Followers of Iraqi Shi'a cleric and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr and those of the Iran-aligned Coordination Framework clashed in downtown Baghdad on Aug. 29. Iraqis spent that evening wondering whether the country was descending into an intra-Shi'a civil war.
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On Aug. 14, Pakistan marked its 75th independence day, like many of the preceding 74, in a state of political and economic crisis. Days later, epic floods would befall the country, submerging a third of it under water. Pakistan can no longer afford business as usual.
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Al Qaeda once again has a safe haven in Afghanistan, endangering Americans.
The US dollar may be losing its dominance in the Middle East to the yuan.
In an effort to guarantee a 61-seat majority at the Nov. 1 elections, opposition head Benjamin Netanyahu mediated and pushed far-right Religious Zionism and ultranationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir to run on one ticket.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he is bent on creating an “end-to-end” security belt along Turkey’s southern borders with Syria and Iraq — a vision too ambitious given the political and topographic conditions of the areas in question.
The Omani economy is benefiting from both higher oil and gas revenues and the country’s fiscal policies and discipline.
Rival Shiite armed factions took their fight to Iraq’s key port city as leaders officially called for calm and closed offices.
Even though Turkey’s economy continued to expand in the second quarter, the share of payments to employees dropped to the lowest level since Erdogan’s party came to power two decades ago.
A diplomatic crisis is brewing in the Maghreb region amid tension between Morocco and Tunisia after President Kais Saied received the leader of the Polisario Front.
Recent deadly clashes have alarmed regional and international powers, as civilians fear displacement and a shortage of medicine and food.
by Nawaf Obaid, Joel D. Rayburn via The CaravanFor more than eleven years there has been precious little accountability as Bashar al-Assad and his Syrian regime have committed the worst atrocities of the twenty-first century, but mounting documentary evidence of Assad’s deliberate policy of mass murder and torture may change that.
by Anwar Al-Bunni Via The CaravanThe Syrian regime is guilty of terrible war crimes - the killing of civilians, destruction of property, and the use of chemical weapons against defenseless civilian populations.
Nordic Monitor
September 5, 2022
https://www.meforum.org/63550/erdogan-protects-isis-network-in-turkey