Russia defends Iran, backs Bashar Assad in Syria and criticizes Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. Vladimir Putin’s upcoming visit to Riyadh would seem a risky balancing act – but is instead a pragmatic move rooted in mutual interest. Putin arrives in Saudi Arabia on Monday, his second visit to the country after his 2007 trip. [...]

The timing is not merely coincidental. The shambolic policymaking of the Trump administration has thrown the Middle East into further chaos, while countries are increasingly viewing Russia as a source of stability. The high respect afforded to Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit this week to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates speaks of a new geopolitical reality in the region. [...]

President Trump’s decision to pull troops out of northern Syria sent the mainstream media into a full-blown meltdown, Redacted Tonight’s Lee Camp said, slamming their hawkish coverage as mindless and deceitful. [...]

After the recent Israeli attacks against Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, the Middle East has found itself in the midst of undeclared war. Almost everyone in Lebanon appears to agree. “This time Israel went too far. In just two days, it bombed three countries,” I am told by a local UN staffer based in Beirut. [...]

Accusing Turkey of endangering civilians and threatening peace and security with its Syrian operation, US President Donald Trump has announced upcoming tariffs and sanctions against Turkish officials and economy. [...]

An unlikely road meeting of US and Syrian troops was captured in northern Syria as the American vehicles were retreating from the Kurdish-held town of Kobani, while the Syrians rushed to protect it from the Turkish-led offensive. Getting American and Syrian government forces into a single image is quite a difficult task despite the protracted – and illegal – US military presence in the war-tor [...]

Turkey’s operation in northeast Syria has “undermined” the US-led campaign against Islamic State terrorists, the Pentagon has claimed, warning that Washington will be “pressing” their NATO allies to sanction Ankara. [...]

Russia agreed to look into the September aerial attack on the Saudi Aramco oil facilities and will condemn whoever was behind it, but will not take sides in the feud between Riyadh and Tehran, President Vladimir Putin says. [...]

It’s time for the US to “get out of ridiculous endless wars,” President Donald Trump said ahead of a withdrawal of US troops from border areas in northeastern Syrian as the Turkish military prepares for an anti-Kurdish incursion. [...]

Yemeni Houthi rebels have released footage of what they say was a victorious offensive on the border with Saudi Najran province. It shows scores of captured military troops, including what seem to be Saudi officers, and hardware. [...]

Russia and Turkey are discussing possible deliveries of Russia's Su-35 or Su-57 fighters, with Ankara expressing significant interest in this purchase, Russia's federal military-technical cooperation service reported, following Erdogan's visit to Moscow. [...]

The US Treasury Department designated a Russian maritime company, three Sovfracht directors and five vessels for an alleged scheme to evade sanctions to facilitate the delivery of jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria. [...]

PATRIOT PARK, Russia (Sputnik) - Russia is ready to deliver S-400 air defence systems to Iran, but it has not received a relevant request from Iran yet, the press service of the Russian Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation told Sputnik on Friday. [...]

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia does not rule out discussing with Iran deliveries of air defence assets and radio-electronic equipment to the country, as well as the creation of an integrated system of Persian Gulf security, Federal Service of Military-Technical Cooperation Director Dmitry Shugayev said. [...]

Previously, a source in the Russian Defence Ministry expressed an opinion that American Patriot systems, which were protecting the oil refineries, failed to do their job due to their low efficiency against drone swarm attacks. [...]

The United States kicked Turkey off its F-35 program after Ankara opted to buy the Russian S-400 air defense system. Experts believe that Turkey may now look to buy its military aircraft from Russia. The Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Mustafa Şentop, said earlier this week that Turkey may buy Su-35 and Su-57 fighter jets on favorable terms after the US kicked it off its F-35 st [...]

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Nitze, armed with surface-to-air and Tomahawk cruise missiles, was redeployed off the northeast coast of Saudi Arabia, as part of the US effort to “plug the holes” in its ally’s air defenses. [...]

An explosive essay calling out the lack of legitimate expertise about Iran ought to be a wake-up call for the US foreign policy field. Yet the same problem also affects Washington’s analysis of Russia, China and many other places. Imagine a field of study in which less than a third of the experts had related doctorates, half of them could not read, speak or write the language required, and just [...]

Benny Gantz, whose centrist bloc narrowly defeated Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party in a snap election, says he is forming a government that will exclude the current prime minister – signaling the end of Bibi’s era may be near. [...]