The Levant Files

Turkey's presidential decrees establishing marine national parks in the Aegean have triggered a sharp reaction in Greece, with the right-wing daily Estia framing the move as an act of " international piracy " bordering on encroachment upon Greek sovereignty. In two articles published Tuesday, the paper argued the decrees — covering waters off Fethiye-Kaş and in the North Aegean — mark the latest chapter in a decades-long pattern of Turkish pressure on Athens. In an unsigned front-page piece, Estia wrote that the marine parks function as a "Trojan horse," with their delimitation violating Greek sovereignty and sovereign rights. The paper argued that when Turkey displays aggression, national unity must prevail and Greece must present a united front against the threat, and cited former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras's characterization of the decrees as "piracy."  According to Estia, PASOK's members of the European Parliament described the Turkish ...

Unidentified warplanes struck the disused Abu al-Duhur military airfield in eastern Idlib province before dawn on Tuesday, in an attack that Syrian security sources described to AFP as four separate hits concentrated on the runway. No government has claimed responsibility, and the Israeli military offered only a terse "no comment" when asked by AFP. Yet the target, the timing, and the pattern all point toward Israel — and toward a message aimed less at Damascus than at Ankara. Abu al-Duhur has been out of commission since 2012 but remains guarded by forces from Syria's defense ministry, the security source said. The base sits inside Idlib province, the historic heartland of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the former al-Qaeda affiliate that led the offensive which toppled Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 and now dominates the government in Damascus. It is also the province where Turkish influence — military, political and intelligence — runs deepest across Syria. That geography matt...

Former Turkish President Abdullah Gül has voiced concern that Turkey has moved far from the democratic and rights-based vision proclaimed when the Justice and Development Party (AK Party or AKP) was founded, expressing hope that the country can eventually return to its original course. In an interview with BBC Türkçe , Gül divided the AK Party’s history into two sharply different periods and pointed to the extraordinary events that shaped its later years, including the 2016 coup attempt. Although he declined to comment directly on current political disputes, his remarks offered a sombre assessment of the party’s transformation after its early years in power. The AK Party is marking its 25th anniversary this year. Gül, one of its leading founders, recalled that the movement emerged from a bitter split within the Virtue Party, the successor to the Welfare Party, which had been closed by Turkey’s Constitutional Court in 1998. The Virtue Party itself faced a closure case and held a leaders...

Two explosive drones launched from Iran targeted the private office of Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani and the residence of the Region's security agency chief in Erbil province's Pirmam district early Monday, Kurdish counterterrorism forces said, in a brazen escalation that caused no casualties but drew furious condemnation from Erbil. The Directorate General of Counter Terrorism (CTD), affiliated with the Kurdistan Region Security Council, said the two Hadid-110-type drones were "launched from the Iranian side of the border" toward the two sites, calling the attack "completely unacceptable" and warning that "those responsible for carrying them out bear full responsibility for the consequences." Prime Minister Barzani condemned the "reckless and unacceptable attacks in the strongest terms," describing them on X as "a dangerous escalation and a direct threat to the security and stability of the Kurdistan Region," ...

The signing of a new defense agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan — dubbed the "Mecca Pact" — amounts to a geopolitical earthquake that undermines the core narrative of Greek foreign policy, the Greek daily Estia reported, forcing Athens, Nicosia, Tel Aviv and New Delhi to reassess their strategic balances in the wider region. According to Estia, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan described the pact's mutual defense clause as analogous to NATO's Article 5, stressing that any armed attack against one signatory would be treated as an attack against all. The three countries plan to establish joint political and military mechanisms involving their defense and foreign ministers and military leadership, alongside joint exercises and potential co-production and technology transfers in the defense industry — moves that could grant Ankara a permanent foothold in the Arabian Peninsula should ambitions for a "Muslim NATO" materialize. Turkish President...

Ankara's latest move in the Aegean has shaken Greece's domestic political scene, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — through two Presidential Decrees signed on August 15 and published the following day in Turkey's Official Gazette — declared two "national marine parks" in particularly sensitive areas, the Athens daily Efimerida ton Syntakton reported on Monday. According to Efimerida ton Syntakton (efsyn.gr), the decision triggered fierce reactions from opposition parties, which accuse the government of complacency and demand a more active diplomatic response to what they describe as Turkish provocation. As the paper notes, the decrees provide for the creation of parks at two locations. The first extends across the area between Fethiye (Muğla province) and Kaş (Antalya province) — a siting that effectively encloses and cuts off the entire sea area around Kastellorizo. The second park covers a maritime zone near the Turkish coasts of Tekirdağ and Çanakka...

Both capitals reached for instruments that raise the dispute a single rung — Ankara through conservation law rather than delimitation, Athens through non-recognition rather than threat Turkey has designated two large marine national parks in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean by presidential decree, drawing an immediate rejection from Athens. The exchange moves the Greek-Turkish maritime dispute up one deliberate rung — and, on the evidence of both sides’ conduct, no further. The restraint is visible in the instrument. Ankara acted through domestic conservation legislation rather than a delimitation act or an exclusive economic zone declaration, the latter of which would have triggered a far graver crisis. A national park generates administrative practice, inspection authority and licensing claims in contested water without asserting sovereignty in terms that demand a sovereign answer. Athens, in turn, reached for its standard non-recognition formula, declaring the act legally vo...

Israeli defense officials are raising alarms over the speed at which Iran is reconstituting its military and ballistic missile production following widespread conflict earlier this year, according to an editorial published by The Jerusalem Post. Two months after a June ceasefire between the United States and Iran, diplomatic negotiations remain stalled while Tehran steadily repairs its damaged defense infrastructure. A report by Yonah Jeremy Bob for The Jerusalem Post revealed that Israeli defense planners were caught off guard by Iran's rapid pace of recovery. Between February and April, joint U.S. and Israeli air operations struck more than 2,600 Iranian missile and military-industrial sites across roughly 30,000 strikes. While officials initially projected that the extensive bombardment would cripple Iranian manufacturing for years, recent intelligence suggests production could rebound much sooner than expected. According to The Jerusalem Post, if Iran restores its manufacturing...

Syria and Russia have entered a more restrained phase of their long relationship after reaching an agreement that reduces Moscow’s military privileges while preserving channels for economic cooperation and political influence. Writing for Al-Monitor on Aug. 15, Samuel Wendel reported that the agreement reorganizes Russia’s presence at Tartus and Hmeimim, two installations that were central to Moscow’s regional power projection under former President Bashar al-Assad. The shift became visible on Aug. 11, when Syrian authorities began receiving wheat and cement at a commercial berth previously used by Russian forces. Russian personnel were simultaneously observed moving equipment away from the pier, according to Reuters. Under the agreement, negotiated over 18 months, Damascus will recover control of civilian facilities at Tartus and Hmeimim. The military sections are expected to become joint training centers within three months. Russia will retain a military presence, although under tig...