Eurasia

While sanctions continue to hinder the implementation of the gas deal involving Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, a bus bombing in Damascus wounded 15 police officers. Kurds in Syria also fear a military invasion of the country’s Northeast by Turkey in march. Regional power plan for Lebanon held up over …

The council announced the kidnapping on Saturday of one of its activists, according to Shaam News. The Kurdish National Council in Syria condemned acts that contradict all human values and human rights, which fall within the framework of the policy of silencing voices, preventing freedom of political action, and restricting …

The Turkish intelligence is trying to reopen the M4 highway in a meeting in Idleb with HTS and the Turkish-backed factions. Meanwhile, ISIS has killed several members of the SDF and the Syrian army, and 15 security service members are injured in an attack with an IED. The IDF says …

The U.S. Envoy to NE Syria met with Arab tribal leaders in the governorates of Hassakeh and Raqqa, according to Orient Net. The recent visit of U.S. State Envoy Nicholas Granger to northeastern Syria, accompanied by intense meetings with political, tribal, and military parties, has strengthened the belief that the …

Diplomatic sources in Ankara confirmed to Al-Watan that Moscow is trying to arrange a meeting between the Syrian and Turkish foreign ministers. Russian mediation, alongside Iran, has been active in recent days to bring the views between Damascus and Ankara closer. The mediation’s aim has been to expedite diplomatic talks …

Cherie Blair’s law firm has made hundreds of thousands of euros representing governments in Albania and Serbia, which have also been advised by Tony Blair’s consultancy. Villa 30 in Tirana’s high-end Blloku neighborhood has a a dark past as the place where Albanian former communist Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu – …

Inhumane and traumatising, Polish detention camps don’t even pretend to control irregular migration. After spending months in these high-security facilities, thousands simply continue their journey on to Western Europe. Now in her fourth month in a Polish detention camp for people who have entered the country illegally, Rosa, a young …

Elsewhere, the Czech presidential run-off looks to be going Pavel’s way; Polish Leopard tanks are finally on their way to Ukraine; and a Slovak referendum on shortening parliamentary term fails but the country will still get snap elections. Arecently issued government decree that allows the defence minister to dismiss high-ranking …

A concern that Italy is not adequately exploiting its assets in the Balkans has again started to agitate Italian politicians.According to Dario D’Urso, a contributor to the CeSPI report, Italy played a leading role in the Balkans in the 1990s and early 2000s thanks to bilateral relations and multibilateral endeavours. …

Minority Serbs in Kosovo already enjoy considerable rights under the country’s constitution. Creating an association of Serb-majority municipalities will only further entrench the ethnic divide.One topic currently dominates the so-called dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia – the political association of Kosovo municipalities with a Serb majority, otherwise known as the …