The TIP, wanted by China and isolated by Turkey, has nowhere to go, and has reportedly rejected the demilitarization agreement.

The UN has sent 29 trucks of humanitarian aid to Syria’s northwestern Idlib province on Tuesday.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) made significant gains in the early years of the Yemen war, thanks to the chaos. Now the group is on the back foot after it lost the territory it controlled, and it is being subject to a heavy drone attack campaign. But either AQAP or other jihadist groups could make gains again if Yemen is left devastated after the war.

The MEK got at least 3 tons of gold bars from Saudi Arabia and a share of Iraq's oil revenue under Saddam Hussein.

Somalia has become entangled in the Gulf crisis, as Qatar and the UAE leverage their interests in the Horn of Africa. Gulf influence has exacerbated divisions between the central government and Somalia's federal state administrations. Just as the country needs to unite and assume charge of its own security, it looks to be coming undone.

Syrians have begun voting in the country's first local elections since 2011 in a sign of returning security and normalcy after years of fighting with foreign-backed militants.

Egyptian security forces have foiled a terrorist plot by arresting six members of the "Muslim Brotherhood".

Israeli warplanes bombed a Hamas position in the east of the Gaza Strip on Friday, according to local sources.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that the Syrian regime is not preparing a major offensive against the opposition-held Idlib, adding that Moscow will do everything to protect civilians.

Qatar's exports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) are growing, with major deals with Germany and China announced recently. As the emirate cements its domination on the LNG market, it ensures its own long term economic security, and its ability to survive and thrive under the Saudi-led blockade.

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) army chiefs-of-staff met with their counterparts from Egypt and Jordan in Kuwait City on Wednesday to discuss military and defense cooperation.

If Trump succeeds in coercing a small financial transaction company to expel Iranian banks from its network, it could be a decisive blow to the Islamic Republic's power. Europe's blocking measures are going to get in the way, but it's not clear that they aren't hurting the very companies they're meant to be protecting. But ultimately, Washington's overreach with sanctions could come back to haunt it.

Peace talks between Yemen's warring parties in Geneva hit a terrible stumbling block when the Houthi delegation didn't arrive. Though the UN Envoy will continue to press for dialogue, this has devastating consequences for the citizens of Hodeidah in Yemen. For now that peace talks are seen to have failed, nothing stands in the way of a terrible battle for the city.

Apparently the Trump administration is proposing a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation as a component of Trump's "deal of the century". The Israeli right-wing has repeatedly suggested a similar solution, and it has been consistently rejected by Jordanians and Palestinians. Neither Jordan nor Palestine will put its national sovereignty at risk by agreeing to this plan without a guarantee of statehood first.

The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran failed on Friday to agree on a ceasefire on the northwestern Syrian region of Idlib, perhaps the final chance to avoid what activists warn will be a humanitarian disaster.