TURKEY STEPS CLOSER TO COALITION AGAINST ISIS
After days of an advance by ISIS fighters on the Syria-Turkey border city of Kobani, Turkey has announced itwill allow US and coalition forces to use its bases for operations against ISIS in both Syria and Iraq. The Turkish government has also announced that it will allow the training of “several thousand Syrian moderate rebels” on its soil. (The Guardian Oct. 13, 2014; BBC Oct. 13, 2014)
HOUTHI REBELS ‘WELCOME’ NEW YEMENI PRIME MINISTER
With approval from Houthi rebels, Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has appointed Khaled Bahah the country’s new prime minister. Previously Yemen’s envoy to the UN, Bahah will assume the role of PM in the coming weeks as the government works to form a more inclusive government after Houthi rebels seized portions of the nation’s capital, Sana’a. Bahah was among three names proposed by the Shi’ite rebel group, according to a presidential aide. The UN Security Council and UN Special Envoy to Yemen both welcomed the appointment and “urged the Yemeni authorities to ‘expedite the process of reforms, including army and security sector reforms.’” (Reuters Oct. 13, 2014)
TUNISIA CRACKS DOWN ON EXTREMISM
Tunisian Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa commented in an interview with Reuters that Tunisia has arrested around 1,500 suspected jihadists this year as part of a security crackdown. In the interview, PM Jomaa stated that thousands of Tunisians have gone to fight in Syria and among those arrested are “hundreds” of militants who returned home and pose a security threat. As Parliamentary elections approach on October 26, Jomaa assured the world that violence would not derail the elections as Tunisia completes its transition to democracy. (Reuters Oct. 11, 2014)
BAGHDAD BOMBINGS KILL DOZENS
Suicide bombers and cars packed with explosives were detonated around greater Baghdad targeting Shi’ite communities over the week-long holiday of Eid al-Adha. Over 50 have been reported dead and nearly 100 wounded in four separate attacks. The explosions happened in near succession and follow an advance by ISIS fighters in recent weeks toward Iraq’s capital city. Among those killed were security forces at a check point and scores of civilians at local markets. No group has claimed the attacks but they are being attributed to the Sunni-extremist group ISIS. (New York Times Oct. 11, 2014)
HEAD OF IRAN'S BASIJ THREATENS SAUDI
The long-running covert proxy war in the Middle East between Saudi Arabia and Iran went unusually public this month when the head of Iran’s paramilitary Basij force warned the Kingdom against executing a Shi’ite religious opposition figure. Iranian General Muhammad Reza Naqdi warned that the decision to execute Sheikh Baqir Al-Nimr, a popular Shi’ite opposition figure convicted this month on sedition charges after being arrested in 2011, would “not remain unanswered.” “Muslims will change this world to a hell for them,” he warned, before calling the Saudi regime “blasphemous” and “sinister.” The Guardian newspaper recently reported that state prosecutors in Saudi Arabia have asked that Al-Nimr be “crucified.” (Middle East MonitorOctober 20, 2014)