NewsTracker Answers for week of May 14, 2018

Q: Shortly after President Donald Trump pulled out of a nuclear agreement with Iran last week, Israel said Iran attacked it with rockets fired from its positions Syria.  Israeli warplanes then struck dozens of Iranian military targets inside Syria. Where are Israel, Syria and Iran?

Circle the area on this map


Q: What nation separates Iran from Syria?

A. Iraq

B. Jordan

C. Lebanon

D. Yemen


A. Iran gained great influence in Iraq after the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 and ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, who had invaded Iran in 1980 with U.S. backing. When Hussein’s regime fell, Iraq’s Shia Muslim majority gained power. Iran is the most populous Shia Muslim nation and backs Iraq paramilitaries loyal to its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.


Q: Which nation has nuclear weapons?

A. Iran

B. Israel

C. Syria

D. Iraq


B. While it does not acknowledge it, Israel is believed to have amassed an arsenal of about 400 nuclear weapons since developing nuclear capabilities in the 1960s. The agreement Trump scrapped last week was designed to halt Iran from building nuclear weapons. Israel has bombed nuclear reactors in Iraq and Syria in the past to block weapons development.


Q: Iran and the militias it supports have established several military bases as they have fought in defense of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war. What other nation has been supporting Assad?

A. Russia

B. Saudi Arabia

C. United States

D. All of the above


A. As the Syrian war appears to be winding down, the goals of Russia and Iran may be diverging. Russia favors a strong secular central government in Syria, while Iran may seek a weaker government that would allow its militias free rein. Russia did not condemn Israel’s strikes, as it had in the past, instead calling on Israel and Iran to resolve their differences diplomatically.


Q: The biggest militia sponsored by Iran is Hezbollah, which joined the Syrian civil war in 2012 on the side of Assad, Iran and Russia. Hezbollah’s political wing made big gains in recent elections in . . .

A. Gaza

B. Jordan

C. Lebanon

D. West Bank


C. Hezbollah and its allies were seen as the biggest winners this month in Lebanon's first parliamentary vote since 2009. The Shia Isamist militia has been denounced as a terrorist group by the United States. It was organized by Iran to conduct a guerrilla campaign against Israel after it invaded Lebanon in 1982.