July, 2021

• 27 July

  Tunisian police storm Al Jazeera’s offices amid political upheaval

  

  Following President Kais Saied’s suspension of parliament, Tunisian troops on Monday prevented the parliament speaker from entering the building. A day after President Kais Saied staged what critics called a coup, police in Tunisia have stormed the Al Jazeera office in the capital city and Tunisian troops have surrounded the …

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• 27 July

  Syrian air defense strikes down Israeli missiles – report

  Missiles fired from two Israeli fighter jets were reportedly downed by Syrian air defense systems on Sunday while trying to target the Damascus governorate, Russian media has reported. “From 05:40 a.m. to 05:54 a.m., two F-16 tactical fighter jets of the Israeli Air Force, which stayed outside Syria’s airspace, delivered …

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• 27 July

  Tunisian president ousts government in move critics call a coup

  Tunisia’s president dismissed the government and froze parliament on Sunday in a dramatic escalation of a political crisis that his opponents labelled a coup, calling their own supporters to come onto the streets in protest. President Kais Saied said he would assume executive authority with the assistance of a new …

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• 26 July

  Putin warns of ‘unpreventable’ strikes by Russian navy

  

  The Russian president’s warning comes amid tensions between London and Moscow after a British warship entered waters close to Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday warned that its navy is ready to carry out an “unpreventable strike” on enemy targets if it was in the country’s “national interests.” Putin …

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• 26 July

  Tunisia’s president accused of ‘coup’ after dismissing PM

  

  Tunisian president sacked PM Hicham Mechichi and suspended parliament after day of anti-government protests. Tunisia’s president has suspended parliament and dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi in a move condemned as an attack on democracy by his rivals but which others greeted with celebrations on the streets. President Kais Saied said …

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• 26 July

  Will Biden and Kadhimi Produce Platitudes on Iraq?

  

  At the White House on Monday, the Iraqi leader needs a guarantee that Biden won’t use Iraq’s independence as a pawn in negotiations with Iran. At a military parade in Baghdad in late June, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi saluted the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of largely Iranian-backed …

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• 26 July

  The Final Nail in the Coffin for Privacy? The Saga of the NSO Group’s Spyware

  

  An investigation revealed that spyware tools from Israeli-based surveillance firm NSO Group have been used to target political dissidents, journalists, and human rights activists. NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware tool is so sophisticated that it can defeat high-end encryption and security protocols of electronic devices. Prior to this week’s news reports, …

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• 26 July

  Operating in the Gray Zone: China’s Cyber Operations Call for a Unified Response

  

  The Biden administration responded to China’s aggressive cyber operations by “naming and shaming” Beijing in an attempt to confront the growing threat posed by criminal hackers. For China, cyberattacks are an asymmetric means of confronting the West while attempting to maintain a thinly veiled veneer of plausible deniability.

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• 26 July

  Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Counterterrorism and Peacekeeping in the Sahel

  

  The recent announcement by President Macron that France would end Operation Barkhane, its regional counterterrorism military operation in the Sahel, raises questions about the role of regional and international partners in countering the rising tide of jihadist violence in the region. At the July G5 Sahel summit, Macron further explained …

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• 26 July

  ‘Pegasus Project’ Uncovers a Privacy Nightmare

  

  Pegasus, military-grade spyware designed by the Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group to track terrorists, was used to hack 37 smartphones of journalists, human rights activists and politicians, according to an investigation known as “The Pegasus Project” conducted by The Washington Post and 16 other news organizations led by the journalism …

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