Author: M Barbu

Tension rises in Iraq after failed bid to assassinate PM

The failed assassination attempt against Iraq’s prime minister at his residence on Sunday has ratcheted up tensions following last month’s parliamentary elections, in which the Iran-backed militias were the biggest losers.

Helicopters circled in the Baghdad skies throughout the day, while troops and patrols deployed around Baghdad and near the capital’s fortified Green Zone, where the overnight attack occurred.

Supporters of the Iran-backed militias held their ground in a protest camp outside the Green Zone to demand a vote recount. Leaders of the Iran-backed factions converged for the second day on a funeral tent to mourn a protester killed Friday in clashes with security. Many of the faction leaders blame the prime minister for the violence.

Victory in Syria Requires Learning from Afghanistan

At the end of the day, these seemingly intractable conflicts can’t be won with just military might, or even by diplomacy in Geneva, but only by building governance that has the legitimacy of the people.

The world was stunned in mid-August when Afghan Armed Forces laid down their weapons in what the Washington Post reported as “a breathtaking series of negotiated surrenders” to the Taliban. In addition to feeling abandoned by the United States, these soldiers had reportedly been “badly paid, ill-fed and erratically supplied.” When assessing what went wrong, the focus should be on the lack of legitimacy of the Afghan government with the army and the people of Afghanistan. It was especially telling when reports surfaced of President Ashraf Ghani allegedly fleeing with cars and a helicopter full of cash, reinforcing the culture of corruption. Was this a government worth fighting for?

Cautious Optimism as Syrian Army Returns to SDF Positions

As a Turkish operation in Northern Syria against the SDF looms, the Syrian Army is getting closer to the Kurdish-led group, according to al-Watan.

Informed sources within the city of Ayn Issa revealed to al-Watan that the Syrian army has strengthened its presence near Ayn Issa and the outskirts of the city of Tell Abyad, in the northern countryside of the Raqqa governorate. The sources revealed that meetings had been held between representatives of the Syrian Arab Army and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leaders, which have not yet yielded any significant results.

The Threat of Al Qaeda and ISIS-K in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan

A year and a half before their takeover of Afghanistan in August, the Taliban signed a deal with the U.S. stipulating that they would not allow any individuals or groups to use Afghan soil “to threaten the security of the United States and its allies.”

Today, with the Taliban in control and U.S. troops withdrawn after two decades of war and insurgency — a moment that FRONTLINE correspondent Najibullah Quraishi examined in the October 2021 documentary Taliban Takeover — those concerns remain. On Oct. 26, a top Pentagon official said terrorist groups in Afghanistan could be capable of launching attacks on the West and its allies within six months to two years.

US senator moves to ban Turkish drone exports, Azerbaijan aid

A senior United States senator, known for his ties to the U.S.’ Greek and Armenian lobbies, has proposed measures that target Turkey’s defense sector exports and aid to Azerbaijan.

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, chairperson of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Thursday recommended measures to put Turkey’s drone program under harsh scrutiny and deny any further aid to Azerbaijan.

Confronting Challenge Of Weaponized Corruption In Black Sea Region And Beyond – Analysis

Existing and emerging democratic nations around the world—particularly the Black Sea countries bordering Russia—face expanding threats that transcend traditional forms of warfare. Authoritarian regimes such as those of the current Russian Federation and People’s Republic of China increasingly rely on creative measures short of war to undermine, stall, or outright resist the spread of democratic principles around the world—principles that remain anathema to their tenuous grip on power.

Countering Transnational Crime Demands Greater Global Cooperation – Analysis

Transnational organised crime (TOC) is becoming an increasingly global problem that will require international and interagency coordination, network analysis and information sharing. Drug trafficking accounts for 30 per cent of the proceeds of TOC. It also includes a wide-range of other criminal activities such as human trafficking, arms trafficking, migrant smuggling, counterfeit goods, environmental crime, cybercrime, illegal unreported and unregulated fishing and money laundering. TOC groups seldom constrain themselves to just one criminal activity, instead maximising profit while minimising risk.

Turkish forces detain 149 Afghan migrants

Turkish security personnel have arrested nearly 150 Afghan migrants on the border with Iran, media reports said on Saturday.

The Afghan citizens were detained on Thursday in the eastern city of Bitlis after the country boosted border security to block entry from Afghanistan via Iran.

With Haqqanis at the Helm, the Taliban Will Grow Even More Extreme

The Haqqani network has long been the most lethal and vicious element of the Taliban.

Afghanistan’s newly appointed minister of interior and acting minister of refugees each have $5 million bounties on their head for their involvement with international terrorism. Sirajuddin Haqqani and his uncle, Khalil, are members of the Haqqani network, an Afghan Sunni Islamist militant organization that is functionally part of the Taliban and which the United States designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2012.

Taliban size up the threat from a tenacious IS-K

As the Taliban shift their focus from insurgency to government, their most formidable rival is the Islamic State’s regional chapter, which has staged a string of bloody attacks in recent weeks.

The latest atrocity claimed by Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) killed at least 19 people Tuesday, including a senior Taliban commander at a military hospital in Kabul, with dozens more wounded.