The Levant Files

In a landmark press conference held Sunday, the coalition announced a new political charter committing to Kurdish self-determination, full gender equality, and coordinated opposition against Tehran — amid ongoing nationwide protests and rising US-Iran tensions. Five of Iran's major Kurdish opposition parties announced the formation of a formal political coalition on Sunday, marking the most significant step toward Kurdish unity in decades and signalling a new phase of organised resistance against the Islamic Republic in Tehran. The groups held a joint press conference — photos from which circulated widely on social media — unveiling a new political charter and pledging to coordinate all political, media, and international activities under a single unified platform. The announcement comes as Iran continues to reel from the most severe wave of anti-government protests since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The Five Parties The coalition brings together five prominent Kurdish political or...

Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff says Iran has enriched uranium to 60% — far beyond civilian use — as Washington signals military options remain on the table White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff issued a stark warning on Saturday, telling Fox News that Iran could be as little as one week away from amassing enough enriched uranium for industrial-grade nuclear bomb-making material — a declaration that dramatically escalated rhetoric around ongoing U.S.-Iran negotiations. Speaking on Fox News' "My View with Lara Trump," Witkoff said Tehran had enriched uranium to the 60% level — well beyond the low-level enrichment permitted for civilian nuclear energy — and warned that Iran was close to crossing a critical threshold. "They are probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material. And that's really dangerous. So, they can't have that," the envoy said. Witkoff was careful to frame his remarks around enrichment capacity rather than a ful...

İki yılı aşkın bir aradan sonra ilk kez ses kaydı yayımlayan IŞİD sözcüsü Ebu Huzeyfe el-Ensari, örgüt militanlarını Suriye'nin geçiş dönemi hükûmetine karşı tam kapsamlı saldırı çağrısında bulundu. El-Ensari, Suriye'nin İran işgalinden Amerikan-Türk işgaline geçtiğini öne sürdü. IŞİD, Suriye'nin geçiş dönemi yönetimine yönelik saldırı kampanyasını kökten tırmandıracağını duyurdu. Örgütün sözcüsü Ebu Huzeyfe el-Ensari, iki yılı aşkın aradan sonra ilk kez bir ses kaydı yayımlayarak militanları ülkenin mevcut liderliğini devirmeyi birincil hedef olarak benimsemeye çağırdı. Ramazan ayının başlangıcına denk getirilen bu açıklama, örgütün uzun süredir düşük profil sergilediği Suriye'deki stratejik konumlanmasında köklü bir değişime işaret ediyor. El-Ensari, ses kaydında IŞİD militanlarının Suriye'deki 'laik hükûmeti ve ulusal ordusuyla birlikte yeni Suriye rejimiyle' savaşması gerektiğini ve bunun öncelikli hedef haline getirilmesi çağrısında bulundu. Suriye Geçi...

A rare and striking moment of dissent emerged from within the heart of the Trump media ecosystem last Friday, as Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy publicly challenged the administration's push toward military action against Iran — signaling a deepening divide inside Washington over how to handle what many are calling a looming regional crisis. Campos-Duffy, filling in for regular Fox & Friends anchor Ainsley Earhardt on February 20, used her platform on America's most-watched morning cable news program to openly question whether President Donald Trump has made a sufficiently compelling case for a potential strike on Iran. According to reports by The Hill, Mediaite, and The Daily Beast, she told co-hosts Brian Kilmeade and Lawrence Jones that the administration must do more to explain why the American people should be drawn into yet another Middle Eastern conflict. "Make a Better Case" Her remarks came just one day after The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump ...

Senior officials within Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have offered their most detailed public account yet of the unrest that swept parts of Iran in January 2026, framing the protests as a failed foreign-engineered coup attempt involving at least ten foreign intelligence services. The claims appeared in an extended interview published by Javan, a conservative daily with close ties to the IRGC, known for its hardline security and political coverage, with Brigadier General Majid Khademi, head of the IRGC's Intelligence Organization. The interview was framed around Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's characterization of the events as "a coup that failed." The Levant Files is dedicated to delivering in depth, context rich reporting on the shifting geopolitics of our region. Our latest analysis, examining Israel’s growing unease over Egypt’s military build up and Cairo’s deepening ties with Ankara, exemplifies the kind of work we strive to produce consistently and ...

The Trump administration continues to send deeply contradictory signals toward Iran, with senior officials simultaneously hinting at both imminent military action and potential diplomatic breakthroughs — leaving analysts, allies, and Tehran itself struggling to determine Washington's true intentions. According to Hamshahri, Trump has dispatched one of the largest deployments of military hardware to the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq War, including over 100 aircraft that entered Europe and the broader region within a single week. Reports also indicate that hundreds of American troops have been evacuated from Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar, and from several installations in Bahrain — movements that military analysts interpret not as retreat, but as strategic repositioning in preparation for a potential confrontation. Trump himself addressed the situation Friday evening at the White House, telling reporters that he is "considering" a limited strike designed to pressure Ir...

Forty days after security forces unleashed what human rights groups are calling the deadliest crackdown in the Islamic Republic's history, Iran is not quiet. It is simmering — and in places, it is boiling again. On Saturday, students at two of Iran's most prestigious universities — Sharif University of Technology and Amir Kabir University of Technology — took to their campuses in open defiance of the regime. They chanted: "This is the last message; the target is the entire regime" and "We will fight, we will die, we will take Iran back." When Basij paramilitary forces moved in to break up the gathering at Sharif University, students stood their ground, responding to the Basij's provocative royalist chants with shouts of "Shameless, shameless" before clashing directly with the forces. The same day, in the city of Abdanan in Ilam Province, citizens surrounded the local intelligence headquarters after authorities arrested Yaghoub Mohammadi, a teac...

Pro-Iranian hacker group Handala says it has infiltrated “Sapir,” the classified network allegedly linking the Mossad, Shin Bet, the IDF, and the Prime Minister’s Office — claiming to have leaked 1,500 names of security officials. None of these claims have been independently verified. Has the US/Israel-Iran war already begun? That is the alarming question emerging tonight after a pro-Iranian hacking collective known as Handala claimed responsibility for what it describes as a full-scale penetration of one of Israel’s most classified digital systems. According to a report published by the Iranian newspaper Hamshahri Online, citing Fars News Agency, the group alleges it has breached a top-secret Israeli crisis management platform called “Sapir” — and has begun leaking what it says is highly sensitive data tied to the country’s security establishment. If even partially true, the claimed breach would represent one of the most significant cyber intrusions in the history of the Israeli-Irani...

A sweeping US military buildup across the Middle East, combined with intensifying diplomatic activity along a Nicosia–Washington–Tel Aviv axis, is painting a picture of a region bracing for a potential confrontation with Iran, according to multiple sources and satellite intelligence reviewed by international media. US Triples Fighter Jet Presence at Jordanian Airbase The United States military has moved dozens of advanced fighter jets to the Muwaffaq Salti air force base in central Jordan, according to satellite imagery and flight tracking data analysed by the New York Times. As reported by the Jerusalem Post, more than 60 jets were pictured parked on the base — three times the usual number of US attack aircraft stationed there. A live tracking map maintained by the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv University-affiliated think tank, indicated that as of Saturday afternoon, 30 F-35 stealth fighters and 36 F-15 fighter jets were positioned at the base. At least 68 cargo...