Articles

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 West Asia , International Relations and Diplomacy , Article , WHO , Unity government in Israel , Tunisia Protests , Russia-Turkey agreement on Idlib , PM Modi , G20 Virtual Summit , COVID-19 pandemic , COVID-19 crisis in Iran

COVID-19: Developments in West Asia

Hirak Jyoti Das, 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 West Asia , International Relations and Diplomacy , Article , West Asian region , Global response , G20 summit , Developments in West Asia , COVID-19

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 West Asia , International Relations and Diplomacy , Article , US , Taliban , Saudi , Qatar hosts peace agreement , Organisation of Islamic Cooperation , Israel , Iranian elections , India , 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 West Asia , International Relations and Diplomacy , Commentary , Syrian civil war , refugees , Moscow , Migrants , Islamic radicals , Greece , EU policy , Erdogan , Assad regime

The Changing Trends in Libyan Civil War

Hirak Jyoti Das, 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 West Asia , International Relations and Diplomacy , 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, 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 West Asia , International Relations and Diplomacy , Article , US-Iran tensions , US drone strikes in Iraq , The Demise of Sultan Qaboos of Oman , Berlin Conference

Exploring Iran’s Domestic Dynamics towards the US

Hirak Jyoti Das, 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 US , West Asia , International Relations and Diplomacy , Article , Qassim Soleimani , Popular Mobilisation Forces , Kataeb Hezbollah , JCPOA , IRGC , Iran-US tensions , Hassan Rouhani

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

सुलेमानी की हत्या: आगे क्या?

Lt General S A Hasnain, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM (Bar), VSM (Bar), Distinguished Fellow, VIF Article

चूंकि कासिम सुलेमानी गुप्त तरीके से काम करने के लिए बनाई गई रणनीतिक सेना के कमांडर होने के नाते ....

January 21, 2020 West Asia , International Relations and Diplomacy , Article , सुलेमानी , ईरान , आईएसआईएस , अमेरिका

Analysing Iran’s Counter Strikes

Hirak Jyoti Das, Research Associate, VIF Article

Iran on 8 January 2020 launched 22 surface-to-surface missiles at two US military bases in Ain al-Asad base in Anbar province and one facility in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.¹ The operation called, “Shahid Soleimani” has been....

January 17, 2020 Operation Shahid Soleimani , IRGC , Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) , Kataeb Hezbollah , War Powers Resolution , Article , International Relations and Diplomacy , West Asia