U.S. troops left a strategic military base in southeast Syria and turned it over to government forces, a U.S. official says, part of a broader drawdown of American troops in the country // from me and my colleague Michael Gordon: www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Whatever you think of the Washington Post at this moment, here's a chance to support the dedicated, hard-working journalists who were just laid off. If you have the means, your donation is most welcome. If you don't, a kind thought and maybe spreading the word to others is support enough 💙
Can’t think of any reason why you would need reporters covering the Middle East, Ukraine and China right now.
Middle East powers are pushing for a US-Iran summit in Turkey later this week. The urgency is increasing.
"The region’s unprecedented harmony is a measure of shared anxiety: that a U.S. strike on Iran would export chaos—refugees, militancy, instability." www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Iranian security bodies are out in force on the streets, with citizens still left in the dark of an Internet blackout.
“It seems like the internet is going to be cut permanently, and this is really horrifying,” one protestor said. “They want to kill us all.”|My piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social
An important shift in the balance of power in Syria took place today when Sharaa forced concessions from the SDF in a lightning military operation coinciding with a mass defection by Arab factions previously allied with the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led group.
www.wsj.com/world/middle...
The banking crisis that led to the current unrest in Iran. Detailed account by @jmalsin.bsky.social of @wsj.com . www.wsj.com/world/middle...
In many ways, this reminds me of the GDR, only with much worse brutality. How Syrians have suffered is beyond any imagination.
We digitized more than 1,000 pages of documents from Syrian military intelligence (including the deadly Branch 215) in Damascus, and then found the some of the ordinary people mentioned in the files.
Our just-published investigation into Assad's surveillance state which revealed how the former regime urged friends, spouses, and neighbors to inform on each other, leaving a legacy of broken trust that will take years to unravel. www.wsj.com/world/middle...
“I will keep killing to keep Bashar Assad in power... I will kill half the country if I have to.”
My colleagues @jmalsin.bsky.social and Summer Said on the notorious architect of the Assad regimes campaign to kill and collectively punish the Syrian people
www.wsj.com/world/middle...
U.S. intelligence agencies found that the U.A.E. increased supplies of weapons, including advanced Chinese-made drones, to the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan this year, pouring fuel on a civil war that has killed as many as 150,000 people. | New from me & WSJ colleagues:
www.wsj.com/world/how-u-...
Egypt: Journalist Detained over Facebook Posts
www.hrw.org/news/2025/10...
NEW: The Trump administration is seeking congressional approval for nearly $6 billion in weapons for Israel including attack helicopters and military vehicles, even as Israel launched its attack in Qatar and new offensive in Gaza City: www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Inside Syria's death factory: Assad's regime carried out industrial-scale torture and executions that killed tens of thousands over more than a decade. "The worst atrocity of the 21st century" in terms of government involvement. @jmalsin.bsky.social Hamza Bonduk www.wsj.com/world/middle...
The abduction and killing of tens of thousands of people in Syria is one of the worst atrocities anywhere in recent history, one that the country (and the world) is only beginning to reckon with.
The regime orchestrated these killings in a bureaucratic manner rarely seen in recent history. Assad’s security apparatus kept meticulous records of the detainees’ transfer to the prison and other facilities, court documents and death certificates of those executed.
We are far from the first to report on the mass hangings in Saydnaya, which spanned more than a decade and left tens of thousands dead. But now after the collapse of the regime in December, the survivors can speak openly. Manu Brabo took these portraits.
Since December we have been investigating the Assad regime's killings in Saydnaya prison.
Based on interviews with 21 former detainees, we show the extent of the atrocities committed in the prison, including an incident in March 2023 in which some 600 men were executed in one week:
An initial US intelligence assessment says US strikes only set back Iran's nuclear program by a few months and did not destroy underground structures at two of the sites. Our take (first reported today by CNN and NYT): www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
Israeli forces intercepted a sailboat carrying activists, including climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, who planned to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade on the enclave. www.wsj.com/world/middle...
The de facto suspension of financing for military aid to Ukraine began roughly two weeks ago, prior to Friday's meltdown at the White House.
The Trump administration has stopped financing new weapons sales to Ukraine and is considering freezing weapons shipments from U.S. stockpiles, current and former U.S. officials said // New from Nancy Youssef and me: www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
This is potentially a huge deal for Syria where it puts more pressure on the SDF to cut a deal with the new government in Damascus and could also help remove an irritant in the US-Turkey relationship.
From his island prison cell near Istanbul, the PKK's leader calls on his group to disarm and disband after a 40-year war with the Turkish state. The potential consequences for the region are vast if the militant group and its affiliates heed the call: www.wsj.com/world/middle...
There are a lot of important angles to this story but the fact that this was reported as a Washington Post scoop, and not simply announced by the White House, says a lot about the current administration's approach to information.
Trump revoked the NSM-20, a little known but important Biden directive requiring key US weapons recipients to certify their compliance with international law: wapo.st/3ETH2bD
Maha Yahya argues the Middle East needs a Marshall Plan: "The World Bank and UN organizations have estimated that rebuilding the Middle East and providing enough humanitarian aid will cost between $350 and $650 billion." www.foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/...
Fascinating glimpse of what the Syrian Mukhabarat was up to as their world crumbled, by @wsj.com’s Isabel Coles, @jmalsin.bsky.social, and Asmaa al-Omar. www.wsj.com/world/middle... (Jan 29.)
From our reporting it appears the Israeli military is prepared to exit on the 18th, but it would require a decision from Israel's political leadership (Netanyahu).
