mircea

Turkey’s Sahel strategy

On Sept. 9, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu embarked on a three-day trip to West Africa, which included stops in Mali, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau. During his trip, Cavusoglu emphasized Turkey’s support for Mali’s post-coup transition process, struck infrastructure-related commercial deals with Guinea-Bissau, and underscored its commitment to engaging with multilateral …

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Is Iran Losing Its Grip on Its Proxy Militias in Iraq?

Earlier this month, a prominent researcher and security expert in Iraq, who was close to the new prime minister and to Western governments, was gunned down outside his home in Baghdad. While the identify of his assailants remains unknown, Hisham al-Hashimi had many enemies, given his history of speaking out …

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Is Syria’s Assad as Weak as He Appears?

It might seem like an all-too familiar story: With its economy cratered by civil war, and new pockets of anti-regime resistance, Syria is on the verge of state collapse. President Bashar al-Assad isn’t just on the back foot; he is weaker than ever. Is he about to fall?

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This New, Narrow Vision for the Middle East Isn’t Really About Peace

Imagine a different Middle East. “Were all outstanding hostilities resolved, border formalities simplified and roads unblocked, one might breakfast beside the Mediterranean in the Lebanese capital of Beirut, drive up to the Syrian capital of Damascus for lunch, race south to Jordan’s Amman for tea, make Jerusalem for an early …

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Can Lebanon Rebuild Not Just Beirut, but Its Broken Political System?

The devastating explosion that tore through Beirut earlier this month exposed the elite corruption at the heart of Lebanese governance. The blast itself, which was almost certainly caused by a stockpile of highly explosive ammonium nitrate that had sat unguarded at Beirut’s port since 2013, may not have been deliberate.

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Syrian Economy Lost 442 Billion Dollars over Eight Years

A recently published report estimated the size of the losses suffered by the Syrian economy during the last eight years, at more than 400 billion dollars. The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), in cooperation with St. Andrews University in the UK, issued a report in which it …

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State of Alert in Southern Syria After Targeting Russian Faction

The Russian-backed “Fifth Corps” have carried out an inspection campaign after some of the Corps’ members were targeted in Busra. As crimes and assassinations continue in Southern Syria, Busra – which is the stronghold of the Fifth Corps – witnessed the first assassination attempt of a prominent leader last Saturday, …

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