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Iraq offered to mediate in the crisis between its two key allies, the United States and Iran, amid escalating Middle East tensions and as Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers steadily unravels. Iraqi foreign minister, Mohammed al-Hakim, made the offer Sunday during a joint news conference in Baghdad with visiting Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif. "We are trying to help and to be mediators," said al-Hakim, adding that Baghdad "will work to reach a satisfactory solution" while stressing that Iraq stands against unilateral steps taken by Washington.

The Fake News Media is hurting our Country with its fraudulent and highly inaccurate coverage of Iran. It is scattershot, poorly sourced (made up), and DANGEROUS. At least Iran doesn’t know what to think, which at this point may very well be a good thing! 9:44 AM · May 17, 2019

The Department of Defense on Friday tweeted about the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, saying that it's carefully planned and organized. The department described the course of action as being “deliberate, well thought-out, mutually supportive, and controlled,” while also guaranteeing “our troops’ safety and protection.”

Russian authorities closed off the Kerch Strait Sunday amid a confrontation with Ukrainian naval vessels, Russian state news agencies and the Ukrainian military said. The Kerch Strait links the Azov Sea with the Black Sea. Earlier this year, the Russian government opened a 19-kilometer bridge across the strait, creating a road linking Russia's Krasnodar region with the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014. In a statement released Sunday, the Ukrainian ministry of defense said traffic through the strait had been blocked by a tanker anchored near the Kerch Strait bridge. Russian state news agency TASS,...

A New York Times editorial cartoon mocking US President Donald Trump’s orders to send troops to the Mexican border instead of fighting wars in the Middle East has drawn ire from Americans calling it elitist and out of touch. The cartoon, published Friday, shows a line of US troops in desert camouflage uniforms being ordered by Trump to the border with Mexico. One of the soldiers leans over and whispers to another, “I enrolled to fight in the Middle East… not in the midterms.”

A Kurdish-led force backed by a US-led coalition on Wednesday suspended operations against the Islamic State group and said they would not resume until Turkey halts its attacks on Kurdish militia posts in northern Syria.The Syrian Democratic Forces, joint Arab-Kurdish units under Kurdish command, announced a "temporary halt" to their operation, launched in eastern Syria on September 10, and condemned Turkey's "provocations".On Wednesday, Turkish shelling of Kurdish positions in the Kobane sector of northern Syria killed four fighters, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency.The SDF condemned what it called the "coordination" of Turkey's attacks with a fightback by jihadists...

A Saudi contribution of $100 million to U.S.-backed stabilization efforts in Syria arrived in American accounts Tuesday, just as State Mike Pompeo touched down in Riyadh to discuss the missing Saudi journalist, an anonymous U.S. official told The New York Times. The source said the timing of the two events is no accident. He said Saudi Arabia originally pledged its contribution in August, and U.S. officials were expecting to receive it by the fall. But Brett McGurk, a U.S. envoy to the coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria, played down the significance of the timing with Pompeo’s visit.

Israel and the United States sent a secret military delegation to Ukraine to test the Russian-made S-300 missile defense system, which Moscow recently provided to Syria, Hadashot TV news reported Monday, citing Syrian and Russian news outlets. There was no comment on the reports from either Israel or the US. According to the reports, members of the Ukrainian military instructed their US and Israeli counterparts on the capabilities of the system, as well as running through various possible scenarios. One Russian report said that F-15 planes are training in Ukraine against the S-300 as part of an international exercise that...

Xelil Åžirvan, a commander of a group of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, told Sputnik that a US military base had been detected near the town of Al-Qa'im in northwest Iraq on the border with Syria. "According to our data, the United States has set up a new military base in the strategically important region of Al-Qa'im in Anbar province on the Iraqi-Syrian border. Americans are building up their military presence in the region, which is why Iraqi government forces have sent more military reinforcements to Al-Qa'im to boost border protection," he said. A spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led...

Senator Markey has announced his support for the Iran deal that will let the terrorist regime inspect its own Parchin nuclear weapons research site, conduct uranium enrichment, build advanced centrifuges, buy ballistic missiles, fund terrorism and have a near zero breakout time to a nuclear bomb. There was no surprise there. Markey had topped the list of candidates supported by the Iran Lobby. And the Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC) had maxed out its contributions to his campaign. After more fake suspense, Al Franken, another IAPAC backed politician who also benefited from Iran Lobby money, came out for the...

Even before Christine Blasey Ford delivered her controlled but explosive testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, college-educated white women like her represented a rising threat to Republican prospects in the November election. But Ford's detailed allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh could allow Democrats to solidify an unprecedented advantage among those women, who represent one of the few steadily growing components of the white electorate. Coming even as many professional white women are already recoiling from President Donald Trump's definition of the Republican Party, and Democrats have nominated an unprecedented number of professional women...

American forces will remain in Syria even after the last remnants of the Islamic State militant group are eradicated, signaling a shift in U.S. policy that further complicates the political climate in Syria amid its seven-year civil war Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon on Monday that U.S. forces will stay in Syria to provide training to local forces in an effort to ensure stability within the region, a decision that seems to run counter to past statements from President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to withdraw American forces from the region. The news out of...

The U.S. military Tuesday said it supported a plan to establish a demilitarized zone in northern Syria that would separate rebels in their last stronghold from advancing government forces. The agreement to create a buffer zone was worked out Monday in a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held in Sochi, Russia. Russia’s defense minister said that under the agreement, Syria would refrain from launching an offensive on Idlib Province, the last major rebel stronghold.

The Israeli army has stated that all intelligence on the Russian aircraft downed in Latakia on Monday will be shared with Moscow. The Israeli army statement said when the Syrian air defense systems fired the missiles that downed the Russian aircraft, Israeli Air Force had already returned to Israeli air field. The Israeli army argued that the incident had been caused by the Syrian air defense systems’ “extensive and inaccurate” fire. The statement said, “The Syrian anti-air batteries fired indiscriminately and from what we understand, did not bother to ensure that no Russian planes were in the air.” The Israeli...

Putin’s dialing down of the rhetoric is an effort to mask his intentions. He — Russia — still has the same foreign policy interests in Syria as he did before the plane was shot down, and those aren’t going to change anytime soon. When journalists asked him about the much more hostile statement of his Defense Ministry, which also vowed a retaliatory response, Putin stated clearly that it was “fully coordinated” with him (of course it was). He defined what ‘retaliatory’ meant. “The retaliatory measures will be directed above all to boosting the security of military men and installations in...

A Syrian military official told the Syrian Arab News Agency that missiles were fired from the Mediterranean sea towards the port city, but were intercepted and downed by air defense. Syrian media reported several explosions were heard over the city of Latakia on Monday night, Israeli media reported. A Syrian military official told the Syrian Arab News Agency that missiles were fired from the Mediterranean sea towards the port city, but were intercepted and downed by air defense.

<p>WASHINGTON — More than 100 U.S. Marines were sent as reinforcements to a remote coalition outpost in southern Syria on Friday after Russia threatened to attack militants in the area, the Pentagon said.</p> <p>The troops were flown by helicopter to the base at At Tanf — a small town near the borders of Syria, Iraq and Jordan. The base is used by U.S. special forces to train Syrian fighters who are confronting Islamic State militants.</p>

President Donald Trump’s national security adviser warned the Syrian government against using chemical weapons in the impending battle for Idlib Province, the last remaining rebel stronghold populated by more than 2 million people. If chemical weapons are used, National Security Adviser John Bolton promised the U.S. would deliver a counterattack ...

President Bashar al-Assad has approved a gas attack in the Idlib province, which is the country’s last rebel stronghold, a report on Sunday said...The Wall Street Journal reported that the international pressure did little to sway Assad, who benefits from support from Russia and Iran. The report said Assad has approved the use of chlorine gas...Russian President Vladimir Putin called for a “total annihilation of terrorists in Syria,” while Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke of “cleansing the Idlib region of terrorists.”

<p>A bellicose President Trump wanted to kill Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad after he launched a chemical weapons attack on civilians in April 2017, according to the new White House tell-all by Bob Woodward of the Washington Post.</p> <p>The commander-in-chief called Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and issued the deadly order.</p>