Middle East Experience

Saleh al-Arouri was killed on January 2, 2024 in a strike widely attributed to Israel.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Al Arouri elimination anniversary: Hamas calls on Palestinians to follow footsteps of ‘martyrs’

The Israeli military confirmed on Thursday that dozens of its troops were flown into Syria in September to destroy an underground missile factory funded by Iran.The military, which rarely comments on its activities inside Syria, said in a statement that the September 8 raid involved more than 100 Israeli commando soldiers who dismantled the facility in the Masyaf area near the Mediterranean coast.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported at the time that 27 people were killed in the raid. The Israeli military did not disclose any casualty figure.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Israel confirms Syria raid on Iran-funded missile factory in September

Iran held rallies in its major cities Thursday to mark the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in neighbouring Iraq.Demonstrators in Tehran chanted "Down with America" and "Down with Israel" as they held up photographs of the slain general.Commemorations were also held in other cities, including Soleimani's hometown Kerman, state television images showed.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Iran marks fifth anniversary of general's killing

Syria's new authorities announced on Tuesday that the military chief of the Islamist group that spearheaded the offensive that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad had been appointed defence minister in the transitional government."The General Command announces the nomination of General Murhaf Abu Qasra as defence minister in the new government of the Syrian Arab Republic," said a statement carried by the official news agency SANA.Abu Qasra, 41, a former agronomist, led the armed wing of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) for five years.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Syria authorities name HTS military chief as transitional defence minister

Israel's devastating campaigns against Iran's regional allies have severely weakened its arch-enemy's ability to project its power, but Yemen's Tehran-backed Huthi rebels remain a stubborn thorn in its side, analysts say.With the ranks of Palestinian group Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah decimated after more than a year of war, and with the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria removing a key link in Iran's anti-Israel "axis of resistance", the Huthis have emerged as Israel's most immediate security concern.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Yemen's Huthis a 'menace' for Israel despite weakened Iran: analysts

Syrian authorities have appointed Maysa Sabreen as interim central bank governor, a bank official told AFP on Tuesday, the first time a woman heads the financial establishment. Sabreen, until recently the bank's first deputy governor, took her new position on Tuesday, said a department manager at the Central Bank of Syria who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters."We received an internal circular yesterday assigning Dr Maysa Sabreen to run the Central Bank of Syria in a caretaker capacity," he said.He did not say when her interim mandate was due to end.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Syrian Maysa Sabreen made first woman central bank chief: senior official

Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed founder of Kurdish militant group the PKK, is hailed by many Kurds as an icon, but within wider Turkish society many see him as a terrorist who deserves to die.On Saturday, Ocalan, who has been held in solitary confinement in Turkey since 1999, received his first political visit in nearly a decade amid signs of a tentative thaw in relations with the Turkish government.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Ocalan: PKK chief held in solitary on Turkish prison island

Dr. Rehiana Ali was suspended pending the conclusion of a full GMC investigation, the association said.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: UK doctor suspended after calling Hamas, Hezbollah leaders 'legends'

The US Treasury said that both countries targeted the US 2024 presidential election and 'sought to divide the American people through targeted disinformation campaigns.'
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: US issues fresh Iran, Russia sanctions over election interference, Treasury Dept says

Having lost it's Syrian ally in the former Assad regime, Russia is shifting forces from Syria to other places.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Russia enters 2025 at a crossroads