Orientul Mijlociu

Turkish strikes on Syrian government troops and overt Kurdish attacks on targets inside Turkey signal that both sides are changing the rules of the game as Ankara eyes normalization with Damascus.

Ankara’s reconciliation overtures to Damascus have been accompanied by growing Turkish attacks on Syrian Kurdish and government forces along the border — a sign of new engagement rules in a border strip extending 32 kilometers (20 miles) into northern Syria that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to see as a “safe zone.”

When the regime’s television host asked him about the video showing concrete being poured into the Arak reactor’s pipes to block them, Ali Akbar Salehi, former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran responded: “[N]ot the pipes you see here. We had purchased similar pipes, but I couldn’t announce it at that time…. We needed to be smart.” — Iran Focus, August 2, 2022.

“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.

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.