Orientul Mijlociu

Tehran used to continuously assure the West that the danger did not lie in Shia Islam to global peace, and the episode of 9/11 occurred on the right time for the Iranians to prove their claim. Though Irans then President Mohammad Khatami provided intelligence to the United States and IRGC-QFs (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Quds Force) Qassem Soleimani oversaw the contact to fight ‘war on terror’ against the Taliban but things could not move towards negotiations between Washington and Tehran. Following Afghanistan`s invasion, George W. Bush in January 2002 labeled Iran as ‘axis of evil’ along with North Korea and Iraq. Because Bush administration wanted to emphasize that these states possess weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) and support terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and pose threat to US.

In a press conference, Ilham Ahmed claimed that the PKK fought extremism, and expressed the SDC’s willingness to dialogue with the Assad regime and Turkey, according to Syria TV.

“The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has fought terrorism and extremism in several areas where the Kurds are present. They have given everything, their most precious offerings, including the lives of their members,” said Ilham Ahmed, joint president of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC). She noted that this “puts a moral obligation on the SDC towards the party.”

Despite President Biden’s remarks last week to the UN that the United States is at peace for the first time in 20 years, fighting continues against terrorism in the Middle East.

The US-led coalition conducted several operations against Islamic State fighters and support cells recently, even as the administration is trying to move the American troops from a combat role to an advisory one in neighboring Iraq.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which controls Idlib, is refusing to sit down with al-Qaeda-affiliated Hurras al-Din leaders to resolve pending disputes.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which controls Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, is refusing calls from al-Qaeda-affiliated Hurras al-Din (Guardians of Religion Organization) to resolve their differences through Sharia arbitration.

Iraqi Sunnis are weighing whether to vote for candidates on a tribal or party-linked basis, try for independents or maybe not even vote at all.

Baghdad streets were teeming by early September with billboards and posters bearing candidates’ faces and the numbers they will be associated with on ballots to be cast in Iraq’s Oct. 10 early elections.

Top generals in charge of Turkey’s military operations in Syria have sought retirement amid escalating tensions in Idlib, fueling questions over Ankara’s Syria policies.

Turkey was rattled last week by reports that five generals serving on Syria-related missions were seeking to resign, including the head of a command center in charge of all Turkish operations in Syria and two others at the helm of commando forces that are deployed in Syria on a rotational basis.