Orientul Mijlociu

With Iran still reeling from its 12-day war, Israel retains a hidden weapon in its arsenal against the Islamic Republic—disaffected minorities who also seek to overthrow the government.

Analysts and former Israeli officials tell Newsweek that discussions toward endorsing such activities are gaining traction as tensions continue to simmer across the Middle East.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei rejected recent calls by Iranian reformist officials to reform Iran’s domestic and foreign policies.[1] Khamenei delivered a speech on August 24 in which he claimed that “Iran’s enemies” failed to defeat Iran during the Israel-Iran War and are now trying to do so by “creating discord in the country.”[2] Khamenei claimed that agents of the United States and Israel, along with “heedless speakers and writers,” are creating division.[3] Khamenei may have used the term “heedless speakers and writers” to refer to reformist officials who have recently called on the regime to reform its domestic and foreign policies. Former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on August 13 for the regime to make concessions to the Iranian people, strengthen societal resilience, and reduce tensions with the West.[4] The Iranian Reformist Front separately issued a statement on August 17 that called for political reforms and foreign policy shifts, including suspending uranium enrichment under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) oversight.[5] Khamenei rejected this and similar calls to engage with the United States in his speech on August 24, stating that the conflict between Iran and the United States is “unsolvable.” Khamenei additionally rejected direct talks with the United States but did not explicitly rule out the possibility of indirect negotiations.

Latest Developments

• Talks in ‘Advanced’ Stage: Interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa told representatives of Arab media outlets that Syria and Israel are in “advanced” talks on a security pact based on the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement, adding that the chances that a deal will be reached are high. Sharaa emphasized that he did not believe it was the right time for a peace deal between the two neighboring states, which have technically been at war since 1948, but added that he “will not hesitate to take” any agreement that benefits Syria.
• Syria to Provide Security Guarantees for Economic Investment: Details of the deal have been discussed during at least two U.S.-mediated meetings between Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Shaibani in July and August. Based on reports of the deal taking shape, Syria would agree to a complete demilitarization of the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, prevent the entry of any weapons or terrorists that could threaten Israel’s security, and establish a humanitarian corridor to the predominantly Druze Suwayda region. In return, Syria will be rehabilitated by the United States and allied Gulf states after having suffered economically during more than a decade of civil war.
• Syria Aims to Stop Continued IDF Operations: Damascus is also pushing to restore the disengagement line established after the October 1973 war as part of the deal. After Sharaa’s Islamist forces overthrew the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad in December, the IDF took control of the Syrian side of the UN-patrolled buffer zone. Since then, Israel has conducted raids against terrorist cells in southern Syria, as well as airstrikes to protect the Syrian Druze minority against attack by pro-government forces.

Palestinian Territory – Israel has begun executing its unlawful plan to destroy and occupy Gaza City. The army is carrying out simultaneous bombing and demolition operations across the south, east, and north, advancing from three axes towards the city’s centre in a campaign of comprehensive destruction and systematic erasure. This escalation marks a new phase of the genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, ongoing for 23 months.

The UN food insecurity monitor declared, ‘Over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions’

A United Nations body has declared a famine in Gaza as Israel’s genocidal assault intensifies.

Israel has been starving millions of Palestinians for months. On Friday the Integrated Food Phase Classification (IPC), the UN’s food insecurity monitor, said, “Over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic conditions, characterised by starvation, destitution and death.”

“Every day there is a new demolition operation. Every day settlers take more and more land. Every day there is violence. ”

Gaza is not the only focus of Israel’s terror regime. In the West Bank, settlers and the Israeli occupation is destroying the lives of Palestinians.

In Gaza, over 100,000 tonnes of explosives have been dropped on the small 41-kilometre-long coastal enclave that was already under a brutal 18-year blockade, and more than 650 days of a relentless onslaught have pulverised homes, lives, and the threads of memory.

Bottom Line Up Front

• Amid major setbacks for Iran and its Axis of Resistance, Iraq’s political leaders are trying to gain firm control over militias that are duly constituted forces but act outside the national chain of command.
• An armed clash at a government building between security forces and militia commanders in late July reflected their pushback against efforts to constrain their autonomy.
• Clashes and other forms of competition involving the militias will likely expand and intensify as the November 11 national elections approach.
• The outcome of Iraq’s debate over the militias might shape whether the country can integrate more closely into the Arab world and reduce Iranian influence in the country.

Turkey’s Syria policy didn’t materialize in a vacuum. Rather, it was a reaction to the Arab uprisings that began in January 2011, known as the Arab Spring, which Turkish policymakers interpreted as a providential opportunity.