... the Magnificent. And here comes 2003... Perhaps, history is the queen of all sciences after all?
The war in Iraq (or the Third Gulf War) was unleashed in 2003 by the international coalition forces led by the United States, which numbered about 250 thousand troops. This led to the
overthrow
of President Saddam Hussein. Along with him, the Iraqi branch of the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (ASRP/Ba’ath) lost its influence. There was little honor in the war per se. The Iraqi army often surrendered without a fight and eventually capitulated. Regionally and ideologically, the era was definitely ...
... and westward from the Operation Source of Peace area. The goal is to finally establish a safe zone stretching from Idlib to Iraq’s border. In this case, Ankara will have to overcome the resistance of both Washington and Moscow, and it will make it ... ... tries to push Turkey into revoking its prohibition under various pretexts. Finally, another trump card may be Turkey’s refusal to accede to anti-Russian sanctions.
In the current situation, a conflict with Turkey may turn out to be too costly for Moscow,...
...
-Islamic State (IS) war, while a case of a small, asymmetric one, further instigated US engagement with the Kurdish armed forces. Increasingly, state and non-state interactions can be seen to determine the making of politics: US relations with the Kurds of Iraq bear testimony to this. From 1994 onwards the US State Department increased active working with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) as a vital component of the Iraqi opposition. The leading Kurdish role in US plans for ‘regime change’ in Iraq,...
... continue to serve as a physical platform for the US–Iranian confrontation.
The Iranians promised to take a violent revenge on the Americans for their actions. After the funeral processions in honor of Soleimani that brought together hundreds of thousands of people throughout the Middle East, Iran exercised the promised military response to the Americans. On January 8, Iran launched surface-to-surface missiles at bases with American soldiers in Iraq, hitting the Ain al-Assad base in Anbar province and a military base near Erbil. It later turned out that the Iraqi Prime Minister was warned of the attacks in advance and transmitted the information to the Americans. This, along with the accuracy ...
... country’s national interests which contradict other states. Regarding the civil war in Libya, security will aggravate in the country, mainly in Tripoli, unless an agreement is reached among militant groups in addition to Turkey, the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, the USA and Russia. The impeachment process of US President Donald Trump and the US role in the MENA region would determine the future of conflicts in many countries starting from Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya and the future government in Lebanon, Iraq and Algeria, Turkey and Iran. It is also expected that many MENA capitals will witness protests that would change the balance of power in the region. The outlook of the MENA in 2020 ...
... forces.
It was more than three months before the new parliament met in early September 2018. The political process stalled as thousands of people took to the streets for rallies and demonstrations, with the biggest protests
taking place
in Basra. The political ... ... step that signalled the redistribution of power was the election of Chairman of the Council of Representatives (Parliament) of Iraq. On September 15, 2018, the 37-year-old member of parliament from the province of Anbar and member of the Al-Hal (“Solution”) ...
... component, which is harder to counter. We know that ISIS has already chosen a new leader, and as often happens, when you eliminate the head, the person that comes after is usually even more of a risk. The main priority now is to resolve the issue for thousands of ISIS fighters and affiliates, as well as wives and children who are in prison camps in North-East Syria and Iraq. This is another domain where international cooperation will be necessary to ensure that the instability in these regions do not lead to an ISIS 2.0.
It is in this context that international actors need to learn the lesson of Iraq. Any diplomatic ...
If Baghdad is serious about purchasing Russian air defense systems, several issues should be considered
A series of
alleged Israeli strikes
on
Iran-linked targets
in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq have sent shockwaves across the region and beyond. The attacks on Iraq in particular are unprecedented, with long-term effects yet to be revealed. The immediate effect, however, is that both the general public and the elites of Middle East nations ...
... United States as a key security provider in the region, which was the issue since 1990s and accelerated with the invasion of Iraq in 2003, began to fade into the background. Two parallel processes have occurred in the region – the return of Russia as ... ... the desire of the states of the region to diversify their ties does not mean a lack of desire to cooperate with the EU and the USA. Regional elites can use their contacts with Moscow to get greater benefits from the West by showing that they have alternative ...
Washington’s strategy to weaken Iranian influence benefits Moscow and even its relations with Baghdad
A top-level meeting of the Russian-Iraqi Intergovernmental Commission for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation was held in Baghdad on April 24 and 25. It produced
16 bilateral agreements
and memos of understanding in telecommunications, trade, energy, electric power, manufacturing,...
