Orientul Mijlociu

The U.S. Combined Special Operations Joint Task Force – Levant (SOJTF LEVANT) on Monday said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested four ISIS operatives in Raqqa on April 14 and 15.

“SDF, advised, assisted, and enabled by Coalition Forces, planned and achieved the successful capture of Hasan Husain Muhammed Al Ali, Hasan Harald Ali Hajju, Omar Ibrahim Omar Al Sulaiman, and Muhamad Al Ali, who are assessed ISIS operatives while conducting searches for weapons, explosives, and other illicit items, with the focus on disrupting and dismantling ISIS networks,” the SOJTF LEVANT said in a press release.

Turkish police on Tuesday detained 110 people over alleged militant ties, security sources said, with a pro-Kurdish lawmaker saying politicians, lawyers and journalists were among those held in raids that he linked to elections on May 14.

Crisis Group’s work preventing conflict and shaping peace has a positive influence on crises around the globe. This Impact Note highlights cases in Afghanistan, Colombia, Ethiopia, Mali, Nagorno-Karabakh, the U.S. and Yemen, as well as our advocacy at the EU and UN and our research on climate and conflict in Africa.

Young Palestinians have formed new armed groups across the West Bank. Small, disjointed and scattered, they lack a clear political agenda. But both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have found reason to exaggerate the threat they pose to the status quo.

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.

It has been a little over four years since experts in March 2019 declared the terrorist group ISIS territorially defeated, with Kurdish forces taking its last pocket of land in the village of Baghouz, eastern Syria.

This report is the third in a series about the 19th-century antisemitic libel The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and its dissemination, circulation, and use, in Urdu, Turkish, Farsi, and Arabic.

“Qatargate” Background

Since the scandal related to allegations of bribery and corruption among a group of MEPs in Brussels broke out four months ago, European media zeroed in on a relatively small cast of ringleaders and the NGOs surrounding them. Much of the media investigation has focused on human rights NGOs and the misuse of nepotistic political influence among the core group of politicos and their assorted aides and associates on key issues ranging from human rights to airway deals to cryptocurrency and tech innovation. The rumor mill is swirling round and round. The dubious deals with Qatar Airlines were recommended by the European Commission – the real power in the EU – despite the scandal of a key European stakeholder receiving free trips during the negotiations. The inconclusive debate over transparency rules and anti-corruption measures continues, but many argue such changes would unlikely to curtail the impact of lobbying by foreign powers.

For the first time in twenty years, a change of leadership in Turkey is possible. The EU must be prepared for the foreign policy shift an opposition victory would bring.

Whether in the first round on May 14 or the second on May 28, Turkey’s presidential election will ultimately be fought between the incumbent president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.