Author: M Barbu

At a weekend summit, six party heads charted a path to ending the executive presidential system that critics say has eroded the country’s democratic institutions.

Leaders of six Turkish opposition parties convened this past weekend in Ankara to chart a path back from the executive presidential system, which they say concentrates too much power in the hands of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the detriment of parliament, the courts and other democratic institutions.

The four missile and drone attacks against the UAE in the space of less than three weeks are a cruel reminder of the fragility of peace moves in West Asia. Responsibility for the first three attacks that took place on 17, 24, and 31 January was claimed by the Houthis as retaliation for the UAE’s support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. The Houthis have close ties with Iran, and it would be fair to assume that the missiles and drones used in these attacks are of Iranian origin, with Hizbollah technicians from Lebanon reportedly providing on-ground support. The fourth attack, an attempt by three armed drones to strike unknown targets in the UAE on 2 February 2022 has been attributed to a relatively unknown Iraqi Shia group with presumed ties to Iran. The missile attacks on 17 January and 31 January and the drone attack on 2 February were thwarted, while the drone attack on 24 January caused limited damage but resulted in the death of two Indian and one Pakistani national in Abu Dhabi.

Iran has normalized the drone threat in the region.

A drone attack was intercepted as it targeted US-led coalition forces in northern Iraq, according to reports over the weekend. According to reports in Iraq the drones were targeting the Harir base.

Meanwhile, France 24 reported that “the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed rebels in Yemen destroyed a communications system on Monday used for drone attacks and located near the telecoms ministry in Sanaa, it said in a statement.” Last October, reports online predicted that Iran might attack the Harir base in Iraq.

N12 reported that 12 terror plots against Israelis in Turkey were foiled in the past two years.

More than a dozen plots against Israelis were foiled in the last two years, Channel 12 reported over the weekend. Further, I24 News reported: “According to the unsourced report, the majority of the plots were linked to the Islamic State jihadist group and targeted Israeli businesspeople on trips to Istanbul.”