Orientul Mijlociu

Iran sees Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as an ally worth keeping despite his harsh criticisms of Iran and its allies in Iraq.

Hundreds of Sadrist protesters joined a demonstration today in Baghdad’s Liberation Square, marking the third anniversary of the start of the so-called October protest movement. On Oct. 25, 2019, massive protestors were confronted with a violent response from the then-government, leading to the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.

One year after Iraq’s elections, the designated prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, stands poised to form Iraq’s newest government.

Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Shia al-Sudani officially requested of parliament Tuesday evening a session to vote on his cabinet.

“Jîna giyan, to namirî, nawit ebête remiz” (“Jina, my soul. You won’t die. Your name will become a symbol”), these are the Kurdish words engraved on Jina Amini’s gravestone by her family,[1] a few days before she became the national symbol of the revolution against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Introduction

The ongoing protests against the Iranian regime can be defined not only as a women-led uprising, but also an ethnic minorities-led one. In fact, for the ethnic minorities that comprise almost half of Iran’s population (e.g., Ahwazi Arabs, Kurds, and Balochis), this is a “revolution” for liberty and basic ethnic and human rights of which they have been deprived not only by the Islamic Republic of Iran, but also by the former Persian regimes (e.g., under the Pahlavi dynasty) for almost a century. For this reason, this is as sensitive topic for the Iranian regime as it is for the Persian diaspora itself.

Iranian authorities are bringing charges of an offense that could carry the death penalty on protesters who took part in anti-regime demonstrations sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran.

Iran’s judiciary chief Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei announced that courts will trial detainees in Tehran and some provinces.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has seized several cities and towns in areas under the control of the Turkish-backed factions after days of clashes between rival factions.

Areas controlled by the Syrian National Army (SNA) — which is affiliated with the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) — in the eastern and northern countrysides of Aleppo witnessed violent confrontations in recent days between factions belonging to the SNA.

The Islamic State has launched several attacks against the Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria amid lax security by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The Islamic State has recently renewed its activities in the areas under the control of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeast Syria.

Protests in Iran have continued to spread to universities, presenting a new challenge to the Islamic Republic.

The protests in Iran that started in mid-September over the death of a young woman in police custody have spread to universities, which have been a historic hotbed of unrest in the country during times of upheaval.

[W]e also know that Henry Kissinger, peddler of detente, helped prolong the evil empire’s life by providing it with easy credit and undeserved prestige.

In the case of Iran, Obama and his entourage invented a false choice between “doing another Iraq”, which meant a full-scale invasion that a majority of Americans wouldn’t support, or putting a moribund regime on life-support in the hope it might stop mumbling “Death to America!”