On September 12, during a tour of Habib Bourguiba Street, amid heavy guard, Tunisian President Kais Saied said that the new government would be formed “as soon as
possible”, and hinted that Tunisia’s constitution may be amended.
Topic:
Government, Democracy, Constitution, and Domestic Politics
Turkish opposition pledged to take down President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the June
2023 elections and to restore the parliamentary system. Meral Akşener, leader of the
Iyi (Good) Party, promised that the next president will be from the Nation Alliance consisting of her party and the Republican People’s Party ((CHP) - the biggest opposition
party in Turkey). It is noteworthy that the Turkish opposition won the 2019 municipal
elections in Istanbul and Ankara by following the same strategy of alliances.
Topic:
Reform, Elections, Domestic Politics, Political Parties, and Escalation
US-based oilfield services group Halliburton said on September 14 that it was awarded a contract to drill as many as five wells off the coast of Israel. Halliburton, which
will conduct the work for London-based Energean, will deliver all services including
project management, production enhancement, and subsea services. Halliburton previously executed a four-well campaign at Energean’s Karish and Karish North gas
fields offshore Israel.
Eighteen members of the Ennahda Movement, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, submitted their collective resignations from the movement’s membership on
September 26, 2021, just only three days after 113 others have resigned as well. This
brings the total number of members who resigned in two days to 131 members. This
is a significant indication of the intensifying disputes and divisions within the movement following the Tunisian President’s announcement of exceptional measures in
the country on July 25, 2021.
Topic:
Reform, Democracy, Domestic Politics, and Ennahda Party
The ISIS Amaq news agency on September 19 announced on its Telegram channel that
the Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISKP claim responsibility for three bombings
in Jalalabad in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province. The Taliban accused the
organization of carrying out a fourth attack in the Afghan capital Kabul. The developments come amid concerns in the West that the next terrorist threat from Afghanistan
is this particular militant group.
Somalia is witnessing an escalation in the current political crisis, which is likely to undermine the credibility of the Somali leadership, in addition to threatening the internal
stability in Somalia, as concerns heighten regarding the country possibly plunging
into civil wars, similar to what happened in previous historical periods due to the clan
nature of the Somali society.
Topic:
Security, Leadership, Crisis Management, and Political Crisis
On October 2021, Libyan House of Representatives announced that the election dates
would be rescheduled, so that presidential elections would be held on December 24,
while the legislative elections would take place thirty days later. Originally, the legislative elections were supposed to be held on the same day as the presidential elections.
This can be considered a new step taken by the Parliament with the aim of showing
commitment to the roadmap by approving the parliamentary election law.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held their
first face-to-face talks on October 22 in Sochi, Russia. The summit talks, called by Putin, were slated for only two hours but lasted for about five hours, reflecting the two
sides’ interest in enhancing coordination about several common issues, and warming
up the Israeli-Russian relations which cooled down since Bennett rose to power.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Treaties and Agreements, Syrian War, and Consensus
On October 21, Daily Sabah announced that an Israeli spy ring, consisting of 15 agents, was arrested in Turkey early in October. The Turkish newspaper affiliated with the Turkish government and JDP said that the spy ring targeted Israel's opponents in Turkey. A day later, the newspaper affirmed that one of the arrested agents collected information about Palestinians residing in Turkey, and about Turkish military industries. However, Ankara did not officially announce the news, while Israel denied the accusation.
A few weeks earlier, the pro-Hamas Shehab News agency announced that seven Palestinian PNA and Mossad agents were arrested in Turkey allegedly for spying on certain Palestinian residents in Turkey.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Espionage
Iraqi media outlets such as Dijlah, Al-Rafidain TV and Al-Sharqiya, on November 7,
reported that Esmail Qaani, the commander of the Quds Force, a branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), had arrived in the Iraqi capital on November 7 on an
unannounced visit. Qaani met with the chiefs of Shi’ite militant groups, as well as
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and the Iraqi President Barham Salih. Qaani expressed rejection of the assassination attempt on al-Kadhimi. Qaani’s visit was part of
Iran’s efforts to bring its Iraqi armed groups under control in exchange for giving their
parties a share in the next government.
Topic:
Government, Non State Actors, Media, and Assassination