Security

Syria said U.S. air strikes against Iranian-backed militias in the east of the country on Friday were a cowardly act and urged President Joe Biden not to follow “the law of the jungle”. An Iraqi militia official close to Iran said the strikes killed one fighter and wounded four. U.S. …

Indonesian authorities said on Friday that firearms and ammunition have been found on an Iranian supertanker, one of the two vessels seized in the country’s waters over a suspected illegal oil transfer last month. The Iranian-flagged MT Horse and the Panamanian-flagged MT Freya were impounded by the Maritime Security Agency …

Two US Navy warships operating in the Middle East have been affected by the coronavirus, authorities said Friday, with one already at port in Bahrain and another heading there now. A dozen troops aboard the USS San Diego, an amphibious transport dock, tested positive for COVID-19, said Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich, …

President Joe Biden on Thursday directed U.S. military air strikes in eastern Syria against facilities belonging to what the Pentagon said were Iran-backed militia, in a calibrated response to rocket attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq. The strikes, which were first reported by Reuters, appeared to be limited in scope, …

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned of an attempted military coup against him on Thursday after the army demanded he and his government resign. Pashinyan has faced protests and calls to quit after what critics said was the disastrous handling of a six-week conflict between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces …

Iran seeks to join the Russia-led Eurasian Union. The Islamic Republic already signed a free trade agreement with Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in October 2018 and now Tehran aims to additionally increase its business ties with this supranational entity. Are the EAEU member-states ready to let Iran into the post-Soviet …

Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) has signed an agreement to set up a joint venture with US firm Lockheed Martin, the company announced on Sunday. The deal will enhance the Kingdom’s defense and manufacturing capabilities and localize military industries in the Kingdom. It also aims to create jobs in the …

The Egyptian and Spanish navies have carried out a naval exercise in the Red Sea, the second training conducted recently. The official Facebook page of the Egyptian Armed Forces stated that the training took place with the participation of the Egyptian frigate Sharm El-Sheikh and the Spanish frigate ESPS Reina …

The common interests of Turkey and the United States outweigh their differences and Ankara wants improved cooperation with Washington, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday striking a rare conciliatory tone. Ties between the two NATO allies have been strained over a host of issues. In December, the United States sanctioned …

Saudi Arabia will invest more than $20 billion in its domestic military industry over the next decade as part of aggressive plans to boost local military spending, the head of the kingdom’s military industry regulator said on Saturday. The Gulf state wants to develop and manufacture more weapons and military …

NATO defence ministers at a meeting on Thursday made no decision on whether or when to pull out of Afghanistan, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said, adding that the allies faced a dilemma as violence increases again. After two decades of Western military intervention and hundreds of billions of dollars in investment, …

Saudi Arabian companies are preparing to participate in the International Defence Exhibition (IDEX 2021) in Abu Dhabi next week. The investment ministry, along with other Saudi bodies and firms will be taking part under the slogan “Invest in Saudi Arabia”. The Kingdom will participate in the event, which starts on …

Israel has cancelled plans to participate in a major defence expo in the United Arab Emirates next week due to COVID-19 curbs on air travel, Israeli officials said on Monday. Dozens of Israeli defence firms had been due to take part in the IDEX conference in Abu Dhabi from Feb. …

Fifteen Turkish sailors kidnapped by pirates last month in the Gulf of Guinea arrived back in Turkey on Sunday and the ship’s captain described how they faced death threats and were held in a forest during their three-week ordeal. The sailors hugged relatives as they arrived before dawn at Istanbul …

Syria’s army said on Monday the country’s air defences had intercepted “Israeli aggression” over the capital, Damascus, in the latest stepped-up bombing of Iranian targets inside the country over the last two months. The Israeli military, which just began a surprise air force combat drill along the country’s northern border, …

Tunisian police took Ahmed Gam from the shop where he worked, accused him of looting during recent protests, and beat him so badly during his detention last month that he lost a testicle, he said. Lying in bed in his parents’ home in Bennane, near the coastal city of Monastir, …

At least 60 people were injured as hundreds of fuel vehicles exploded in a massive blaze that tore through a customs post in Afghanistan close to the Iranian border, disrupting power supplies and causing millions of dollars of damage. Iranian authorities sent fire engines and ambulances across the border, while …

Turkish soldiers conducting an operation against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq have found the bodies of 13 kidnapped Turks executed in a cave, the country’s defence minister said. The identity of the 13 Turkish citizens was unclear and the minister, Hulusi Akar, said their kidnapping had not …

Turkey will not turn back from its acquisition of Russian S-400 defense systems despite U.S. sanctions, it said on Thursday, but added it would seek to resolve issues with its NATO ally through dialogue. In December, Washington imposed sanctions on Ankara for acquiring the S-400s on grounds they threaten its …

The United States is weighing a wide array of ideas on how to revive the Iranian nuclear deal, including an option where both sides would take small steps short of full compliance to buy time, said three sources familiar with the matter. Such a modest approach could slow the deterioration …

A prominent Lebanese publisher and vocal critic of Hizbullah was found dead in his car Thursday morning from multiple gunshots at close range, security and forensic officials said. Lokman Slim, a 58-year-old longtime Shiite political activist and researcher, had been missing for hours since late Wednesday and his family posted …

Relations between Russia and the West are expected to go from bad to worse. As soon as Russian opposition politician and the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was sentenced by a Moscow court to almost threes in a penal colony for breaking probation rules while in Germany, Western leaders called for …

Authorities in Yemen have foiled a plot to kill military and security officers after uncovering a Houthi cell of eight women. The women were planning to carry out attacks against local targets when they were found by police hiding in several houses in the central Yemeni city of Marib, a …

The United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to Washington said he was confident the sale of F-35 jets to his country would go through after a review by President Joe Biden’s administration of some pending arms sales to U.S. allies. The UAE had during Donald Trump’s last day in office signed agreements …

NATO alliance members are “very much interested” in keeping troops in Afghanistan but they cannot remain without critical types of U.S. support, President Ashraf Ghani said on Friday. The Afghan leader spoke as the new administration of U.S. President Joe Biden conducts a review of the U.S.-backed peace process and …

Italy has halted the sale of thousands of missiles to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Friday, citing Rome’s commitment to restoring peace in war-ravaged Yemen and protecting human rights. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are part of an Arab coalition that …

A joint naval exercise in the Arabian Gulf involving the Royal Saudi Navy, US Navy and British minesweepers concluded on Thursday, the Saudi Ministry of Defense said. Brig.-Gen. Awad Al-Enezi, director of the exercise, said participating vessels executed a number of marine formations, as well as boarding and searching ships, …

Israeli leaders played down on Thursday a possible Biden administration review of U.S. arms sales to the United Arab Emirates that girded the Gulf power’s rapprochement with Israel. Washington said on Wednesday it had temporarily paused some pending arms sales to U.S. allies. The Trump administration, having brokered formal Israel-UAE …

Israel’s top general said on Tuesday that its military was refreshing its operational plans against Iran and that any U.S. return to a 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran would be “wrong.” The remarks are an apparent signal to U.S. President Joe Biden to tread cautiously in any diplomatic engagement with …

The US called Bahrain and the UAE “major security partners” early on Saturday, a previously unheard of designation for the two countries home to major American military operations. A White House statement tied the designation to Bahrain and the UAE normalizing ties to Israel, saying it “reflects their extraordinary courage, …

Iran is in the process of building up its nuclear weapons capacity and it is urgent that Tehran and Washington return to a 2015 nuclear agreement, France’s foreign minister was quoted as saying in an interview published on Saturday. Iran has been accelerating its breaches of the nuclear deal and …

The United States has told India it is unlikely to get a waiver on its planned acquisition of Russian S-400 air defence systems, raising the risk of sanctions similar to those imposed on Turkey for buying that equipment, people aware of the matter said. The Trump administration has been telling …

A group of over 100 Saudi women have overcome gender barriers and contributed to the technological transformation of the Kingdom through their management of the Advanced Electronic Company’s (AEC) military factory. The team has gained expertise in manufacturing roles that support areas of national importance such as digital transformation, energy …

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he hoped positive steps will be taken on Turkey’s role in the F-35 jet programme once U.S. President-elect Joe Biden takes office, describing Ankara’s exclusion for purchasing Russian defences as a “serious wrong”. Last month, Washington imposed long-anticipated sanctions on Turkey’s defence industry over …

Israel is revising military options for a possible clash with Iran, an Israeli newspaper reported on Thursday, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government braces for differences with the incoming U.S. administration on Iranian nuclear policy. U.S. President Donald Trump delighted Netanyahu by quitting the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and …

Insurers are set to raise the cost of providing cover for merchant ships through the Red Sea after a series of incidents that have hit vessels around Saudi Arabian waters, industry sources said. The possibility of more attacks on commercial shipping carrying oil and commodities through these waterways is growing …

Iran’s military launched a short-range naval missile drill on Wednesday, Iranian state TV reported, at a time of high tension between arch foes Tehran and Washington. Iran has one of the biggest missile programmes in the Middle East, regarding such weapons as an important deterrent and retaliatory force against U.S. …

The UAE Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Gargash has told Arab News that the GCC is “collectively in agreement with any threat towards its security” from Iran. In a virtual press conference on Thursday, the minister addressed the 41st GCC summit held in AlUla where an agreement was signed …

Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards unveiled an underground missile base at an undisclosed Gulf location on Friday, Iranian state media reported, at a time of heightened tension between Tehran and the United States. “The base is one of several bases housing the Guards’ Navy’s strategic missiles,” the state media quoted the …

Turkey and France are working on a roadmap to normalise ties and talks are going well, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday, adding Ankara was ready to improve ties with its NATO ally if Paris showed the same willingness. Turkey has repeatedly traded barbs with France over policies …

Iran dialed up tensions in the Gulf this week when its troops stormed a South Korean-flagged tanker as it transited through the strategic Strait of Hormuz — a choke point through which a fifth of world oil output passes. The incident is only the latest in a long line of …

The United States on Tuesday blacklisted a Chinese company that makes elements for steel production, 12 Iranian steel and metals makers and three foreign-based sales agents of an Iranian metals and mining holding company, seeking to deprive Iran of revenues as U.S. President Donald Trump’s term winds down. The U.S. …

Iran launched exercises featuring a wide array of domestically produced drones on Tuesday, Iranian media reported, days after the anniversary of the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general by a drone strike in Iraq. Iran and the regional forces it backs have increasingly relied in recent years on drones …

Israel’s defence minister said on Monday that he wants the country to buy a third squadron of stealth F-35 warplanes from the United States, and that he hoped a deal could be clinched before President Donald Trump steps down on Jan. 20. Israel has been in talks with Washington on …