Last week, a four-day ceasefire was reached between Turkey and the US-backed Kurdish SDF to allow the SDF to withdraw from the contested city of Manbij. That ceasefire expired Monday, though the US State Department announced Tuesday that it had reached a deal with...
On Tuesday, the US State Department announced the extension of the ceasefire between Syria’s Kurdish SDF and Turkey’s allies. The initial ceasefire expired, but the new one was supposed to continue to the end of the week. It doesn’t seem to have lasted even a whole...
Both Israel and Turkey were at the forefront of this month’s regime change in Syria. The takeover of Syria by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) alters the landscape of the region, but Turkey and Israel may quickly find themselves at odds over who’s really...
Now into the third week of the Israeli ceasefire with Lebanon, the situation seems no more settled than it had been. Israeli forces continue to operate across southern Lebanon, their drones carry out attacks, and Israeli military bulldozers are now conducting...
Though it has reportedly been extended until the end of the week, the failure to make the ceasefire between Turkish-backed forces and the US-backed Kurdish SDF permanent is expected to lead to more fighting. It is starting to look like the fight for northern Syria...
Update from 12/17/24: Though the four-day ceasefire expired, the US State Department is now reporting it has been extended until the end of the week. With the four-day ceasefire in the Syrian city of Manbij coming to a close, US mediators’ efforts to convince Turkey...
While the sudden regime change in Syria affected numerous regional powers, few face as much disruption as Russia. During the Assad era, Russia maintained very important Mediterranean bases in Syria, including Tartus, Russia’s only Mediterranean naval base. With Assad...
It has been a wild 72 hours for the Kurdish-dominated SDF forces in Syria’s northeast. After substantial fighting over the city of Manbij and a 4-day truce conditioned entirely on the SDF removing themselves and their families from the area, the relative stability in...
This week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) offered it’s latest secret assessment to member states about the status of Iran’s civilian nuclear program, including its enrichment of uranium. As usual, aspects of this assessment were quickly leaked, and...
The southern Lebanese town of Khiam has increasingly become a centerpiece for the struggles with the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire. Just hours after Israeli troops withdrew from Khiam as part of the ceasefire, an Israeli drone has attacked the town square, killing at least...
