Politics & Security - AL-MONITOR: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

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Politics & Security

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Central Bank Governor Sahap Kavcioglu attend a signing ceremony with Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on Nov. 24, 2021. ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey’s banking watchdog chief submits resignation amid fund scandal

Turkey’s government is facing growing criticism over regulators’ failure to prevent a fund scandal involving more than $20 billion.

Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Explainer

Iran war pushes up coal use, complicating Turkey’s COP31 pledge

Turkey is asking world leaders at COP31 to back a global push to use more electricity, even as the Iran war has driven up natural gas prices and pushed some power producers back to coal.

Ahmed al-Alwani in an undated photo

Ex-Iraqi MP Ahmed Alwani found dead in Lebanon: What to know

Ahmed al-Alwani was a prominent leader of anti-government protests by Iraqi Sunnis in 2013, and was released from prison last year.

Iranian-made Zolfaghar missiles

Iran unveils new underground 'missile city': What to know

Iran has moved much of its missile stockpile underground as the threat of a new war looms.

Latest News

Turkey bars MP’s wife from travel after his fund scandal criticism: What to know

OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images

GCC to build military command center in Kuwait as region simmers: What to know

ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP via Getty Images

Hegseth strikes defiant tone, calls House impeachment process 'farce'

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Jared Szuba

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

Explainer

From Oct. 7 inquiry to blocking Netanyahu: Eisenkot's bloc maps out Knesset agenda

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) casts his ballot, next to his wife Sara

Amberin Zaman

Chief Correspondent

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Diplomatic Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

Ezgi Akin

Associate Editor (Turkey)

In Ankara, reporting on diplomacy, EU-Turkey ties, NATO

Ben Caspit

Israel Columnist

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Jared Szuba

Defense and Security Correspondent

In Washington, DC, reporting on defense, national security, military

EBRAHIM HAMID/AFP via Getty Images

Sudan’s military leader seeks Saudi, UAE support

The head of the Sudanese military and chairman of the Sudanese Sovereign Council went to Riyadh for help with Sudan's multiplying challenges.

MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images

Second attack rattles Israel during landmark regional summit in Negev

The terror attack in Hadera, the second murderous rampage in days, did not dim the Negev Summit or the commitment of its participants for a regional alliance.

A woman plays a daf drum as people peform the Halay folk dance during a gathering of Turkish Kurds for Nowruz celebrations marking the Persian New Year in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, March 21, 2022.

Possible closure of political party dampens Nowruz for Turkey’s Kurds

Kurds see the case against the Peoples’ Democratic Party as the latest effort to undermine their place in society.

An elderly Palestinian man casts his ballot.

Hamas boycotts West Bank elections, members run in independent lists

Hamas members joined independent lists and alliances in the second round of the West Bank municipal elections, despite the movement’s official boycott of the vote.

Media staff members watch a live image of China's President Xi Jinping speaking at the media center of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, Kunming, Yunnan province, China, Oct. 12, 2021.

China expands its influence in Horn of Africa, overlooks dispute over Nile dam

The agenda of the first African tour made by the newly appointed Chinese envoy to the Horn of Africa did not tackle the controversial GERD dispute between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.

Syrians wave the flag of Russia.

Pro-Russia rallies continue throughout Syria

Syria has been one of the most vocally supportive countries of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson (L) and Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan (2R).

Will Ukraine crisis help Turkey dodge Western arms embargoes?

Drawing on the role of Turkish drones in bolstering Ukraine’s defense, Erdogan has urged NATO partners to lift restrictions on military sales to Turkey. But US sanctions remain a tough row to hoe.

A general view shows the interior of the Iraqi parliament building, Baghdad, Iraq, Feb. 27, 2020.

Cross-sectarian bloc emerges in Iraq

As none of the political coalitions are able to hold a legal session for selecting the president that requires two-thirds of the members, the Iraqi political scene is facing a deadlock.

Members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran FM says IRGC sanctions 'red line' for Vienna talks

Iran’s foreign minister has issued a clarification stating that sanctions on the IRGC must be removed before Tehran agrees to a new Iran deal in Vienna talks.

Members of the Syrian National Army, an alliance of Turkey-backed rebel groups, ride in an armored personnel carrier in the town of Sarmin as they take part in a military offensive on the village of Nayrab following an artillery barrage fired by Turkish forces, near Idlib, Syria, Feb. 24, 2020.

Syrian Christian militia leader ready to join Russian forces in Ukraine war

The leader of a Syrian Christian militia loyal to the Syrian government is mobilizing fighters willing to fight in Ukraine alongside the Russian army by luring them with high salaries.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (R) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Terror attacks in Israel turn settlers against Bennett

Disillusioned by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the leaders of the settlers are now campaigning against what they perceive as an unprecedented freeze of settlement construction in the West Bank.

Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (L) welcomes Bahrain's Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani.

Goals of Israeli-Arab summit go beyond Iran

While the foreign ministers of Israel, the United States and four Arab Gulf nations emphasized cooperation on containing Iran, their meeting also seems aimed at boosting Israel's role in regional affairs.