Conflict and Peace

"It is likely that Armenia and Turkey are close to making an official announcement about the launch of a new normalisation process. It may result in establishing diplomatic relations, and in Turkey deciding to open its border with Armenia", says Benyamin Poghosyan in this op-ed.

Hours before Grundberg assumed office authorities in Saudi Arabia announced they had intercepted three ballistic missiles targeting the country’s oil-rich eastern region as well as the cities of Najran and Jazan in the south.

The Ethiopian army said on Friday (3 September) that it stopped an attempted attack by forces aligned with Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that attempted to disrupt construction work on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

The Taliban are close to announcing the formation of their new government. They seek the recognition of the international community but this will come with conditions. Over the next weeks and months both the Taliban and the international community will be testing each other's intentions and resolve.

The casualties came on the fifth consecutive day of heavy fighting as the group intensified its attacks on government positions in an attempt to break through defenses and capture the city of Marib. Backed by Arab coalition warplanes, Yemeni army officials said government forces had succeeded in fending off the latest assaults. The Saudi newspaper Arab News said non-stop fighting over the past 24 hours, coupled with more than 41 sorties by coalition jets targeting dozens of enemy reinforcements and equipment, had resulted in major losses for the militant group.

Amid increasing violence in the fighting between the Ethiopian government  and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), who also have the support of other regional forces, civilians continue to bear the brunt of the suffering due toi difficulties with distributing humanitarian aid.

"We’re engaged in a serious competition with China. We’re dealing with the challenges on multiple fronts with Russia. We’re confronted with cyberattacks, and nuclear proliferation. We have to shore up America’s competitiveness to meet these new challenges in the competition for the 21st century."

The last US soldier has now left Afghanistan ending a costly and controversial two-decade presence in the country. But for the people of Afghanistan the future is very uncertain. It is also now clear that there are deep divisions in the international community with regard to how to engage further with the situation that has resulted from the swift Taliban take-over of the country.

France and the United Kingdom want to create a safe zone in the Afghan capital Kabul to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians under the protection of the United Nations. French president Emmanuel Macron has said that France will submit a resolution to this effect to the UN Security Council on Monday (30 August).