al-Hasan al-Hashemi al-Qurashi, who was killed in a military operation by opposition factions in the city of Jassem, north of Daraa, in mid-October.