Author: M Barbu

Going into 2022, many of the main issues that dominated the European Union’s (EU) relations with the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), from the ongoing talks in Vienna to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, as well as the uncontrolled influx of migrants from the region and Turkey’s long-stalled membership bid, remain on the agenda. Is the new year likely to see a resolution of any of these issues or any other significant changes in relations between the EU and the countries of the region?

Three days have passed since the Houthi attack on the UAE, yet there’s still a lot we don’t know about what really happened. That’s not uncommon. When the Iranians attacked Saudi oil processing facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais in the fall of 2019, it took several weeks to figure out who truly was behind the attack, where they launched it from, what weapons they used, how those weapons performed, and why Saudi air and missile defenses failed to respond.

The State Department announced, on Jan. 19, that Tim Lenderking, the U.S. special envoy for Yemen, is departing for a round of consultations in the Gulf and London. He’ll be joining U.N. Special Envoy Hans Grundberg, who has already arrived in the region. According to the announcement, Lenderking is being dispatched “to press the parties to de-escalate militarily and seize the new year to participate fully in an inclusive UN-led peace process.”

Russia is trying to decrease the influence of the eighth brigade in south Syria, in order to bolster the government’s presence there, according to North Press.

Russia is trying its best to strengthen the Syrian government to reassert its control over south Syria, most notably the Daraa governorate, the birthplace of the protests against the Syrian government.

A Russian-backed campaign by the regime is targeting ISIS in the Syrian Badia, where sleeper cells are conducting deadly attacks, according to Zaman al-Wasl.

Syria and Iran are deepening economic cooperation, as Iran is about to launch a Syrian-Iranian joint bank, according to Asharq al-Awsat.

Syria and Iran reached an agreement to launch a joint free trade zone and bank, the Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rostam Qasemi announced this weekend, in a bid to deepen economic ties.

Describing his visit to Russia as a milestone in the promotion of ties between Tehran and Moscow, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said cooperation and dialogue between the two states would contribute to regional security.

Speaking to reporters before leaving Tehran for Moscow on Wednesday morning, Raisi said he would make the visit at the invitation of his Russian counterpart with the purpose of enhancing the neighborliness and regional diplomacy.