Orientul Mijlociu

A U.S.-Iran understanding may have calmed tensions, but this was followed by Kurdish-Arab fighting that did precisely the opposite.

The summer was hot in northeastern Syria, as has been the transition to autumn. The season began with increased tensions between U.S. forces, which maintain a presence in the northeast, on the one hand, and Russia, Iran, and the Syrian regime on the other. According to U.S. officials and leaked documents from the Pentagon, since late 2022 Moscow, Tehran, and Damascus have been cooperating to increase pressure on U.S. forces and drive them out of the northeast. Russia has harassed U.S. and allied aircraft, and has also damaged U.S. drones. Iran-linked groups, in turn, have attacked American forces and carried out escalatory moves such as transporting anti-aircraft missiles into Deir al-Zor Governorate.

For over 30 years, policymakers and scholars have taken for granted that Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait simply to seize its oil. That narrative misleadingly suggests that the Iraqi invasion happened to coincide with, but was unrelated to, the dawn of the post-Cold War era. In fact, Saddam’s decision-making was inextricable from his interpretation of the end of the Cold War. In late 1989 and early 1990, he posited that Soviet retrenchment portended a five-year period of American unipolarity, after which Japan and Germany would restore a global balance of power. Until that new equilibrium emerged, Saddam genuinely feared that the United States and Israel would use their unchecked power to destabilize his regime in pursuit of their hegemony over the Middle East. In the summer of 1990, Kuwait’s oil overproduction persuaded the Iraqi leadership that the Kuwaiti royal family was complicit in the U.S.-led plot that they believed was already in full swing.

The UK before the economic crisis of 2008 was very different from the UK that emerged from the global financial meltdown and its repercussions, which have shaped, or rather failed to appropriately shape, the priorities of the country ever since.

“Iran stands by the Palestinian people and their resistance.” — Ali Akbar Velayati, senior Iranian official, to leaders of the Palestinian terror groups, almayadeen.net. August 22, 2023.

“The victories that have been achieved are the result of the support of friendly peoples, especially Iran.” — Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, thanking senior Iranian official Velayati for Iran’s support for the terror attacks against Israel, almayadeen.net, August 22, 2023.

Clashes in Kurdish-held northeast Syria between the army and Turkey-backed armed factions killed 23 people on Sunday after pro-Ankara rebels attempted to infiltrate the area, a war monitor said.

The violence comes amid days of separate clashes in Kurdish-held parts of neighbouring Deir Ezzor province after US-backed, Kurdish-led fighters detained the head of a local military body there.

Abstract: This article explores what is known regarding the Islamic State’s leaders since the killing of the group’s second caliph Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (conventionally dubbed “al-Mawla” for shorthand) in February 2022. In contrast with the group’s first caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the organization has publicized little information on his successors, who have released no audio messages of their own. Despite the fact that the group’s caliphs are now very much ‘men of the shadows,’ there is little evidence pointing to the prospect of the group’s fragmentation in Iraq, Syria, or elsewhere around the world, with the group’s affiliates seemingly willing to accept successor caliphs about whom little or nothing is publicly known.

Turkey’s advancements in defense technology, particularly the Bayraktar TB-2 drone, have played a pivotal role in conflicts such as the war between Russia and Ukraine. Turkey has also emerged as the largest exporter of drones since 2018, highlighting the importance of drone technology for its defense and projection on the international stage. The development of its own drone technology by Turkish Aerospace Industries and Baykar has allowed Turkey to overcome challenges in acquiring drones from other countries and has positioned Turkey as a key player in global politics. Furthermore, the success of Turkish drones in conflicts like Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh has outperformed drones from the US, Israel, and China, reshaping global geopolitics.