Armed Militias and Extremist Groups

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Syria: Seige persists in Aleppo’s Kurdish enclaves despite SDF-Damascus truce

Tensions are rising over plans to integrate the Kurdish-led SDF into the new Syrian military amid clashes between government-affiliated and Kurdish forces in Syria’s largest city.

This picture taken on Aug. 20, 2021 shows a view of smoke rising from bombardment on the outskirts of Syria's rebel-held northwestern city of Idlib.

US strike in Syria kills al-Qaeda-linked planner, hints at changing militant networks

Members of Syria’s al-Qaeda branch, Huras ad-Din, have been joining Ansar al-Islam as US drone strikes have continued to pick off Huras ad-Din's leaders, a report to the UN Security Council noted in July.

A nurse treats a Dengue fever patient at a hospital in Omdurman, west of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Sept. 24, 2025.

RSF hits Darfur hospital as cholera, dengue fever spread in war-torn Sudan

A Sudanese medical organization said a dozen people were killed after the RSF shelled one of the last operating hospitals in El Fasher, as Sudan’s collapsing health system battles cholera and dengue fever.

An Israeli tank moves along Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, on Sept. 25, 2025, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group.

Egypt's Sisi says Gaza deal in sight as Witkoff, Kushner, Qatari PM join talks

As chief negotiators gather in Egypt, negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to accelerate.

Latest News

Grenade attack on IRGC kills 2 in Iran’s Kurdistan province: What to know

BARBOD KHORSHIDI/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Damascus declares truce with Syria’s Kurdish forces after Aleppo skirmishes

Members of the Syrian Kurdish Asayish security forces stand guard at the Kurdish-run al-Hol camp, which holds relatives of suspected Islamic State (IS) group fighters in the northeastern Hasakeh governorate, on April 18, 2025, as the Syrian Democratic Forces mount a security campaign against IS "sleeper cells" in the camp.

Analysis

Israel adapts, Turkey rises, Iran ruined: How 2 years of Gaza war reshaped Middle East

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In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

In a first, ICC convicts Sudanese militia leader of Darfur war crimes

Former senior commander of the Sudanese Janjaweed militia Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman.

Iraqis drive past electoral billboards and placards of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Karrada district, Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 19, 2021.

US welcomes conviction of Iranian, 4 Iraqis for killing American citizen

Stephen Troell, an aid worker in Baghdad, was killed in November when gunmen opened fire on his car.

Palestinian militants march during the funeral of Palestinians killed in clashes the previous day in the Israeli military operation in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on July 5, 2023.

What's behind rare intra-Palestinian clashes in West Bank

The rare clash between the Palestinian Authority and local Palestinians came amid increased Israeli security raids in the territory.

Arab Israelis demonstrate against organized crime and calling on the Israeli police to stop a wave of intra-communal violence, Umm al-Fahm, March 12, 2021.

Analysis

Does Israel’s government want to curb deadly crime wave in Arab sector?

Despite electoral promises, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has nothing to show in terms of stopping spiraling violence in Arab Israeli towns and villages.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner mercenary group.

Wagner chief Prigozhin among passengers in fatal plane crash: Russian state media

Russia’s grey-zone influence in the Middle East and Africa enters uncharted territory amid reports of the Wagner chief’s death.

Russia / Mideast

View of the headquarters of Libya's Central Bank in Tripoli, Oct. 15, 2004.

Libya’s central bank reunifies after clashes in Tripoli

The reunification of the financial institution is a sign of progress and follows disputes over oil revenue distribution and violence in the capital, as Libya continues to grapple with the aftermath of the civil war.

A truck drives on a road as a plume of smoke rises from a building during a reported Russian airstrike on Syria.

Russian airstrikes target Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Syria

The al-Qaeda offshoot is focused on defending its territory from Russian-backed Syrian government forces, but it has also clashed with the Islamic State recently.

JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images

Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Fatah hold rare meeting in Gaza

The meeting in Gaza comes as the PA escalates its crackdown on Islamic Jihad in the West Bank.

Iranian security forces deploy following an armed attack at the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in the city of Shiraz on Oct. 26, 2022.

Iran claims Israel behind shrine attack, pledges revenge

The shooting renewed debates on Iran's intelligence failures in thwarting deadly attacks in contrast to the official assertion that the country is an "island of stability" in a volatile Middle East.

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Lebanon’s Hezbollah makes show of force with tanks, armored vehicles as Israel tensions mount

Hezbollah is facing growing resentment inside Lebanon with several parties accusing the group of dragging the country into an unwanted war with Israel.

A member of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), made up of an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters, removes an Islamic State group flag in the town of Tabqa, about 55 kilometres (35 miles) west of Raqa city, on April 30, 2017.

Islamic State attack kills 26 Syrian soldiers, third in 2 weeks

The deadly attack, the group’s third this month, follows the death of another one of its leaders.

A vehicle displays the flags of Iran and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah as it moves in a funerary procession for a fallen fighter in Beirut's predominantly-Shiite Muslim southern suburb, on August 10, 2023 after he was killed the previous day amidst clashes between Hezbollah and residents of the Christian town of Kahale in Mount Lebanon. The Lebanese army said on August 10 that it had seized munitions from a Hezbollah truck that overturned near Beirut, leading to deadly clashes between Christian res

Breaking | Last Updated: August 10, 2023, 10:35 am

Lebanon: Shots fired at defense minister's car amid rising instability

The incident followed deadly clashes after a Hezbollah vehicle carrying ammunition overturned in a Christian village.

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Islamic State attack in Raqqa kills 10 Syrian soldiers, second in a week

IS militants attacked several positions and checkpoints of the Syrian government and allied fighters in the group’s former stronghold of Raqqa.