Orientul Mijlociu

These direct and indirect losses are estimated at 107.1 billion dollars, according to SANA.

Syria stressed that the practices of the United States, whose forces are illegally present on Syrian territory, along with the theft and illegitimate trafficking carried out by terrorist groups and the separatist QSD (Syrian Democratic Forces, SDF) militia, have caused huge losses and destruction in the sector of extraction, supply, distribution and investment of oil, gas and mineral wealth since 2011.

Nikolas Granger also met the Department of Foreign Relations of the AANES, according to North Press.

US Senior Representative to Northeast Syria Nikolas Granger met on Wednesday with a delegation of the Kurdish National Council in Syria (ENKS).

The Syrian Network for Human Rights said on Tuesday that at least 154,398 Syrians arrested between March 2011 and August 2022 are still in detention or have been forcibly disappeared by the parties to the conflict and the controlling forces in their country, Anadolu has reported. That figure includes 5,161 children and 10,159 women.

On July 25, the Atlantic Council’s Iraq Initiative and Future of Iran Initiative hosted a virtual event titled “Iran and Iraq: The struggle for tenable relations.” Moderated by Masoud Mostajabi, associate director of Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council, the discussion analyzed the political, economic, and cultural ties and irritants between Iran and Iraq. The event included an introduction by Barbara Slavin, director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, and featured a panel including Abbas Kadhim, director of the Iraq Initiative at the Atlantic Council; Mohsen Milani, executive director of Center for Strategic & Diplomatic Studies and professor of politics at University of South Florida; Randa Slim, senior fellow and director of Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues Program at the Middle East Institute; and Ahmed Tabaqchali, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

After eight months of stalemate in the Iraqi Council of Representatives (CoR), Muqtada al-Sadr ordered his parliamentary bloc to turn in their letters of resignation on June 12 and withdraw from the partially disabled legislature. Even with seventy-three members of parliament out (22 percent of the total members), the institution can still legally conduct regular business. If the mass resignation of the Sadrist bloc becomes final, the law will facilitate a smooth restoration of the full capacity by simply allowing the next highest performer in the October 10 elections to succeed resigning members from the same district. This is particularly straightforward, as the resignation of seventy-three members, although highly significant in symbolism, doesn’t preclude parliament’s ability to have a legal quorum.

Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced he would resign from Iraqi politics on August 29, prompting his followers to storm government palaces in response and sparking fears that violence could erupt in a country already beset by its worst political crisis in years. Iraq’s military announced a nationwide curfew and the caretaker premier suspended cabinet sessions in response to the violence.

The main beneficiaries of the increased revenues will most likely be the office of Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and more importantly the IRGC’s elite branch the Quds Force, which carries out extraterritorial operations to advance the revolutionary principles of the Islamic Republic abroad.

When I joined Ehud Olmert’s government on June 18, 2007, as minister of defense, it was almost three months since planning of the destruction of the Syrian reactor in Deir az-Zor had begun (in late March). I was aware of this activity, having been briefed in late April about the reactor’s existence by Olmert, Mossad head Meir Dagan, and IDF head of intelligence Amos Yadlin. Asked for my opinion on what should be done, I answered on the spot: “We must destroy it.” This issue was the reason for my insistence on entering the defense ministry as soon as possible. I assumed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was deep into preparations to execute an operation, and I believed I could contribute to the operation’s success.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Tuesday threatened to resign due to the violence that has broken out among Shi’ite factions over a long-standing political conflict. In a televised speech, al-Kadhimi said, “The Iraqi blood that was shed yesterday sends a warning to every Iraqi that today we must put weapons under the authority of the state.”