With the outbreak of hostilities in Syria in 2011 – the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ – the EU immediately introduced sanctions against Syria and backed the opposition. EU policy on Syria has seen no drastic changes throughout the years of conflict, but is this about to change?

During their first joint summit held in Niamey, the capital of Niger, on Saturday, the military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger signed a treaty according to which the trio became a confederation. This comes just a few months after their departure from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in January.

On May, 31 the UNSC extended the mandate of the Iraq Assistance Mission (UNAMI) for a final 19 months before its complete termination in December 2025. Having adopted S/RES/2732 (2024), the UNSC requested the Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, jointly with Baghdad to decide on a transition plan to transfer the tasks and responsibilities of the mission to the Iraqi government. The liquidation of the…

All parties involved in the Syrian conflict have their own policy and vision as to how the conflict should be managed, however, said parties also have varying instruments of influence and carrying their own weight in the reconciliation process…

Today has been declared the first of five national days of mourning in Iran following the tragic and fatal crash of a helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, Friday prayers leader of Tebriz Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Al-e-Hashem, the Governor of East Azerbaijan Malek Rahmati and other security and crew members…

In mid-May the 33^rd annual Arab League summit will be hosted in the capital of Bahrain, Manama. Some days ago, on the 6^th of April, in preparation for the upcoming summit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain held a remote meeting with Arab ambassadors to the country. The meeting was chaired by Ambassador Ahmed Al Turaifi, Chief of Arab and African Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Abdulla Al Binkhali, Director-General of Administrative Services and Follow-up at the Royal Protocol…

Turkey is planning a massive ground operation in Northern Iraq with the aim of liquidating the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq, which it designates as a terrorist organisation. According to Hürriyet, a publication with close ties to the Turkish government, the operation is scheduled for this summer and will be supported by the intelligence services in Baghdad and Erbil, which will also take measures against PKK activity in Sulaymaniye and Sinjar. The operation aims to close off the Turkish-Iraqi border completely…

With the World Youth Festival 2024 (WYF) having come to an end, thousands of foreigners are on their way home – or to visit one of Russia’s many regions within the scope of the regional programme, organised specifically to show foreigners how vast and different Russia is – after an exciting and eventful week in Sochi. Participants from more than 180 countries were represented at the Festival and the Arab world was no exception; hundreds of guests and participants from all countries of the Arab world were represented at the Festival at various levels…

Soon young people, experts and distinguished guests from all over the world will come together in Sochi, Russia, for the World Youth Festival 2024, the largest youth event in the world. Volunteers and organisers are already at work at the federal territory ‘Sirius’ (the Olympic Park), where the main programme will take place from 1^st – 7^th of March. The history of this event goes back decades; the first such festival was held by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) in 1947 in Prague…

The Middle East, lying at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa, is traditionally a region vital to the sphere of international relations, however, the term ‘Middle East’ encompasses an all but monolithic region; competition for regional influence between various states is evident and cleavages along various lines manifest themselves, including in terms of economic might, confessional, ethnic and language differences, political orientation, military capabilities. Nevertheless, a multitude of factors and shared challenges…