Monthly Archives: October 2020

Turkey begins training Libyan coastguards and thus competes with the EU and Italy

Turkish armed forces have started training the Libyan coast guard, learned BulgarianMilitary.com citing reports of the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. The newspaper rates this as a “further blow” against Rome’s influence on the LibyanGovernment of National Accord [GNA] in Tripoli, as this activity has so far been carried out by …

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Sudan's Normalization Deal with Israel Faces Hurdles

Sudan on Friday became the third state to move toward normalizing relations with Israel. But unlike Israel’s recent deal with Abu Dhabi where hotels are already promoting packages for Israeli tourists, the deal with Sudan still faces several hurdles, including some public opposition.

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Iran Holds Army Ground Force Drill in Border Area as Azerbaijani-Armenian Karabakh Conflict Persists

Earlier this week, Tehran conducted air defence war games after stray missiles and shells made their way into Iranian territory amid ongoing hostilities between neighbouring Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

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U.S.-Armenia-Azerbaijan Joint Statement

The text of the following joint statement was released by the Governments of the United States of America, the Republic of Armenia, and the Republic of Azerbaijan on October 25, 2020. Begin Text: Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with Deputy Secretary of State …

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Iran, Turkey and Qatar condemn France over religious 'desecration'

Why would small groups in Gaza, such as Islamic Jihad, suddenly care about a cartoon in France when they have more pressing issues? This is a sort of regional competition over who “defends Muslims.” Turkey, Iran, Qatar, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad have all come out with statements over the …

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Why is Iran suddenly interested in Palestinian Islamic Jihad again?

For almost a year, Palestinian Islamic Jihad was largely absent from Iran’s media and political push. Now, Iran is back, talking about it in the media a day after Ankara’s press highlighted the group. PIJ claimed it was “mobilizing” in Gaza over the weekend, so the articles do not appear …

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IDF launches 'Lethal Arrow' drill simulating war with Hezbollah

The IDF launched a large-scale multi-front exercise on Sunday morning, simulating war with Hezbollah. Dubbed “Lethal Arrow,” the multi-day general staff drill will see the participation of thousands of troops from various branches of the military including the Air Force, Navy and the Ground Forces, as well as from the …

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Cabinet approves Bahrain peace deal ahead of Knesset vote

The cabinet voted unanimously on Sunday to approve Israel’s normalization deals with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. While the Bahrain declaration underwent a first cabinet vote to move the agreement to the Knesset for debate and a vote before being returned for final ratification by the cabinet, the same …

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