July, 2021

• 11 July

  Hamas leader Meshaal reaches out to Riyadh on Saudi TV

  

  After a decadelong hiatus, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal spoke to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arabiya TV, promoting the resumption of relations with Saudi Arabia. The head of Hamas’ political bureau abroad, Khaled Meshaal, has recently called on Saudi Arabia to resume relations with the Hamas movement, and praised Riyadh’s historical role in …

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• 11 July

  Turkey arrests alleged Gulen supporters for trying to flee to Greece

  

  Many supporters of the outlawed Gulen movement have tried to enter Greece since the crackdown against them in Turkey following the 2016 coup. Turkish authorities arrested a group of people for allegedly seeking to enter Greece illegally Thursday, and accused some of them of belonging to the outlawed Gulen movement. …

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• 11 July

  Iranian commander says border ‘fully secure’ after Taliban seizes key town

  

  The Taliban has gained control of a border crossing between Afghanistan and Iran ahead of the pending US troop withdrawal. The Taliban has taken control of a major Iran-Afghanistan border crossing, prompting a response from an Iranian commander. Iran and the Islamic fundamentalist movement have cordial relations ahead of the …

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• 11 July

  Biden’s airstrikes fail to halt cycle of militia violence in Iraq

  

  The Pentagon says it is taking a recent spate of drone and rocket attacks “deadly seriously.” Pentagon officials are monitoring the situations in Iraq and Syria with “great concern” after at least five rocket and drone attacks targeted sites used by US personnel in the two countries this week. “You’ve …

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• 11 July

  The Pakistan Factor in China’s Afghanistan Policy: Emerging Regional Faultlines amid US Withdrawal

  

  Introduction At the Fourth China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue, held in Guiyang, China on June 3, 2021, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar, and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi discussed various challenges to Afghan peace in the wake of the announcement of the unilateral …

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• 11 July

  OPEC+ and the specter of Iranian oil

  

  On the eve of the July 2021 OPEC+ meeting, it was expected that the threat of Iran’s imminent return to the oil market would force the cartel to reconsider its plans to increase production to reduce volumes that would be brought to market in the second half of 2021. There …

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• 11 July

  Russian-Iranian relations under Raisi and possible post-Khamenei scenarios

  

  On June 18, Ebrahim Raisi won a landslide victory in Iran’s presidential elections. After Raisi’s triumph, Maxim Suslov, the press attaché of the Russian Embassy in Tehran, transmitted a message from President Vladimir Putin congratulating Raisi on his win and pledging to strengthen Russia-Iran bilateral relations. Iranian Ambassador to Russia …

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• 11 July

  The War at Home: The Need for Internal Security Sector Reform in Iraqi Kurdistan

  

  The forces and agencies of Kurdistan’s Ministry of Interior and the Kurdistan Region Security Council, collectively referred to the Kurdistan Region Interior Forces, are now the region’s main security actors, but their role as instruments of partisan rivalry and enforcers of public loyalty to the political bureaus threatens the Kurdistan …

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• 11 July

  Attack Targets U.S. Occupation Base in Deir-ez-Zor Countryside

  

  Missiles were fired at a U.S. military base in the province of Deir-ez-Zor, but potential casualties were not revealed, SANA reports. The U.S. occupation military base at the al-Omar oil field in Deir-ez-Zor’s eastern countryside was targeted on Sunday evening with a missile attack for the second time in less …

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• 11 July

  From War, to Turkey, to Top Scores: The Story of a Young Syrian Refugee

  

  After fleeing war and taking shelter in Siirt, in 2015, Dlyar Safo got a full score on the LGS, thanks to the support he got from his teachers and family, according to Anadolu Agency. After fleeing the horrors of war in Syria, a young refugee taking shelter in neighboring Turkey …

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