The Levant Files

  Yemen's Iran-aligned Ansar Allah/Houthi movement has completed a rapid military takeover of Yemen's Red Sea coastline and is threatening to close the Bab al-Mandeb Strait entirely, escalating a regional conflict that has already drawn in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the United States. Houthi forces this week seized the strategically vital port of Mocha and, according to a Houthi official cited by The New Arab, took Mayyun Island, completing effective control over the Bab al-Mandeb — the narrow, roughly 20-mile-wide chokepoint separating Yemen from Djibouti through which an estimated 12 percent of global trade passes. Yemeni government forces have launched counterstrikes along the west coast in response, and the Defense Ministry said Saturday it had hit Houthi fighters, vehicles, and weaponry, though the rebels appear to retain the upper hand. The advance has been paired with an explicit threat against wider regional intervention. Houthi Deputy Information Minister Mohammed Mansour...

  Iran's restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan has been shaken by a fresh string of armed confrontations over the past week, underscoring the persistence of a low-intensity insurgency along the country's border with Pakistan. According to Iran's official news agency IRNA, two Iranian security personnel were killed on September 6 in an armed attack near the provincial capital, Zahedan. The men were reportedly delivering food and equipment to Basij paramilitary units when they came under fire. The report, attributed to provincial deputy security chief Ali Khalilabadi, said no group has yet claimed responsibility for the assault. Days later, a second attack struck the province. Semi-official news agency Tasnim reported that Abdolraouf Eshaghi, a local Basij commander in the Parud district, was killed in what authorities described as a "terrorist attack." Details of the incident were not disclosed, and no group has publicly claimed the killing. The lates...

A fire that swept through a prison cell in the Kurdish-majority city of Kobane has killed at least nine people and left more than a dozen injured, capping a week of unrest that has exposed how fragile the integration of Kurdish forces into the Syrian state remains. According to  Rudaw , the fire broke out overnight after detainees, angered at word they would be moved to facilities fully under government control in Aleppo city, set their cell alight in protest. The blaze followed two days of demonstrations across Kurdish-populated areas of northeast and northern Syria over the killing of Sipan Hizni, a Kurdish soldier serving in a Syrian army brigade drawn from the now-dissolved Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Hizni was abducted and killed near Hasaka, reportedly by armed men from a prominent Arab clan; as Rudaw notes, state security has named a suspect but made no arrest. Survivors described chaotic scenes. One prisoner, identified only as Mahmoud, told Rudaw th...

السفير د. عبدالله الأشعل مرت العلاقات الإيرانية العربية بعدة مراحل: ـ المرحلة الأولى: عند ظهور الإسلام حيث كانت إيران وثنية تعبد الشمس وكان العرب مسلمين. والتقى العرب وفارس فى القادسية فى معركة حاسمة ترتب عليها هزيمة فارس الوثنية وتحولها للإسلام. وكان الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم عند ظهور الرسالة بعث بأثنين من المبشرين إلى أمبراطور فارس ونظراً لتدنى نظرة الامبراطور إلى العرب كخدم للفرس والروم قتل المبعوثين وكانت تلك الحادثة فاصلة فى العلاقات بين الطرفين. ولما تخلى العرب عن الإسلام ذلوا فى نظر العالم كله ونظر فارس. ويذكر أن إيران ظل أسمها فارس حتى عام 1936 وكان الخليج العربى أصلا فارسى من ناحية إيران ولكن عربى من ناحية مشيخات الخليج العربية وفى المراجع الأجنبية يسمى الخليج الفارسى. ـ المرحلة الثانية: مرحلة المد القومى العربى حيث ظهر عبدالناصر فى مصر وصدام حسين فى العراق والقذافى فى ليبيا وهؤلاء القادة يطلق عليهم المد القومى. ورسالة المد القومى هى محاربة أى نفوذ غربى أو فارسى فى المنطقة العربية ولذلك عندما فر زعيم الثورة الإسلامية فى إيران إلى العراق عام 1964 ساهم عبدالناصر فى دعمه فى مواجه...

  By Ambassador Dr. Abdullah Al-Ashaal Iranian-Arab relations have passed through several distinct stages. The First Stage The first stage dates back to the emergence of Islam, when Persia followed pre-Islamic religions while the Arabs had embraced Islam. Arabs and Persians confronted one another at the decisive Battle of al-Qadisiyyah, which resulted in the defeat of the Persian Empire and contributed to Persia’s subsequent Islamisation. At the beginning of the Islamic mission, the Prophet Muhammad sent two emissaries to the Persian emperor. Given the emperor’s disdainful view of the Arabs, whom he regarded as servants of the Persians and Romans, the two emissaries were killed. This incident represented a turning point in relations between the two sides. When the Arabs subsequently abandoned the principles of Islam, they became diminished in the eyes of the wider world, including Persia. It should be recalled that Iran continued to be known internationally as Persia until 1936. Th...

  By Dr. Maysaa Al-Masri The Red Sea no longer appears to be merely a secondary theatre in the Yemen conflict. As Houthi attacks on international shipping continue, the equation is gradually shifting from the ability to disrupt trade routes from a distance towards an attempt to influence the very geography that governs maritime traffic. This is where Mokha, Bab el-Mandeb, Perim Island and the Hanish archipelago assume particular importance. These geographic chokepoints could alter the rules of engagement if the Houthis succeed in establishing a significant military presence around them. There is, however, a fundamental difference between threatening an area and controlling it. Missiles and drones give the Houthis the ability to impose costs on maritime traffic, but maintaining control over coastal positions and strategic islands requires an entirely different set of capabilities: air defence, naval power, continuous logistical support, and sufficient political a...

  Iraqi security forces have launched a large-scale search-and-pursuit operation across the southern province of Maysan to track down those responsible for drone attacks on oil facilities inside Saudi Arabia, a security source told Shafaq News on Saturday. According to the source, who spoke to Shafaq News , the operation could be reinforced by the elite Counter-Terrorism Service as forces sweep the province for suspects. The manhunt began only hours after Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ali Falih al-Zaidi ordered an investigation into the Maysan Operations Command — the regional military command responsible for the province — and removed its commander from his post. Shafaq News ' source said al-Zaidi acted after authorities concluded the attacks had been launched from a site inside Maysan. Saudi Arabia had announced that its East–West pipeline, which carries crude across the kingdom toward its Red Sea coast, was struck by several drones launched from Iraq...

  Iran-aligned Houthi forces have swept to control of Yemen's Red Sea coastline in their most dramatic territorial advance in years, seizing the strategic port of Mokha and the island of Mayun (Perim) at the mouth of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, officials on both sides confirmed Friday. The rapid advance — which saw Saudi-backed government forces retreat from Mokha, just 50 miles from the strait — opens a dangerous new front in the widening Iran war and threatens one of the world's most critical oil shipping lanes. A senior military official with Yemen's internationally recognized government said the army was "stunned" that Saudi air power did not intervene, blaming poor coordination between government troops and allied militias. The Houthis declared that "maritime navigation is safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels," vowing "escalation for escalation." Yemen's National Defense Council condemned the offensive and appealed for interna...

As Houthi missiles and drones rain down on southern Saudi Arabia, Pakistan finds itself pulled in two directions at once: bound by new defence commitments to Riyadh, yet determined to keep its diplomatic channel to Tehran — and its hard-won role as a mediator — alive. The pressure intensified this week after Houthi forces struck the southern Saudi cities of Abha, Jazan, Khamis Mushait and Najran, wounding at least 73 people and forcing a temporary halt at several energy facilities. The rebels have also declared a naval blockade of the kingdom in the Red Sea, attacked Saudi oil tankers, and seized the Yemeni port city of Mokha near the Bab al-Mandeb strait. For Islamabad, the stakes are unusually personal. Under a trilateral defence pact signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan in Mecca on August 7, an armed attack on one member is to be regarded as an attack on all — though the agreement leaves unresolved what military obligations would actually follow. Pakistan has already deployed...

Women’s rights monitors documented 22 femicides in Turkey and one reported femicide in the Turkish Cypriot-administered north of Cyprus during August and early September, renewing urgent concerns that court orders and police complaints are failing to protect women. The We Will Stop Femicide Platform (KCDP) recorded 22 women killed by men across Turkey in August, alongside 33 suspicious female deaths. Bianet’s separate press-based tally counted at least 25 women, underscoring how differing definitions and the absence of systematic official data complicate the count. KCDP said nine victims were killed by husbands; 12 died at home; and 14 were shot. The motive remained undetermined in 16 cases. Istanbul recorded four killings, while Diyarbakır/Amed, Mardin and Muğla each reported two. Among the cases were Nilda Müge Şahin, 26, shot in Istanbul by a former partner despite a complaint and restraining order; Sultan Kara, 32, killed in Diyarbakır by her estranged husband in front of her child...