July, 2021

• 14 July

  Will Turkey use Syrian mercenaries in Kabul?

  

  Turkey is allegedly planning to use Syrian fighters in its proposed mission to guard and run Kabul’s airport, but this time recruitment is expected to proceed via private security firms. Turkey’s government appears to have learned little from the troubles it has faced for deploying Syrian fighters in the wars …

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• 14 July

  Bedouin Israeli millionaire charged with spying for Iran

  

  Businessman Yaqoub Abu al-Qia’an, who was briefly a Knesset candidate in right-wing Telem party, accused of providing information to Iranian intelligence via a contact in Lebanon A Bedouin Israeli millionaire who briefly ran for Knesset with former defense minister Moshe Ya’alon was charged on Monday with passing information to Iranian …

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• 14 July

  Can the Afghan government draft a new constitution with the Taliban?

  The country’s long journey of competing political visions begins in 1964, and right now, the future seems up for grabs. The Taliban are making rapid territorial gains in Afghanistan’s countryside while Afghan security forces coalesce around urban centers. But the only sustainable path that will bring peace is a political …

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• 14 July

  The Forever War in Afghanistan is Far From Over

  

  Over the last week, I have been watching the Taliban sweep across the map of northern Afghanistan, capturing places that I first visited in 2001 at the beginning of the US-backed war. Taliban fighters have seized the main bridge to Tajikistan on the Amu Darya, a river that I crossed …

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• 14 July

  Pompeo speaks at conference by controversial Iran opposition group

  

  Slovenia’s prime minister and other former US officials also speak at virtual event held by Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. Former Obama and Trump administration officials as well as Slovenia’s premier attended a Sunday event held by the controversial Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen-e Khalq, leading to criticism. The organization’s Free Iran 2021 World Summit …

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• 14 July

  What does Saudi ban on Syrian produce mean for Assad’s government?

  

  The kingdom’s decision to ban the import of produce from the government-held areas is viewed as a sign that the kingdom has not changed its position toward the Syrian government. Speaking to the local Al-Watan newspaper July 6, Fayez Qassuma, vice president of the Export Committee in the Damascus Chamber …

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• 14 July

  Iran says US prisoner swap negotiations underway

  

  The Iranian comments followed US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley’s pledge that the United States would not accept a partial deal that does not bring home all four detained Americans from Iran. Iran said Tuesday that negotiations are ongoing over a possible prisoner exchange with the United States as …

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• 14 July

  Saudi Arabia’s race for Gulf economic leadership takes to the sky

  

  The kingdom diversification plan goes head-to-head with flag carriers Emirates and Qatar Airways, as intra-Gulf economic rivalries heat up on all fronts. Saudi Arabia plans to launch a second national airline “as soon as possible” to catapult the country into the fifth rank globally in air transit traffic, increase air …

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• 14 July

  Turkish airstrikes ignite Assyrian lands, villagers organize firefighting response

  

  The fire and lack of emergency response is endemic in the region as Turkish attacks routinely impact communities in Iraq’s north. A Turkish airstrike July 6 ignited agricultural fields of Assyrian villages in the Nahla Valley of the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq. As flames burned for hours at night …

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• 14 July

  Taliban renews demand that Turkey leave Afghanistan

  American and Turkish officials are still ironing out the last details on how to secure Kabul’s airport. The Taliban on Monday reiterated its demand that Turkey’s military forces leave Afghanistan along with NATO and US forces departing the country this summer. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said Turkish forces would be …

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