Jared Malsin
@jmalsin.bsky.social
WSJ journalist based in Istanbul. Former Middle East bureau chief for TIME. Turning and turning in the widening gyre. https://www.wsj.com/news/author/jared-malsin
The U.S Navy dutifully repeats Trump’s rhetoric and gets on the nerves of tanker captains in this @wsj.com piece on why the United States can’t shoot its way out of the Hormuz problem. @jmalsin.bsky.social, Benoit Faucon, and Rebecca Feng: www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Russia sent new supplies to the Hmeymim Air Base in Syria, indicating it is really there to stay—in some form. @jmalsin.bsky.social and Lara Seligman for @wsj.com: www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Russia Resupplies Its Syria Air Base, Hanging On to a Strategic Foothold
The mission by a sanctioned ship indicates that the site survived the overthrow of Moscow’s allied Assad regime.
wsj.com
Israeli forces set up a clandestine base in Iraq in support of strikes in Iran: www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Israel Built and Defended a Secret Iran War Base in Iraq
Israel set up the base for special forces and search-and-rescue teams, and launched airstrikes against Iraqi troops who almost discovered it early in the war.
wsj.com
Iran's efforts to seize permanent control over the Strait of Hormuz are gaining traction. Only four ships transited the strait on Wednesday in spite of the ceasefire announced last night by Trump. www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Iran Tightens Its Grip on Hormuz Despite Cease-Fire
President Trump demanded opening the strait. Tehran’s Revolutionary Guard is limiting ship traffic and charging tolls
wsj.com
Israel hit all over Beirut. Strikes were in nearly all the neighborhoods surrounding my house. Reports saying many injured and dead. Israel seems to be intensifying before a ceasefire is implemented
"We have been punished enough." We spoke to Iranians about their fears of Trump's threatened strikes on power plants, bridges and other critical infrastructure: www.wsj.com/world/middle...
‘We Have Been Punished Enough’: Iranians Fear Trump’s Threatened Escalation
Worried about hits to infrastructure, many are now buying generators and packing survival kits.
wsj.com
Our report from Turkey's border with Iran where we spoke to Iranians about their fear and anxiety about the future of their country: www.wsj.com/world/middle...
This Border Crossing Is One of Iran’s Last Lifelines to the Outside World
Iranians interviewed at Kapikoy in Turkey describe their escape to safety, as others return home and into the unknown.
wsj.com
Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, closed at $103.14 a barrel, its highest settlement level since August 2022: www.wsj.com/livecoverage...
The Trump administration currently has no viable way of reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Military escorts for tankers and other civilian ships are too dangerous to try, U.S. officials and military analysts told us: www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Escalating Hormuz Crisis Raises Specter of Prolonged Closure
Hopes for quickly reviving trade through the strait are dimming without U.S. naval escorts as Iran steps up attacks.
wsj.com
U.S. troops left a strategic military base in southeast Syria and turned it over to government forces, a U.S. official says, part of a broader drawdown of American troops in the country // from me and my colleague Michael Gordon: www.wsj.com/world/middle...
U.S. Vacates a Key Military Base in Syria
Al Tanf, long a cornerstone of the fight against Islamic State, has been handed over to the Syrian government as part of a broader drawdown of American troops.
wsj.com
Whatever you think of the Washington Post at this moment, here's a chance to support the dedicated, hard-working journalists who were just laid off. If you have the means, your donation is most welcome. If you don't, a kind thought and maybe spreading the word to others is support enough 💙
Donate to Washington Post 2026 layoff fund, organized by Rachel Siegel
On Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, The Washington Post laid off hundreds of journalists. We ar… Rachel Siegel needs your support for Washington Post 2026 layoff fund
gofundme.com
Can’t think of any reason why you would need reporters covering the Middle East, Ukraine and China right now.
Middle East powers are pushing for a US-Iran summit in Turkey later this week. The urgency is increasing. "The region’s unprecedented harmony is a measure of shared anxiety: that a U.S. strike on Iran would export chaos—refugees, militancy, instability." www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Middle East Pushes for Iran-U.S. Meeting to Head Off Attack
A flurry of diplomatic activity reflects concerns that military action could destabilize the region.
wsj.com
Iranian security bodies are out in force on the streets, with citizens still left in the dark of an Internet blackout. “It seems like the internet is going to be cut permanently, and this is really horrifying,” one protestor said. “They want to kill us all.”|My piece for @theobserveruk.bsky.social
‘They want to kill us all’: fear replaces hope in Iran as...
Cut off from the rest of the world, the tens of thousands of Iranians who protested against the regime are feeling the full force of its brutal crackdown
observer.co.uk
An important shift in the balance of power in Syria took place today when Sharaa forced concessions from the SDF in a lightning military operation coinciding with a mass defection by Arab factions previously allied with the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led group. www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Syrian President Forces Major Concessions From U.S.-Backed SDF in Cease-Fire Deal
Pro-government forces a seize military base, oil facilities and a dam on the Euphrates river in a weekend offensive before reaching a truce with the Kurdish-led militia.
wsj.com
The banking crisis that led to the current unrest in Iran. Detailed account by @jmalsin.bsky.social of @wsj.com . www.wsj.com/world/middle...
The Obscure Bank Collapse That Sent Iran Into a Tailspin
Bad loans to regime cronies brought down Ayandeh Bank, accelerating a long-running financial crisis.
wsj.com
In many ways, this reminds me of the GDR, only with much worse brutality. How Syrians have suffered is beyond any imagination.
Jared Malsin@jmalsin.bsky.social · 8mo agoOur just-published investigation into Assad's surveillance state which revealed how the former regime urged friends, spouses, and neighbors to inform on each other, leaving a legacy of broken trust that will take years to unravel. www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Our just-published investigation into Assad's surveillance state which revealed how the former regime urged friends, spouses, and neighbors to inform on each other, leaving a legacy of broken trust that will take years to unravel. www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Families, Neighbors Informed on Each Other in Assad’s Syria, With Deadly Consequences
Intelligence files found in a Damascus prison complex reveal cases that led to brutal detentions; a wife records a husband.
wsj.com
“I will keep killing to keep Bashar Assad in power... I will kill half the country if I have to.” My colleagues @jmalsin.bsky.social and Summer Said on the notorious architect of the Assad regimes campaign to kill and collectively punish the Syrian people www.wsj.com/world/middle...
The Hunt for Assad’s Brutal Enforcer
Jamil Hassan left behind a legacy of deaths and torture when he escaped the Syrian revolution last year. Now his former victims are trying to bring him to justice.
wsj.com
U.S. intelligence agencies found that the U.A.E. increased supplies of weapons, including advanced Chinese-made drones, to the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan this year, pouring fuel on a civil war that has killed as many as 150,000 people. | New from me & WSJ colleagues: www.wsj.com/world/how-u-...
Exclusive | How U.A.E. Arms Bolstered a Sudanese Militia Accused of Genocide
Reports by U.S. intelligence agencies show an increase in the flow of materiel from the U.A.E. to the rebel Rapid Support Forces since the spring, according to U.S. officials.
wsj.com
NEW: The Trump administration is seeking congressional approval for nearly $6 billion in weapons for Israel including attack helicopters and military vehicles, even as Israel launched its attack in Qatar and new offensive in Gaza City: www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Exclusive | U.S. Plans $6 Billion in New Arms Sales to Israel
The Trump administration is seeking congressional approval for the sales, moving forward despite Israel’s recent missile strike on Hamas in Qatar.
wsj.com
Inside Syria's death factory: Assad's regime carried out industrial-scale torture and executions that killed tens of thousands over more than a decade. "The worst atrocity of the 21st century" in terms of government involvement. @jmalsin.bsky.social Hamza Bonduk www.wsj.com/world/middle...
A Syrian Death Factory Gives Up Its Secrets
Under the Assad regime, Saydnaya prison became a mass-killing machine; ‘a symbol of shame for the whole world.’
wsj.com
Since December we have been investigating the Assad regime's killings in Saydnaya prison. Based on interviews with 21 former detainees, we show the extent of the atrocities committed in the prison, including an incident in March 2023 in which some 600 men were executed in one week:
A Syrian Death Factory Gives Up Its Secrets
Under the Assad regime, Saydnaya prison became a mass-killing machine; ‘a symbol of shame for the whole world.’
wsj.com
An initial US intelligence assessment says US strikes only set back Iran's nuclear program by a few months and did not destroy underground structures at two of the sites. Our take (first reported today by CNN and NYT): www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
U.S. Strikes Set Back Iran Nuclear Program by a Few Months, Initial Report Says
A preliminary classified intelligence report produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency counters the White House’s claims of more extensive damage.
wsj.com
Israeli forces intercepted a sailboat carrying activists, including climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, who planned to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade on the enclave. www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Gaza-Bound Activist Boat With Greta Thunberg On Board Intercepted by Israel
Activist Thunberg planned to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade on the enclave.
wsj.com
The Trump administration has stopped financing new weapons sales to Ukraine and is considering freezing weapons shipments from U.S. stockpiles, current and former U.S. officials said // New from Nancy Youssef and me: www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
U.S. Hitting Brakes on Flow of Arms to Ukraine
The Trump administration has stopped financing new weapons sales to Ukraine and is considering freezing weapons shipments from U.S. stockpiles, current and former U.S. officials said.
wsj.com
From his island prison cell near Istanbul, the PKK's leader calls on his group to disarm and disband after a 40-year war with the Turkish state. The potential consequences for the region are vast if the militant group and its affiliates heed the call: www.wsj.com/world/middle...
Jailed Kurdish Militant Leader Calls on Followers to Disarm, End 40-Year Conflict With Turkey
The call from Abdullah Öcalan, the leader of the PKK, could have far-reaching consequences for Turkey, Syria, and the broader region.
wsj.com
Trump revoked the NSM-20, a little known but important Biden directive requiring key US weapons recipients to certify their compliance with international law: wapo.st/3ETH2bD
Trump repeals Biden directive linking U.S. arms to human rights
Rescission of the order, imposed by President Joe Biden as he struggled with the civilian toll caused by Israel’s war in Gaza, comes as Trump puts his mark on U.S. foreign policy.
wapo.st
Maha Yahya argues the Middle East needs a Marshall Plan: "The World Bank and UN organizations have estimated that rebuilding the Middle East and providing enough humanitarian aid will cost between $350 and $650 billion." www.foreignaffairs.com/middle-east/...
The Fatal Flaw of the New Middle East
Gaza, Syria, and the region’s next crisis.
foreignaffairs.com
