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Prospects for the Middle East in 2023

Location:

PROSPECTS 2023

Prospects for the Middle East in 2023.

Shia and Kurdish forces may clash on Iraq-Syria border

Location:

IRAQ/SYRIA

The pro-Iranian Badr Organisation is one of the larger PMUs -- groups of mostly Shia armed volunteers established in 2014 to help the army fight IS. They launched a new offensive…

Intra-communal divisions will plague post-IS Iraq

Location:

IRAQ

However, the successful fight against IS has not forged a new sense of unity among Iraq’s communities; instead, it has solidified some divides and created conditions for future…

Water scarcity will boost Turkey-Syria-Iraq tensions

Location:

IRAQ/SYRIA/TURKEY

Large-scale water capture in Turkish dams upstream has caused long-term shortages elsewhere in the Tigris and Euphrates river basin, notably eastern Syria and southern Iraq…

Syria's ruler will seek to ride out economic protests

Location:

SYRIA

The demonstrations were triggered by Assad’s mid-August announcement of big fuel price increases, only partly mitigated by rises in salaries and pensions. However, they have been…

Iraqi Kurdish independence vote risks new conflict

Location:

IRAQ

KRI President Massoud Barzani, who announced the initiative in February, has stressed that the result will be non-binding; however, his move has unsettled allies in Ankara and…

Kurds will try to keep Iraq out of the Gaza conflict

Location:

IRAQ

The Gaza conflict has led to a resurgence of attacks by Iran-backed armed groups on US forces, breaking the earlier unofficial truce. Some of those attacks have targeted bases in…

Iran will likely attack exiled Kurdish groups in Iraq

Location:

IRAN

Exiled Kurdish parties are demanding greater autonomy for Kurds in Iran. However, Tehran accuses them of wanting separatism and blames them for fomenting the Mahsa Amini protests…

Warring Iraqi Kurdish leaders will shun open conflict

Location:

IRAQ

IRAQ: Warring Kurdish leaders will shun open conflict

Middle East Kurds may become more risk-averse

Location:

MIDDLE EAST

Prospects for Kurdish nationalism.