Muqtada al-Sadr organized a public prayer on Friday, making a comeback to politics after months of silence.
Following months of silence, Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for his supporters to hold a unified Friday prayer today in Baghdad and a number of other cities.
Syrians in Turkey are wary of losing refuge as the Turkish President eyes dialogue with Assad
Turkey’s bid to reconcile with the Syrian government has left many Syrian refugees in the country on tenterhooks as Ankara faces pressure to cut a deal with Damascus on the return of the Syrians amid rising anti-refugee sentiment in a critical election year.
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Syrian Democratic Forces head Mazlum Kobane said he expects a Turkish attack in February, and warned Ankara should not punish Syria’s Kurds over its own failure to resolve its own domestic issues.
Iran has significantly stepped up its air defense systems deployment to Syria over the past two years, according to a 10 January report released by Newsweek citing an anonymous intelligence official from “a nation allied” with Washington.
As part of this boost in the supply of defense technology to Damascus, the report states that these deliveries include the latest generation of the locally produced Iranian Bavar-373 system and are aimed at helping Syria curb illegal Israeli airstrikes in its territory.
On 8 January, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkiye is determined to send flour and grain to African states through the Black Sea corridor.
He added that the Russian President Vladimir Putin assured Ankara that Russia would be able to provide grain for free on the condition that it is delivered to underdeveloped countries in Africa.
As the prospect of a rapprochement between Ankara and Damascus becomes more imminent, the most extreme elements of Syria’s armed opposition have been feeling a sting of betrayal, accelerating a trend that, over the past year, has seen many jihadists relocate to Ukraine.
The newly-initiated Syrian-Turkish rapprochement talks are headed in Damascus’ favor and the “Turkish concessions” derided by opponents are just the start, insiders tell The Cradle.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already abandoned his dream of “praying in the Umayyad Mosque” in Damascus. But sources say this will be swiftly followed by further concessions that will throw a wrench into the ambitions of Syria’s opposition factions.
The Islamic State (ISIS) jihadi group, which grew out of Al-Qaeda in Iraq during the first two decades of the 21st century and expanded into Syria following the outbreak of the ongoing civil war there, has remained an international jihadi militant organization despite the loss of its territory in Iraq and Syria.
Turkey’s major pro-Kurdish opposition party has announced it will field its own candidate in a move sure to have a profound impact on the presidential race, but in which direction?
Turkey’s third-largest political party, the pro-Kurdish Democratic People’s Party (HDP), announced over the weekend that it will field its own candidate in the critical presidential elections due to be held by June 18 concurrently with parliamentary ones.
A high-ranking Kurdish delegation led by Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani met with officials in Baghdad over energy, security and finance disputes — but no resolution is expected.
Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani received the prime minister of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, Masrour Barzani, on Wednesday in Baghdad where they discussed ongoing disputes, bilateral energy ties and security issues.