This week, experts and diplomats paid great attention to Riyadh, where the 161^st Gulf Cooperation Council Ministerial Council Meeting was held on September 9.

A series of meetings between representatives of the United States, Qatar and Israel have just taken place in Cairo with, aimed at working out the details of an increasingly elusive ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Hamas representatives have repeatedly been invited to join these negotiations, but they have not yet given their consent.

The 2001 invasion and the following US occupation of the country, which lasted until 2021, left behind terrible, protracted consequences that can still be felt today. Seeing the example of Afghanistan, the world has clearly seen the ‘charms’ of US governance of the whole world.

The civil war in Sudan, which began in April, 2023, is on the verge of spreading to the entire Horn of Africa. With almost 10 million people internally displaced and more than 25 million facing acute hunger, humanitarian losses are already catastrophic and continue to grow. This tragedy is a result of the endless cycle of failed peace initiatives and the escalation of conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

While Iran is carefully planning its response to the provocative assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, European leaders are doing their best to save Netanyahu’s criminal regime and grant it the right to continue engaging in terrorist activities. A few days after Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran, while he was attending the inauguration of the new Iranian president, several European leaders appealed to Pezeshkian, urging him to de-escalate the situation and abandon a retaliatory strike against Israel.

According to US media, Washington has approved $20 billion+ in weapon sales to Israel. The modern weaponry includes up to 50 F-15 fighter jets, up to 30 modern medium-range air-to-air missiles, tactical vehicles and a large number of tank and mortar shells. By giving Israel another carte blanche to continue the genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, the current Joe Biden administration has made it clear to the world that the US is also a direct participant in the massacre of Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is terribly afraid of the cessation of armed hostilities in the Middle East. If this will happen, he will be forced to face investigate committees and questions regarding his own accountability and mistakes. He will not only have to answer many uncomfortable questions from the families of hostages, but also have to be severely punished for the death of many of them – though many could have been saved.

A number of Iranian officials are emphasising the Leader of the Islamic Revolution’s vow to take revenge on Israel for the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. He was killed when a shell hit his temporary residence in northern Tehran, according to a statement from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The head of the Hamas political bureau travelled to Iran to attend the inauguration ceremony of President Masoud Pezeshkian.

President Joe Biden’s decision to end his re-election campaign has evoked shock and many questions in the American political landscape. At the same time, he endorsed the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor, calling on Democrats to rally around her.

In a statement, Lebanese Hezbollah categorically denied the allegations voiced by various Israeli media platforms about striking Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. On July 27, a rocket hit a football field in Majdal Shams, killing 12 people, including children.

The UN International Court of Justice of the United Nations ruled in the Hague (Netherlands) that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is illegal and called for its immediate cessation, as well as stopping settlement construction, issuing an unprecedented and strong condemnation of Israel’s rule in the lands it seized 57 years ago. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu harshly condemned this conclusion, issued by a panel of 15 judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), saying that these territories are allegedly part of the historical homeland of the Jewish people.

Ethiopian authorities are looking for a way to break through the established geographical blockade. The ambitious Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, took up this task. Experts say that Ethiopia’s determination to have its own port facilities in the Red Sea is leading to increased tensions in the strategically important Horn of Africa region.