Orientul Mijlociu

The PKK-linked Revolutionary Youth movement has continued its campaign of child recruitment in northeast Syria despite efforts from local authorities, and SDF chief Mazloum Kobane to stop the practice, leaving a trail of anguished parents in its wake.

Late last year, members of a youth group held a computer literacy class in the Syrian town of Amuda. This was no ordinary extracurricular activity: its purpose was to recruit children for military service, and over the course of the lessons, organizers convinced two local girls to leave home and pick up arms.

As part of its “diplomacy”, the White House first told the Iranian leaders not only that it is willing to lift nuclear-related sanctions, but also that it is considering lifting non-nuclear related sanctions.

Not only has the Biden administration’s diplomatic route lifted some of the sanctions on the Iranian regime and its Houthi proxy, the administration has also looked the other way regarding the Islamic Republic’s malign actions in the region.

A senior Fatah delegation visited Syria, carrying a message from President Mahmoud Abbas to his Syrian counterpart about the need to bring the Palestinian cause back on the table in the run-up to the Arab summit scheduled to take place in Algeria in March.

The Syrian government headed by President Bashar al-Assad continues to adopt a policy of estrangement vis-a-vis Hamas, which has been in place since 2012 when the Islamist movement decided to support the Syrian revolution against Assad’s regime.

The opponents of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham are accusing it of trying to wrest control over the areas of the Turkish-backed factions in north Syria, in light of its recent rapprochement with some of these factions.

Tensions between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which controls Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, and Turkish-backed Syrian factions are escalating once again. The Azm Operations Room, which brings together a number of Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army factions, accuses HTS of planning to enter FSA-held areas in north Syria.

Yemen’s bloody war is ramping up once again as the UN warns of dire consequences for civilians.

Fighting is intensifying around the Yemeni city of Marib since government forces captured neighboring Shabwa province last week.

Reuters reported today that a pro-Yemeni government militia backed by the United Arab Emirates known as the Giants Brigade has joined the fight at Marib to push back Houthi rebel forces attempting to capture the oil-rich enclave.

The SDF has transferred another group of IS suspects with Iraqi nationality but arrested in Syria, alongside some of the thousands of Iraqis in al-Hol camp, to Iraq as the potential for jailbreaks remains high.

Fifty Iraqi men suspected of belonging to the Islamic State (IS) and who had been captured in northeastern Syria were handed over to the Iraqi authorities Jan. 8 at the country’s northwestern border crossing of Rabia.

In retaliation for a mysterious explosion along the Turkish-Syrian border, Turkey hit several Kurdish positions in the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani in an attack that the Kurds call a “war rehearsal” aiming to test the water.

Turkey appears to be aiming to maintain high tensions in northeast Syria through a series of Turkish drone strikes targeting senior Kurdish figures.

Iran is closer than ever to being able to build a nuclear weapon. After President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal, Tehran began enriching uranium to higher levels and stockpiling more of it. As a result, Iran now has the capacity to make enough fissile material for a nuclear bomb in less than a month—compared with the roughly one year it would have needed to do so before the United States quit the nuclear accord in 2018.

Iran’s leaders and President Joe Biden’s administration both say they want to return to the 2015 deal, but the parties remain far apart on what nuclear steps or sanctions relief should come first and how far-reaching those steps would need to be. Every day that the talks drag on without resolution, Iran’s centrifuges keep spinning; in late December, European governments warned that “weeks, not months,” remained before restoring the old deal would no longer be possible.

Iran-backed attacks on U.S. forces and allies in early January represent Iran’s ongoing effort to avenge the killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Qods Force commander Qasem Soleimani two years ago.

Strategically, Iran seeks to show that it can threaten the United States or its allies anywhere in the region, and at any time.

Iranian leaders calculate that the attacks will cause the United States to further reduce its military footprint in the region and will intimidate regional adversaries.