The Levant Files

İran Devrim Muhafızları Ordusu'nun (IRGC) Birleşik Krallık’ın askerî tesislerine yönelik giderek sertleşen tehditleri, Kıbrıs'taki Egemen Üs Bölgeleri'ni (Akrotiri ve Dikelya, SBA) yeniden gündeme taşıdı. IRGC'nin "46 Numaralı Açıklama" olarak bilinen ve Press TV ile Tasnim aracılığıyla yayımlanan bildirisinde, Birleşik Krallık'ın İran'a yönelik ABD ve İsrail askeri operasyonlarına "en büyük katkıyı" sağladığı öne sürülüyor ve "İran topraklarına yönelik saldırganlıkta kullanılan her üs, meşru bir hedeftir" ifadesi kullanılıyor. Açık Uçlu Tehdit Bildiride adı geçen tesisler Birleşik Krallık’taki RAF Fairford ile Hint Okyanusu'ndaki Diego Garcia ile sınırlı olsa da, Akrotiri ve Dikelya'nın ismen anılmaması güvenlik uzmanlarını rahatlatmıyor. Lefkoşa merkezli bir güvenlik kaynağı, Tahran'ın dilinin "kapalı bir liste değil, bir kategoriyi" hedef aldığını ve Akrotiri'nin bu tanımın dışında kalmasının güç olduğun...

Israeli forces have launched a sweeping crackdown across the occupied West Bank, carrying out extensive raids and mass arrests in the wake of a deadly confrontation around the Palestinian village of Tell, southwest of Nablus, in which at least four Palestinians and one Israeli were killed. According to Shafaq News, the operation began hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered a “wide-scale” military response. Israeli Raids Across the West Bank As reported by Shafaq News, Israeli troops raided multiple Palestinian towns and villages overnight and into Saturday, including Tell and several communities in the northern and central West Bank, as part of an expanded military operation ordered by Netanyahu and Katz. According to the same report, soldiers stormed dozens of homes in Tell, detained around 50 Palestinian residents, and conducted intensive searches in roughly 70 houses, while additional arrest campaigns were carried out in other localiti...

A Greek-operated Patriot air defense system in Saudi Arabia intercepted two ballistic missiles launched from Yemen and aimed at oil refineries in the Red Sea city of Yanbu, according to Greek security sources cited by Reuters and The Jerusalem Post.  Saudi Civil Defense issued an emergency alert for Yanbu residents during the incident. Greece has deployed a US-made Patriot battery to Saudi Arabia since 2021 under an agreement intended to help safeguard the kingdom’s critical energy infrastructure; Saturday’s engagement was the second time Greek personnel had operated the system in an interception The incident came after the Saudi-led coalition said it had struck Houthi military positions in Yemen’s Hodeidah governorate, alleging the sites had been used to threaten commercial maritime traffic. Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported strikes on telecommunications facilities in Hodeidah city and on Kamaran Island. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said Hodeidah port had not been tar...

Bahrain and Kuwait secretly dispatched warplanes to strike military targets inside Iran earlier this month, marking the two small Persian Gulf states' first direct retaliation against Tehran in a conflict now grinding through its fifth month, according to people familiar with the matter. The airstrikes, carried out in the early hours, targeted drone- and missile-storage depots and other military sites inside Iranian territory. The United Arab Emirates, which conducted dozens of strikes against Iran from the war's outset through a ceasefire announced in April, provided intelligence on targets and defensive air cover for the operation — a sign of budding Arab military cooperation against Tehran. The strikes reflect the increasingly difficult position of Gulf Arab states, which have absorbed the bulk of Iran's retaliatory punishment throughout the war and now face the prospect of a prolonged standoff that threatens their security, economies, and very governing models. A Region...

A sharp escalation in rhetoric from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeting British military installations, coupled with London's quiet withdrawal of its remaining diplomatic staff from Tehran, is prompting cautious scrutiny in Cyprus over the potential implications for the two Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) at Akrotiri and Dhekelia — and, by extension, for the Republic of Cyprus itself. While no Iranian communiqué has named the Cypriot-based installations explicitly, security analysts and diplomatic observers note that the sweeping language employed by the IRGC in recent statements could, in a worst-case reading, be interpreted to encompass them. "Any base used for aggression" The concern stems from a detailed IRGC communiqué widely referred to as "Announcement No. 46," disseminated through Iranian state-aligned media outlets including Press TV and Tasnim in mid-July. The document accuses the United Kingdom of having "the greatest partic...

Iran’s continued expansion of its strikes to include Arab Gulf states and Jordan does not serve Tehran’s interests, but instead raises the cost of confrontation and opens the door to broader American responses in the coming days, according to Jordanian columnist Firas Al-Nu’san, writing in Al Dustour on July 23. The analysis argues that the wider the circle of attacks becomes, the harder it grows to contain the escalation or keep it within calculated limits. Targeting Jordan and Gulf states, or threatening their security and interests, does not shift the balance of power in Tehran’s favor, Al-Nu’san contends, but instead gives the United States and its allies additional justification to intensify strikes on Iranian targets, including military sites, missile and drone-related facilities, and command centers. Iran is reportedly betting that widening the confrontation will raise the cost of prolonged war for its adversaries, but this strategy carries major risks, since an open-ended conf...

As the US-Iran war enters its fifth month and American forces carry out a 13th consecutive night of strikes on Iranian territory, Iran’s state and semi-state media ecosystem — Tehran Times, Press TV, Fars News, and affiliated commentary — has spent the past 72 hours converging on a consistent set of narrative pillars. Even as Tehran rejected the latest US ceasefire proposal, delivered Thursday by Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, Iranian outlets have used the moment to reinforce a story of strategic endurance, Western fracture, and American overreach. A survey of the last three days of Iranian analysis and opinion coverage reveals five dominant angles. 1. The Strait of Hormuz as Iran’s Decisive Leverage The single most consistent theme across Iranian commentary is that control of the Strait of Hormuz — not missiles or nuclear capability — has become Iran’s central strategic asset. IRGC Deputy Commander for Political Affairs Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, in remarks carried by Fars...

The occupied West Bank recorded one of its bloodiest 24-hour stretches in months on Thursday and Friday, with at least five people killed — four Palestinians and one Israeli — and more than a dozen others wounded in a cluster of shootings, stabbings, and settler-related clashes concentrated around Nablus. The violence unfolded even as international attention remained fixed on the US-Iran war, underscoring how the West Bank’s slow-burning crisis continues to intensify largely outside the global spotlight. The Last 24 Hours The deadliest incident occurred early Friday near the settlement of Havat Gilad, west of Nablus. According to Israeli military and settler accounts, a group of roughly 60 Israeli hikers — including armed civilian guards — set out from Mount Bracha into Areas A and B of the West Bank, territory normally off-limits to Israeli civilians. Confrontations broke out with Palestinian residents of the nearby village of Tell, reportedly beginning with stone-throwing and escalat...

Over the past weeks, a diplomatic tug-of-war has intensified between Washington and Damascus over the role Syria should play in confronting Hezbollah, as the United States grows increasingly frustrated with the pace of Israel's military campaign in Lebanon and the stalled implementation of a fragile ceasefire framework. Despite repeated public calls by President Donald Trump for Syrian forces to intervene against the Iran-backed group, Damascus has firmly rejected any military deployment into Lebanese territory, opting instead for internal security operations and diplomatic signaling aimed at preserving its post-war transition. Trump Doubles Down on Syrian Intervention The pressure campaign reached new heights this week when Trump, sitting alongside Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House on Tuesday, reiterated his suggestion that Syria could intervene in Lebanon to "do something with Hezbollah." Trump claimed that Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa "would li...