Souad Mekhennet

1 week ago | washingtonpost.com | Souad Mekhennet

Syria seeks to sever last Iran-linked networks for smuggling arms and cash (washingtonpost.com) Syria seeks to sever last Iran-linked networks for smuggling arms and cash By Loveday Morris; Souad Mekhennet 2025041209004300 HAWSH AL-SAYYID ALI, Syria — From the front seat of a black GMC truck, Maher Ziwani, the Syrian army commander overseeing this stretch of the border with Lebanon, radioed ahead to check the safety of the dirt track stretching to the frontier. But before he got a response,...

1 week ago | stripes.com | Souad Mekhennet

A destroyed former weapons storage facility. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post) HAWSH AL-SAYYID ALI, Syria — From the front seat of a black GMC truck, Maher Ziwani, the Syrian army commander overseeing this stretch of the border with Lebanon, radioed ahead to check the safety of the dirt track stretching to the frontier. But before he got a response, Syrian fighters on a motorbike sped past his window, shouting a warning.

2 weeks ago | washingtonpost.com | Mary Ilyushina |Souad Mekhennet

Iranian plot to kill rabbi in Azerbaijan foiled, security officials say (washingtonpost.com) Iranian plot to kill rabbi in Azerbaijan foiled, security officials say By Mary Ilyushina; Souad Mekhennet 2025040509002500 In the fall, an officer from Iran's Quds Force met with Agil Aslanov, a drug trafficker from Georgia, according to Western and Middle Eastern security officials.

2 months ago | washingtonpost.com | Anthony Faiola |Souad Mekhennet

VIENNA — Herbert Kickl’s bid to become Austria’s first far-right chancellor since World War II and enact a Trump-style shake-up of the country stalled after coalition talks collapsed this week. But if anything, the Austrian case shows how close the far right is to reaching new heights of power in Europe — and the extent to which centrist parties are moving in its direction.

Jan 2, 2025 | washingtonpost.com | Souad Mekhennet |Joby Warrick

By the time he came up with the idea of bombing a Taylor Swift concert, Beran Aliji's young life had completely broken down. In July, amid a self-described mental crisis, the 19-year-old Austrian abruptly quit his job as a factory apprentice and isolated himself in his apartment, obsessing, as he later told police, about his own death.