Orientul Mijlociu

For more than a year, the Iranian population has taken to the streets to ask for more rights and more jobs. However, it seems that the West became aware only now of the existence of demonstrations in Iran against the dictatorial regime. The Iranians have tried in every possible way to communicate to the West that the regime of the ayatollahs does not represent them. This became clear with the elections of June 2021, in which the real winner was not the current ultra-conservative president Ebrahim Raisi, but “the boycott.” The Iranians had in fact chosen not to go to vote, in order not to give legitimacy to the government.[1]

The renewed agreement entails further steps to reform peshmerga forces as Pentagon aims to prepare Iraq’s forces for long-term self-sufficiency.

The United States renewed its agreement with Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) on Wednesday to continue providing security support in the wake of the war against the Islamic State (IS).

Botched suicide bombings came less than two weeks after the top US general in the Middle East sounded the alarm over security and humanitarian conditions at al-Hol camp.

Amid the ongoing circus over efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, two rumors have started to gain traction inside and outside Iran: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is on his deathbed and preparations are being made for his son, Mojtaba, to succeed him.

The latest round of mass protests in Iran erupted over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman. She died on Sept. 16 at the hands of the so-called morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s rules on mandatory veiling in public.

The Heads of Turkey and Syria’s intelligence agencies have recently met in Damascus, according to Asharq al-Awsat.

Head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Hakan Fidan and Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk have recently met in Damascus.

On September 4, 2022, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Iran-backed Afghan Shi’ite militia, the Fatemiyoun Brigade, had begun training its fighters to operate drones at the airport at Palmyra in Syria.[1] The Syrian opposition website also noted that officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were training the militia.

A report published on September 18 revealed that 638 Palestinians have been tortured to death by Syrian intelligence officers in the past few years. The victims include 37 women.

“What is happening inside the Syrian detention centers against the Palestinians is a war crime by all standards.” — Action Group for Palestinians of Syria (AGPS), September 18, 2022.