Seth J. Frantzman

US Envoy Tom Barrack has played a key role in US policy in the Middle East over the past year. He was appointed Special Envoy to Syria last year. He is also the US Ambassador to Turkey.

Although Hamas only controls half of Gaza, it still runs the lives of 2 million civilians and seeks out new leadership amid targeted eliminations by the IDF.

The attacks illustrate how Iran is seeking to keep up the pressure on Kurdish opposition groups. Many of these groups have forces and bases in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq.

It’s not clear whether Ankara is posing as a neutral power or seeking to portray itself as similar to most European and NATO powers that also remained outside the war.

Now, Syria is saying water levels have stabilized. Nevertheless, the flooding and the change in water flows show that the region is not on a one-way street to drought.

Kataib Hezbollah is sanctioned by the US as a terrorist group and is behind numerous killings and kidnappings; now it wants even more weapons.

Now the IDF is back at the Beaufort, but this time there is a sense of conquest. Israel has changed a lot in the last two decades.  

Israeli cities remain under rocket fire in northern Israel after 965 days of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

A Kataib Hezbollah spokesperson said he “praised what he described as a decision by ‘[armed] brothers not involved in the Islamic Resistance [of Iraq]’ to end their armed activities."

With support from the Magen 48 organization, Gaza border Kibbutz Nir Oz is training a new, young security team to protect their community.