Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed the threat of US military action against his country’s nuclear facilities if negotiators fail to reach a deal over the country’s nuclear programme by the end of June. The threat, he said, was an “old habit

Ever since Al Qaeda’s Syrian branch, Jabhat Al Nusra, facilitated the entry of Daesh fighters into the Yarmouk suburb of Damascus, commentators have been asking why Nusra enabled Daesh fighters to overrun the area. Daesh and Nusra have been fighting each other in northern

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand that a deal over Iran’s nuclear programme must be conditioned on Tehran’s recognition of Israel’s “right to exist” — a “right” no other country claims — shows just how s

After a month, the battle for Tikrit was won by Iraqi Shiite militia, army troops and Sunni tribesmen backed by Iranian advisers and US air strikes. The attackers recaptured Salaheddin provincial government headquarters from Daesh fighters, an advance for the government and then

Human Rights Watch (HRW) this week issued a 79-page report providing detailed evidence of indiscriminate violence perpetrated by armed opposition groups against civilians in Syria since the conflict there began in 2011. The report states that armed groups attack civilians in gov

As the Syrian war enters its fifth year this week, the government, backed firmly by Russia and Iran, feels it is winning on the ground. The army has driven insurgents from suburbs south of Damascus and neutralised armed groups in Muadamiya, to the west, and Barzeh, to the east.

The destruction by Daesh of Iraq’s and Syria’s cultural heritage is impossible to comprehend. The latest target was Nimrud, the remnants of the ancient Assyrian capital city near Mosul, which, according to reliable reports, has been bulldozed. While ancient images o

Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a special session of both Houses of the US Congress was pure political theatre. His objectives were, in order of priority, to promote Netanyahu, to secure the advantage for his Likud Party in the March 17 parliamentary poll, to cement the Li

A showdown between Iran and the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany could come in a month’s time when the basics of a deal over Tehran’s nuclear programme are due to be agreed.