Summary: Iran sees opportunities as stiff Ukrainian opposition blunts Putin’s war efforts and forces him to scale back Russian military presence in Syria.
Summary: a landmark decision by a French court confirms the charge of complicity of the world’s largest cement manufacturer in crimes against humanity over its dealings with the Islamic State in Syria.
Summary: May’s parliamentary elections saw candidates for change emerge as winners and Hezbollah and its allies sustain significant losses so could this be the signal that the country’s long descent into economic chaos may finally be coming to a close?
Summary: as the captagon trade continues to boom in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf, its security and geopolitical implications have become harder to ignore.
Summary: although Russia’s invasion of Ukraine further complicates Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s quest for a geopolitically balanced foreign policy, it stands to help him in his principal objective of securing a further term of office next year.
Summary: a sister battles for her brother’s freedom and that of thousands of other prisoners of conscience held in Saudi Arabia’s prison system.
Summary: with resentment growing in Turkey towards Syrian refugees, President Erdoğan offers homes and promises of a ‘self-sufficient economic infrastructure’ to encourage 1 million to leave.
Summary: as the war in Ukraine enters an ever more dangerous phase, MENA states continue to take a fence-sitting posture that keeps their options open and avoids annoying Putin.
Newlines Institute senior analyst Caroline Rose joins Arab Digest editor William Law to discuss how Syria’s Assad family runs a narco state built on captagon, the illicit drug of choice for the Levant, the Gulf states and the wider Middle East. Working with Hezbollah, the family oversees the manufacture, distribution and sale of a drug that is cheap and easy to produce and is generating billions for the family and their associates.
Summary: while avoiding uncomfortable or unrewarding topics Masrour Barzani talks a good game about solving Iraq’s woes but it is one that is short on detail and long on rhetoric.
