Will the global battle against coronavirus help to counter three major MENA wars? The evidence is mixed. Despite Covid-19 numbers rising dramatically in the Gulf states and elsewhere in the Middle East (with a particular concern that Egypt is both suppressing true numbers and showing itself dangerously unprepared) there is one ray of positive news. In Syria, one of the three major conflicts in the region, combatants have appeared much readier to accept a truce and to consider putting talks ahead of guns. In Libya, however, the warlord General …
Articles tagged: ‘Turkey’
Libya: a conversation with the ECFR’s Tarek Megerisi about the war
Posted on Categories PodcastsErdoğan and Putin cobble together a deal over Idlib
Posted on Categories Arab Digest EmailRussia and Turkey have veered away from the risk of a direct confrontation in Syria but the situation in Idlib remains very much in flux. We are again grateful for the article below to David Barchard, a writer on Turkish history and politics. Six days after Presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hammered out a temporary agreement for a cease-fire in the troubled northern Syrian province of Idlib, Turks are trying to work out whether it was a disappointment or a success. The disappointment would be that Turkey has …
Pawns in a Syrian war of attrition
Posted on Categories Arab Digest EmailWhile the Russians, Turks, rebels and Assad wage a chess-like war civilians in Idlib pay the price.
Algeria, Tunisia and the war in Libya
Posted on Categories Arab Digest EmailSummary: Both Algeria and Tunisia have cause for concern as the war in Libya, fuelled and supported by outside players, continues with no end in sight.
As Assad nears victory in Idlib, Turkey takes casualties
Posted on Categories Arab Digest EmailTurkey faces difficult decisions in Syria as Assad’s forces close in on Idlib.
As Idlib falls Erdoğan is faced with a quandary
Posted on Categories Arab Digest EmailTurkey’s President Erdoğan strives to balance relations with Russia as he risks being dragged further into the civil war in Syria.
Libya: no end in sight
Posted on Categories Arab Digest EmailLibyan political activist Ashur Shamis writes that the renegade general Khalifa Haftar has no interest in peace and no strategy other than war as he bids to seize the country.
The proxy war in Libya gathers pace
Posted on Categories Arab Digest EmailThe proxy war in Libya is heating up as Turkish president Erdogan makes good on a promise to commit Turkish troops to the defence of the Tripoli-based GNA.
A brief review of a tumultuous year
Posted on Categories Arab Digest Email2019 has seen the biggest protests in the MENA region since 2011 together with ongoing wars, escalating tensions and economic and political insecurity.