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West Asia Roundup - April 2020
Hirak Jyoti Das, Senior Research Associate, VIF Article

Covid -19 has not dented the desire of the hotspots in West Asia to stay hotter despite it being the Holy month of Ramadan. Any how the war weary Saudi Arabia led coalition declared a unilateral ceasefire in Yemen a....

May 07, 2020 International Relations and Diplomacy , West Asia , Article , ISIS , GNA , Khalifa Haftar , Covid -19 , OPEC , Lebanon Protest , Iran-US escalation , Situation in southern Yemen
COVID-19 in West Asia: Implications for India
Hirak Jyoti Das, Senior Research Associate, VIF Article

The COVID-19 crisis has reflected the significance of nation-state and national boundaries continue to remain the principle barrier to contain the transmission of the pandemic. The initial response in most states included the sealing off of land bord....

April 15, 2020 International Relations and Diplomacy , West Asia , Article , US , COVID-19 , Remittances , Indian migrants , China; Russia
West Asia Roundup - March 2020
Amb Anil Trigunayat, Distinguished Fellow, VIF Article

Abstract:
COVID-19 Pandemic continued to cause havoc globally as well as in the Middle East where most of the returning or evacuated nationals as well as travellers from the infected countries carried the virus. Iran was the most infecte....

April 04, 2020 International Relations and Diplomacy , West Asia , Article , PM Modi , WHO , COVID-19 pandemic , G20 Virtual Summit , Russia-Turkey agreement on Idlib , COVID-19 crisis in Iran , Tunisia Protests , Unity government in Israel
COVID-19: Developments in West Asia
Hirak Jyoti Das, Senior Research Associate, VIF Article

The West Asian region is presently one of the worst affected regions hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The UAE was the first state in the region to report a positive case. Iran subsequently, emerged as a major hotspot for the transmission of the virus in....

April 03, 2020 International Relations and Diplomacy , West Asia , Article , COVID-19 , Global response , Developments in West Asia , West Asian region , G20 summit
West Asia Roundup– February 2020
Amb Anil Trigunayat, Distinguished Fellow, VIF Article

Abstract:
US-Taliban
After a weeklong trial halt in violence by Taliban against US or Afghan targets the Peace Agreement was signed between US and Taliban in Doha that seeks to end the 19 years old war and presence of US for....

March 11, 2020 International Relations and Diplomacy , West Asia , Article , Israel , India , US , Saudi , Taliban , Organisation of Islamic Cooperation , Iranian elections , Qatar hosts peace agreement , Idlib conflict , Hosni Mubarak’s death
Turkey using refugees as a leverage
Rajesh Soami Commentary

Turkey has aided all shades of Syrian rebels (except the Kurds) with arms and other kinds of support in the Syrian civil war since it began in 2011. The Turkish army has also launched incursions across the border and now controls swathes of territory....

March 09, 2020 International Relations and Diplomacy , West Asia , Commentary , Erdogan , Syrian civil war , Moscow , Assad regime , Islamic radicals , EU policy , Migrants , refugees , Greece
The Changing Trends in Libyan Civil War
Hirak Jyoti Das, Senior Research Associate, VIF Article

The civil war in Libya has its roots in the 2011 Arab Spring protests against the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The protests began after Day of Rage was announced in Benghazi on 17 February 2011 and quickly spread to other parts of the state. Th....

February 20, 2020 International Relations and Diplomacy , West Asia , Article , Muammar Gaddafi; Fayez al-Sarraj; General Khalifa Haftar; NTC; GNC , GNA; LNA; Berlin Conclusions; proxy war
West Asia Roundup - January 2020
Hirak Jyoti Das, Senior Research Associate, VIF Article

Abstract:
The year ended on a sombre note and 2020 woke up to more accentuated volatility in West Asia pursuant to the targeted killing of highly influential Iranian IRIGC General Qassem Soleimani by the US drone strikes in Iraq ( ....

February 13, 2020 International Relations and Diplomacy , West Asia , Article , Berlin Conference , US-Iran tensions , The Demise of Sultan Qaboos of Oman , US drone strikes in Iraq
Exploring Iran’s Domestic Dynamics towards the US
Hirak Jyoti Das, Senior Research Associate, VIF Article

The internal political dynamics in Iran are divided into three blocs namely the clergy, the technocracy and the military and security forces. The interplay between the three blocs into the clergy-military; military-technocrat and clergy-technocrat al....

January 31, 2020 International Relations and Diplomacy , US , West Asia , Article , JCPOA , IRGC , Kataeb Hezbollah , Hassan Rouhani , Qassim Soleimani , Popular Mobilisation Forces , Iran-US tensions
Libya – the Unfortunate Domain of International Competition: Berlin and Beyond
Amb Anil Trigunayat, Distinguished Fellow, VIF Article

Soon it will be almost a decade of destruction in Libya which in many ways could be the worst extension of the four decades of Gaddafi’s autocratic rule. On February 17, 2011 ecstatic Libyans had jubilantly marched their revolution for a ‘New Lib....

January 27, 2020 International Relations and Diplomacy , West Asia , Article , Saudi Arabia , Syria , Libya , General Haftar , Tripoli , Tobruk , GNA , UNSMIL , Erdogan
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