A senior official from the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah has made a landmark trip to the United Arab Emirates to facilitate the release of more than a dozen Lebanese nationals detained there, four sources close to Hezbollah told Reuters. The visit at the invitation of the UAE could signal a significant shift away from the…
A United Nations mission set up to help Iraq investigate alleged Islamic State genocide and war crimes is being forced to shut prematurely before it can finish its probes, following a souring of its relationship with the Iraqi government. The removal of the UN mission set up in 2017 comes nearly a decade after the…
Five commanders of Iranian-backed militias in Syria were killed in an airstrike on Tuesday, as reported by the Saudi television station al-Hadath and cited by Israeli media that night. A further report indicated that one of the casualties was a Hezbollah commander. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitor, had documented three explosions…
In an unusual incident, the Jordanian Armed Forces scrambled jets this week to confront an “unknown” aerial activity on Monday. The jets were sent up after radar detected the potential threat. It was not clear if this was a response to a drone threat or some other type of “activity.” The incident occurred in…
Yemen’s Houthis targeted a fuel tanker, MADO, in the Red Sea with naval missiles and Israel’s Eilat port and resort region with winged missiles, as per the group’s military spokesman Yahya Sarea on Tuesday. MADO is a Marshall-Islands flagged liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker en route to Singapore from Saudi Arabia, according to maritime shipping…
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced numerous projects for his country, including facilities in the holy city of Mecca (including skyscrapers and luxury hotels), promoting women’s rights equality (such as the right to drive), and bringing cinema and tourism to the conservative kingdom, according to Arab media, with an additional Monday report from…
A Lebanese man caught sneaking over the US-Mexico border claimed to be a Hezbollah member planning a terrorist attack, as reported by the New York Post. The New York Post referenced a Border Patrol document they allegedly obtained exclusively. US Customs and Border Protection had not confirmed the report by Sunday evening. The man,…
The Iranian-backed Houthis seem to be increasing their influence by continuing their attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Despite airstrikes by the US and allies like the UK, the attacks have not stopped. The range of attacks has expanded, and more ships are being threatened. Last week, Iran, Russia, and China started a joint…
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi held a meeting on March 17 focusing on “big steps” in artificial intelligence, Iran’s pro-government Tasnim News said. This is important because Iran has already invested in cyber capabilities, and the use of AI is one of the technologies many countries are now investing in. The meeting generally provided an…
Iran’s Defense Minister said recently that Iran is now “designing and manufacturing airplane and drone engines, and that the country is self-sufficient in this field,” according to reports in pro-government Iranian Fars News media. Iran’s defense minister also praised Qatar and noted that Iran has had talks with Doha about potential cooperation. Doha hosts Hamas…
