Orientul Mijlociu

The administration of President Donald Trump has removed the names of some of the world’s most notorious commanders, recruiters and financiers for the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda from its list of specially designated terrorists. Among those relieved of US sanctions this August was Abdullah Muhaysini, a Salafi-jihadi cleric from Saudi Arabia who participated in videotaped massacres of captive soldiers and recruited droves of foreign youth to carry out suicide bombings throughout Syria over the past decade.

Key Takeaways:
Four sources told the BBC the Pentagon has told Iraqi Kurdish leaders it does not plan to renew Peshmerga aid when the security MoU expires Sept. 30—the same day coalition forces are due to leave Iraq.
In FY2026 the Peshmerga (~180,000 troops) received $61 million to counter Daesh; a Pentagon source said some residual support is still under review, and Irbil’s last U.S. base is slated to close with the pullout.
Hegseth’s July line with PM Al-Zaidi is that Iraqi and Kurdish forces will now lead the fight; Washington also cites disarming Iran-aligned militias, while analysts note fewer U.S. troops would be in range of Iranian strikes on Kurdistan.
The US is planning to cut off military aid to Iraqi Kurds, four sources with knowledge of the situation have told the BBC.

Turkey’s continued financial support for Hamas and its provision of safe haven to Hamas terrorists only adds to Israel’s view of Turkey as a hostile actor, an attitude that is not helped by Erdogan’s constant use of anti-Israel rhetoric in political campaigning and official communications. In June, for example, Turkey’s interior minister called for the “liberation of Jerusalem.”

Le 29 janvier 2024, Hind Rajab, six ans, a imploré de l’aide au téléphone pendant trois heures, piégée dans une voiture entourée des corps de sa famille. Un char israélien a ouvert le feu à seulement 13 mètres de distance, dans le quartier de Tal al-Hawa, à Gaza, plongeant la fillette dans un état de choc. Pendant des heures, elle a supplié au téléphone les secouristes du Croissant-Rouge de la sauver, mais l’armée israélienne a refusé d’envoyer une équipe de secours.

In the wake of setbacks over Iran, stalled Middle East diplomacy, and hollow peacemaking claims, Donald Trump is scrambling for any foreign policy win he can claim—real or manufactured.

His latest gambit?
A disastrous last-ditch push to drag Russia into U.S.-led sanctions against Tehran.

“Europe should wake up. If they remain silent it will be destroyed from within. It is almost already destroyed. If Europe does not wake up and prosecute these people… these people are not only Hamas. These people are against freedom, against democracy, against secularism, they are against the basic principles of the country they live in.” – A Gazan living in Belgium, Channel 12 News, July 2026.

Trump was an idiot for starting the war, but it is the US military that lost it.

It makes my skin crawl whenever I hear someone recite the mantra – “the US has the greatest military in the history of the world”.

In a new book, Aliza Marcus examines the tumultuous recent history of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

On Aug. 10, the Turkish parliament passed an historic law establishing a legal framework to disband the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the militant organization that has waged armed struggle since its establishment in 1978. This has raised hopes that the decades-long conflict that has taken almost 50,000 lives will finally be resolved through political means rather than violent ones. Although promising, such an outcome is hardly guaranteed, as is clear from the wreckage of past attempts.

Why should Egypt be searching for a formula that would facilitate Hamas’s return to Palestinian politics? Should Egypt and the rest of the international community not instead be demanding that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad surrender their weapons, dismantle their military structures, and disappear from Palestinian political life?