Orientul Mijlociu

For more than six months, a frightening thought often kept Kurdish farmer Mofaq Haji Rashid up at night: he might never see his 23-year-old son again.

The nightmare begun during the Muslim holiday of Eid in late May when Islamic State (IS) militants kidnapped Dilan Mofaq Rashid, and his 22-year-old colleague, Issa Taha, while they were on duty as federal security guards for electricity pylons in the northern oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

Documented examples of terrorist acquisition of cryptocurrency have been relatively infrequent, especially compared to criminal use. Yet, over the past year, terrorist groups have pivoted to acquiring and storing wealth in virtual currencies like Bitcoin.

We are entering a period of immense complexity for the Middle East. What happens in the next few months will set the tone in our region for years. If managed correctly, there is the possibility of building a more peaceful political situation. If mismanaged, the consequences could be dire.

Hezbollah denounced on Friday Morocco’s announcement of normalizing ties with the Zionist enemy, considering it comes in the context of the gradual fall of some Arab states in response to the US and Israeli desires to eradicate the Palestinian cause.

BAGHDAD—The Islamic State is stepping up its attacks in Iraq, fulfilling the expectations of many analysts that the extremist group would mount a comeback after the Iraqi government declared victory over it in 2017.

Earlier this month, a prominent researcher and security expert in Iraq, who was close to the new prime minister and to Western governments, was gunned down outside his home in Baghdad.

The struggle between Iran and Saudi Arabia for dominance in the Middle East has insinuated itself into nearly every regional issue, fracturing international alliances and sustaining wars across the region, while raising fears of a direct conflict between the two powers that could involve the U.S.

The Turkish embassy in Libya’s capital Tripoli has dismissed the claims of Saudi channel “Al-Arabiya”, which is based in the UAE, about the meeting between the Turkish ambassador and Head of Libya’s High Council of State Khalid Al-Mishri, denying to have sent any message to the Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha about his visits to Egypt and France.

The recent military movement by the Israeli forces in the northern front along the Lebanese borders and also in regions bordering Gaza Strip is seen by some observers as Tel Aviv’s ground-making to take offensive moves in the near future.