“The US has started packing its bags to leave the Middle East. It is no longer able to impose maximum pressure on us.” — Major General Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, August 4, 2022.
This paper examines the perceptions of Iran and the six GCC states of the interaction between the Iranian nuclear issue and regional security dynamics in the Gulf.
This paper endeavours to capture the perspectives of Iran and the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states on the interactions between the Iranian nuclear programme, international nuclear diplomacy with Iran, and regional security in the Gulf and the wider Middle East.
Algeria will try to find a consensus about the return of Syria to the League in the upcoming meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, according to Asharq al-Awsat.
Algeria, as the host country of the next Arab League summit, still insists on Damascus’s invitation, an official of the Algerian Foreign Ministry has said.
The Jordanian King has said that Amman wants good relations with Iran, according to Arab News.
King Abdullah II protested on Sunday what he described as regular attacks occurring near Jordan’s borders by “militias linked to Iran” in an interview with the al-Rai newspaper.
Turkish forces escalated their air attacks in areas under the control of the SDF, according to al-Modon.
Syrian opposition sources revealed to al-Modon that the pledges made by Turkey’s partners in the Astana track are to discourage Ankara from launching a new military operation against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria, including providing it with information that facilitates targeting leaders of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) –based in the north and northeastern Syria. Its Western NATO partners have already pledged this.
The agreement increased the regime’s oil intake, mainly used for its military forces, Baladi News.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian regime have signed a new agreement to increase oil convoys from areas east of the Euphrates controlled by the SDF to regime-controlled areas.
According to the local al-Khabour website, the planned increase will be at the rate of 160 tanks per week, reaching up to 200 tanks in the future, which will be transported by the Katerji Company.
The Revolutionary Commandos receive ongoing military training from U.S. forces, according to Baladi News.
On Thursday (July 28th), the Revolutionary Commandos (Maghaweer el Thawra) conducted joint military exercises with U.S. forces at the Tanf base in southern Syria.
Four Autonomous Administration’s Internal Security Forces members were killed by a Turkish drone targeting their car in the Ain Issa area, according to al-Modon.
On Thursday, the Kurdish Autonomous Administration’s local authorities stated that they had found a mass grave containing dozens of bodies in northern Syria. The statement suggested that ISIS may have killed the victims during the group’s control of the area.
On Tuesday, the Men of Dignity movement took control of a military security militia headquarters in Sweida governorate.
The Suwayda 24 said that the Men of Dignity movement took control of the Raji Falhout military security headquarters in Sweida and burned it. It was a center for kidnapping, murder, and torture used by the Falhout group.
The killing of longtime al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri could accelerate a trend that has been consistently emerging in recent years—the factionalization and regionalization of the global jihadist movement.