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Seth J. Frantzman

Seth J. Frantzman

srantzman@washingtontimes.com

Seth J. Frantzman's foreign correspondence from the Middle East is often highlighted in the Threat Status daily newsletter produced by The Washington Times.

Articles by Seth J. Frantzman

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he delivers a statement at the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019. Israel's attorney general on Thursday recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with bribery and breach of trust in a series of corruption cases, a momentous move that shook up Israel's election campaign and could spell the end of the prime minister's illustrious political career. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Benjamin Netanyahu: Corruption indictment is election ploy

A defiant Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Thursday to fight a looming indictment on corruption charges, portraying his adversaries as leftists who were abusing the legal system to destabilize the country and end his decade-long hold on power less than six weeks before national elections.

February 28, 2019
U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said the Trump administration was not seeking a regime change in Iran, but "massive change" in its behavior. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

John Bolton promises tough counter to Iran

The U.S. will aggressively counter Iran's attempts to carve out an arc of influence that stretches from Tehran to Beirut via Baghdad and Damascus, visiting National Security Advisor John Bolton said Wednesday in Jerusalem.

August 22, 2018
In this photo combination, Palestinians protest near the border of Israel and the Gaza Strip, left, and on the same day dignitaries, from left, Sara Netanyahu, her husband Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner, and U.S. President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, applaud at the opening ceremony of the new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, May 14, 2018. Netanyahu praised the inauguration of the embassy as a "great day for peace," as dozens of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza amidst ongoing clashes. (AP Photo)

Jerusalem embassy opening marred by violent protests

On a day of surreal, split-screen contrasts, the prime minister of Israel and the daughter of President Trump headlined a celebration of the opening of a U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem while just miles away more than 50 Palestinians were killed in the deadliest protests against Israeli occupation in years.

May 14, 2018
This photo provided early Thursday, May 10, 2018, by the government-controlled Syrian Central Military Media, shows missiles rise into the sky as Israeli missiles hit air defense position and other military bases, in Damascus, Syria. The Israeli military on Thursday said it attacked "dozens" of Iranian targets in neighboring Syria in response to an Iranian rocket barrage on Israeli positions in the Golan Heights, in the most serious military confrontation between the two bitter enemies to date. (Syrian Central Military Media, via AP)

Israel, Iran closer to war after missile barrages

Massively retaliating for what it said was an Iranian military strike across the Golan Heights, Israeli forces unleashed a heavy bombardment against Iranian military positions across Syria on Thursday, in a significant escalation that has brought the two long-hostile Middle East heavyweights to the brink of open war.

May 10, 2018
Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of the Kurdistan Regional Government's foreign relations department (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Kurdish independence vote defended by Iraqi minister

Falah Mustafa Bakir heads the Department of Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan Regional Government. He spoke with Washington Times special correspondent Seth J. Frantzman the day after Sunday's vote on why the region's nonbinding independence referendum deserves international support.

September 27, 2017
Kurds celebrated referendum day Monday in Irbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Regional Government, hoping to send a message to the international community. (Seth J. Frantzman/Special to The Washington Times)

Kurd independence vote raises fears in region

The lines in Ainkawa, a Christian suburb of the Kurdistan Regional Government capital of Irbil, wrapped around the block by noon. Kurds came to vote Monday for independence, and nothing -- not the determined opposition of Iraq's central government, Iraq's neighbors, the United Nations nor the United States -- was going to stop them.

September 25, 2017
Ongoing fighting between rebels of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic and Ukrainian government forces has resulted in collateral damage such as the destruction of civilians' homes. Western powers, though realizing the situation there is grim, are increasingly faced with few viable intervention options. (Reuters)

Ukraine fighters vow to press on in four-year conflict

The Ukrainian fighters in the Donbass Battalion, dug in along the front lines against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, like to add homemade silencers to their AK-47s. It allows their gunfire to go unnoticed not only by the enemy but also by those monitoring the shaky cease-fire, which avoids questions about who started the nightly gunbattles heard along the front.

August 23, 2017
An Iraqi Special Forces vehicle displays a Shiite flag bearing the likeness of Imam Hussein and Imam Ali with Arabic words reading "At your service Hussein" in Mosul, Iraq. State-sanctioned Shiite militias are positioning themselves to control areas liberated from Islamic State militants in northern Iraq, opening the door to fresh domestic and regional conflict and raising concerns among religious and ethnic minorities. (Associated Press/File)

Mosul draws Iran-backed Shiite militias

The road to Mosul is littered with the detritus from almost three years of war: burned M1117 armored vehicles, sandbagged berms and trenches from defensive positions once manned against Islamic State fighters, houses pancaked by airstrikes. The long supply line of the Iraqi army stretches through villages, with bulldozers, camouflaged trucks and temporary base camps.

April 30, 2017