Global Pulse

博客

  • Three Palestinians killed and dozens wounded in Israeli attacks across Gaza and West Bank

    Three Palestinians killed and dozens wounded in Israeli attacks across Gaza and West Bank

    A fresh wave of violence orchestrated by Israeli military forces and Jewish settlers across the occupied Palestinian territories left at least three Palestinians dead and dozens more injured in a single day of unrest on Saturday.

    Violence was concentrated primarily in the occupied West Bank, where multiple incursions and settler attacks unfolded across multiple communities. In the northern West Bank city of Tubas, Israeli military convoys pushed into urban areas, deploying infantry to secure key positions in the city center. Troops deployed tear gas against local residents, leaving 15 people in need of medical attention, which was provided on-site by teams from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.

    Southeast of Tubas, near Ramallah, Israeli forces launched a raid on the village of al-Mughayyir. During the incursion, soldiers fired tear gas directly into a private family home, leaving all household members, including minor children, struggling with respiratory distress from the chemical agent. Additional Israeli incursions were recorded across the broader Ramallah governorate, including entries into the nearby town of Turmus Ayya, the village of Abu Falah, and the village of Kobar, where tear gas was fired into public streets to disperse local populations.

    Further south in the Hebron governorate, the violence escalated into armed attacks by Israeli settlers, who operated under explicit armed protection from Israeli military forces. In the Masafer Yatta community of Wadi al-Rakhim, settlers opened fire on local residents during a raid, wounding four Palestinians. A 57-year-old man was hospitalized after sustaining a bullet wound to his hand, according to local medical reports.

    In Idhna, a town west of Hebron, settlers backed by Israeli troops stormed the area surrounding the Prophet Saleh Mosque. The settlers assaulted local residents, discharged live ammunition, and illegally erected a makeshift tent on privately owned Palestinian agricultural land. When the assault was underway, Israeli soldiers entered the mosque itself and detained seven worshippers, including the mosque’s lead imam, Mu’taz Sa’di Tmaizi. During the raid, troops deployed live bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas, while settlers vandalized a privately owned Palestinian vehicle parked nearby.

    Settler violence also spilled over into Abu Falah, where armed groups fired weapons in close proximity to the village’s local school, endangering students and staff. Other separate groups of settlers entered the community of Beit Ur al-Tahta, and roamed through privately owned Palestinian farmland outside the village of Jaljalia, all while Israeli military forces provided armed security for the incursions.

    The violence extended to the blockaded Gaza Strip, where Israeli troops shot and killed one Palestinian near the border in northern Khan Younis. The injured survivor was transferred to Nasser Medical Complex for emergency care. Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed that two additional Palestinians died on Saturday from injuries sustained during earlier Israeli attacks in the enclave. As of Saturday, the official Palestinian casualty count for the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Gaza, which launched in October 2023, stands at 73,384 people killed and 174,242 others wounded. Even following the ceasefire that took effect in October 2025, Israeli forces and settlers have killed 1,257 Palestinians and wounded an additional 4,131 people across the occupied territories. This report is drawn from independent on-the-ground coverage by Middle East Eye, a media outlet specializing in original, unfiltered reporting on the Middle East and North Africa region.

  • What it’s like to chase solar eclipses around the world

    What it’s like to chase solar eclipses around the world

    On Wednesday, a rare total solar eclipse will cut a path across Europe, turning broad daylight into temporary twilight as the moon aligns perfectly between the Earth and sun, casting a sweeping shadow across the continent. For casual observers, this event will be a once-in-a-lifetime memory. For a growing community of passionate sky-chasers, however, it is the most anticipated celestial prize of a generation — and many have traveled thousands of miles, planned for years, and sacrificed comfort to claim a front-row seat.

    Among them is Mark Griffiths, an astronomy hobbyist from Cheshire in the UK, who completed a grueling two-day cross-border drive to Galicia, northern Spain — widely regarded as one of the best viewing locations for the 2026 eclipse. Griffiths arrived loaded with professional-grade gear: two high-resolution cameras, a specialized solar telescope, and a drone to capture aerial footage of the eclipse’s shadow as it moves across the landscape. His obsession with chasing dramatic sky events began six years ago, with a failed trip to see the northern lights in Shetland, where poor weather left him empty-handed. Far from discouraging him, the disappointment only deepened his passion. “I kept wanting more,” Griffiths explained in an interview on the day after he finished his drive, which included only brief stops in Bordeaux to snap night sky photos and catch a few hours of sleep. “I’m quite sleep deprived, but it’s worth it. It’s like an addiction now.” This eclipse marks Griffiths’ first total solar eclipse, and for enthusiasts like him, he says, Europe’s first total solar eclipse in more than 25 years is “like what the World Cup is to football.” Since his Shetland trip, Griffiths has become a seasoned sky-chaser: he travels to Iceland once a month to lead northern lights tour groups, and has already photographed dozens of auroras, partial eclipses, and bioluminescent phenomena across the globe.

    The eclipse’s path of totality — the narrow strip of land where observers can see the sun completely blocked by the moon — begins at the edge of Siberia, arcs across the Arctic Ocean, passes through Greenland and Iceland, crosses the northern Atlantic, cuts across northern Spain, and ends in the Mediterranean. Outside this path, most of Europe will only see a partial eclipse, but even that has not stopped dedicated travelers from converging on prime viewing spots across the route. Half a world away from Griffiths, American couple Samantha and Gregory Phillips-Brown have traveled from upstate New York to Iceland, where they rented a camper van to seek out a remote viewing spot in the Westfjords peninsula. This is their second total solar eclipse: the first, which they saw near their home in 2023, left such an impact that they booked flights and a van more than a year in advance for this event. “It was such a phenomenal experience to see the Sun start going dark and hear, suddenly, the birds stop chirping,” Samantha recalled. “It’s just a very strange, otherworldly experience.” Gregory reflected on what the experience would have meant for Iceland’s first Viking settlers more than 1,000 years ago, when solar eclipses were attributed to mythology rather than science: “They really didn’t know what was happening, didn’t know how long it was going to last… it must have been quite terrifying for them, in a way.” In the days leading up to the eclipse, the couple has been hiking and camping across eastern Iceland, and they plan to head to the Westfjords early to avoid expected road closures from overcrowding. Samantha, an avid self-described obsessive planner, has been monitoring eclipse-chaser groups on social media to get real-time updates on conditions, and says she has already seen hundreds of visitors carrying eclipse glasses across the country: “I expect as we move west, we’ll see more and more people gathering for the show.”

    For one British family, the 2026 eclipse is a nostalgic reunion 27 years in the making. Andrew Wills is traveling to the Spanish island of Majorca with his wife and his 90-year-old father, with whom he watched Europe’s last total solar eclipse in 1999 from the top of St Agnes Beacon in Cornwall. That day was cloudy, Wills recalled, so they missed seeing the eclipse’s shadow rush across the Atlantic toward them — but they still got to see the sky dim into an eerie twilight, and the memory stuck with him ever since. “It was still awe-inspiring,” he said. This time around, Wills has booked a villa near the western Majorcan town of Andraitx, right in the path of totality, and has scouted a coastal viewing spot with unobstructed views of the horizon, where the eclipse will be visible as the sun sets. Majorca and neighboring Menorca are the last landmasses where the eclipse will be visible before the shadow disappears into the Mediterranean. Wills has arranged to bring camping chairs so his 90-year-old father can rest while they wait for the celestial event, and he is hopeful for clear skies this time around. For Wills, eclipses are more than just a tourist attraction: they are a humbling reminder of the unique cosmic coincidence that makes total solar eclipses possible on Earth. The sun is 400 times larger than the moon, but also 400 times farther away — creating the perfect alignment that allows the moon to cast a complete shadow on Earth. The experience, he says, reminds him of astronomer Carl Sagan’s reflection on the Pale Blue Dot photograph, which showed Earth as a tiny speck against the vastness of space. “We are tiny little specks in a huge vast area of nothingness,” Wills said. “We’re amazingly lucky to be alive to see something this incredible.”

    Even though the total phase of the eclipse will last just a couple of minutes for observers, that brevity is part of what makes the event so meaningful for the thousands of people who traveled across continents to see it. For this community of sky-chasers, the journey is almost as special as the celestial spectacle they have come to witness.

  • Nigeria’s mass wedding – and how telling lovers from fraudsters is proving tricky

    Nigeria’s mass wedding – and how telling lovers from fraudsters is proving tricky

    For a full week, the northern Nigerian city of Kano has been transformed into a vibrant hub of celebration, as 1,500 low-income couples tied the knot in one of West Africa’s largest annual state-sponsored mass wedding events, turning city streets into a canvas of color and joy for participating families.

    In the lead-up to the official ceremony, neighborhood gatherings and pre-wedding preparation events filled local communities, with bridal parties and relatives helping couples put together their wedding attire and finalize arrangements. The core formal ceremony took place on Friday, when brides clad in bright red hijabs and grooms in matching red hats and flowing white robes processed to the palace of the Emir of Kano, the city’s highest traditional Muslim leader, to formalize their unions.

    The celebration concluded on Saturday with a ceremonial wedding breakfast hosted by Kano State Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf, who personally offered blessings to all newly joined couples. The entire initiative, which supports financially vulnerable residents who cannot cover the steep upfront costs of marriage in Nigeria’s current strained economy, is fully funded by the Kano state government, with a total allocation of 1.5 billion naira (approximately $1 million USD) for this year’s event. This funding covers every expense for participating couples, from the bride’s statutory dowry to essential furniture and household goods for their new home.

    The annual mass wedding program was first launched in 2012 under the administration of the then-state governor, beginning with just 100 couples – most of whom were widows or divorcees seeking to remarry. Since its founding, successive state administrations have retained and expanded the initiative, growing the number of spots available each year to meet rising demand. The program is also open to men entering polygamous unions, in line with the legal and social norms of Kano, a majority-Muslim state where Sharia law operates alongside Nigeria’s national secular legal framework.

    Demand for the program has surged in recent years amid Nigeria’s ongoing economic crisis. This year alone, more than 5,000 eligible couples submitted applications for just 1,500 spots. To ensure the program reaches only genuinely eligible participants, all vetting and screening is overseen by the Hisbah, Kano’s state-level Islamic police force, a process that deputy commander-general Mujahid Aminudeen says is far from simple.

    “Whenever we find out that there’s something dubious or fishy about a couple, we disqualify them,” Aminudeen told the BBC. He explained that some applicants misrepresent their circumstances solely to access the financial benefits of the program, going to great lengths to pass screening as a genuine engaged couple.

    For weeks leading up to the wedding, Hisbah offices have operated at full capacity to process applications and complete mandatory pre-participation checks. All applicants are required to undergo comprehensive medical screenings, including testing for HIV, hepatitis, genotype compatibility, and pregnancy status. Aminudeen confirmed that multiple couples have been disqualified after attempting to falsify their medical results, including one unusual case where a prospective bride attempted to pass her brother off as her fiancé to claim the program’s benefits.

    Local journalist Yusuf Ali Abdallah, who has covered the Kano mass wedding program for more than a decade, says Nigeria’s prolonged economic struggles have driven a sharp increase in both demand and fraudulent applications this year. “As we all know, marriage involves spending money and the country’s economy is not bright at the moment,” he explained. “This makes some people desperate to get on this list.”

    Abdallah added that even some couples who had already married formally had attempted to reapply as new engaged couples to access the program’s support, before being caught and removed from the participant list. Third-party scammers have also exploited the high demand, targeting vulnerable applicants with false promises of securing a spot in exchange for bribes. One Kano resident, who was not selected for this year’s event and asked to remain anonymous, told reporters he was approached by individuals demanding bribes to add him to the participant list. He later discovered the scammers had no connection to the Hisbah or the program, and says he plans to reapply next year.

    Aminudeen acknowledged the reports of fraudulent bribe solicitations, and emphasized that the entire application and participation process is 100% free for all applicants. “We want to announce to the people of Kano that the whole process is free: from the selection to the medicals and the goods set aside for couples – all are covered by the government,” he said.

    Many successful participants have confirmed that they encountered no improper requests during their application process. Rabiu Yusuf, a 43-year-old clothing trader and one of this year’s grooms, said the entire process went smoothly for him and his new wife Aisha Auwal, who met when she regularly visited his shop to purchase clothing. Yusuf, who already has five children with his first wife, said he was “very happy and can’t wait to start a new life” with his bride.

    Amina Alhassan, a 24-year-old bride who married Nura Abdullahi, 40, shared Yusuf’s positive assessment. The couple’s union was arranged by their families in Dambatta village before they applied for the program, and Alhassan said she faced no barriers to participation. “Everything has been free and I want to commend the Kano government for this scheme because without it, many couldn’t have afforded to marry due to the high cost of living,” she said.

    Breaking down the support package, each participating couple receives approximately 1 million naira ($735 USD) in total support. This includes core household necessities: beds, mattresses, linens, pillows, basic furniture, and food supplies to establish their new home. Each bride receives a 100,000 naira dowry, with an additional 100,000 naira provided as start-up capital for small businesses, designed to help the couples achieve long-term financial independence.

    Following Saturday’s official wedding feast, distribution of the household support packages began immediately. The excitement of the event is expected to linger across Kano for days, as the 1,500 new couples settle into their new lives together with the support of the state’s landmark social program.

  • France shuts mosque over Quran verses and Islamic texts used in Muslim worship

    France shuts mosque over Quran verses and Islamic texts used in Muslim worship

    A French administrative court has given its backing to a six-month shutdown of a suburban Paris mosque, a ruling that has reignited long-simmering debates over the French state’s regulation of Islamic religious practice and worship in the country.

    On Friday, the Montreuil Administrative Court turned down a legal request to suspend a closure order first issued in July for the Chanteloup mosque, located in Aulnay-sous-Bois, a northeastern suburb of the French capital. The site will remain shuttered to worshippers through January of next year.

    Human rights attorney Rafik Chekkat, who is representing the mosque in the legal battle, has raised sharp questions over whether imams across France still retain the basic freedom to recite core Islamic sacred texts in their own places of worship. “In France, can an imam still quote the Quran in the mosque where he preaches?” Chekkat asked in comments to reporters.

    Chekkat explained that a significant portion of the authorities’ case against the mosque centered on the imam’s decision to quote seven passages from the Quran, alongside references to two foundational works of traditional Islamic scholarship: *The Garden of the Righteous* and *The Forty Hadiths*. Both texts are compiled from the work of Imam al-Nawawi, a 13th-century Syrian scholar universally recognized as one of the most influential theological thinkers in the history of the Muslim faith.

    French officials also raised objections to portions of the mosque’s sermons that referenced “hell” and the “punishments of the grave” described as being reserved for “unbelievers” — a notable point of criticism, given that similar eschatological teachings are a standard part of religious preaching in Christian churches and other faith communities across the country.

    In their ruling, the judges determined that Julien Charles, the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis (the department where Aulnay-sous-Bois is located), had not “committed a serious and manifestly illegal infringement of either the freedom of worship or the freedom of expression”, clearing the way for the closure to stand.

    Speaking to Agence France-Presse after the ruling was released, Chekkat expressed deep disappointment and surprise at the court’s decision, noting that key sections of the judgment run directly counter to fundamental guarantees of religious freedom. “We are very disappointed by the decision and very surprised by its content. We will obviously go before the Council of State,” he said, referring to France’s highest administrative court. Chekkat added that he believes the lower court’s ruling was driven in part by political alignment with the regional prefect, rather than strict legal principle. “I understand that the administrative judge did not want to contradict the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis, now I think that before the Council of State we will have a little more chance, it will be a little more legal and a little less political,” he explained.

    The Friday ruling comes amid years of steadily growing state pressure on Muslim religious institutions across France. By April 2022, French authorities had already shuttered 22 mosques over an 18-month period, with many of the closures relying on classified intelligence documents whose sources have never been made public.

    Beyond mosque closures, the national government has also moved to dissolve a number of prominent Muslim organizations, including the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, a leading anti-discrimination group, and BarakaCity, a large Islamic charity. These actions have deepened widespread fears among French Muslim communities that the government is leveraging national security legislation to systematically restrict the right to religious belief for the country’s 5 million Muslim residents, the largest Muslim minority population in the European Union.

  • Tonnes of rotting food from vast LA warehouse fire creates unbearable stench

    Tonnes of rotting food from vast LA warehouse fire creates unbearable stench

    Two months after a devastating fire tore through a massive cold-storage warehouse in Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights neighborhood, local residents and small business owners are still grappling with a putrid stench, pest infestations, and public health risks from 39 million kilograms of rotting meat and seafood left behind by the blaze. What was once a bustling mixed neighborhood of industrial warehouses and residential homes has become an unbearable place to live and work, leaving the community frustrated with the slow, uneven cleanup process.

    Alexis Sicairos, owner of local coffee stand Brew Sting, knows the impact of the ongoing crisis firsthand. On a normal day, his shop would have a steady line of customers waiting for signature drinks like banana buzz lattes and cloud matcha, including dozens of warehouse workers who stopped by daily. Today, his street corner stands mostly empty. After a two-week mandatory shutdown following the fire, Sicairos reopened, but business has collapsed. The warehouse workers who made up a core portion of his customer base are gone, and returning patrons have stayed away to avoid the overwhelming stench, thick swarms of flies, and residual smoke. “We still have to pay our bills, so we have to stay open,” Sicairos explained, noting that flies constantly cover his serving tables and equipment – a sight that drives away customers looking to enjoy food and drinks outdoors.

    The fire, which broke out on June 17, completely destroyed the facility operated by temperature-controlled logistics giant Lineage, leaving behind more than 85 million pounds of spoiled food, including beef, pork, poultry, and seafood. With high summer temperatures accelerating decomposition, the stench has lingered across the neighborhood for weeks. Local security guard Mesha, who works outside a nearby marijuana dispensary, described the odor as so overpowering it triggers nausea, comparing it to the smell of a decaying body. Walking through the neighborhood now means constant swatting at swarms of multi-colored flies, and residents have reported sightings of unusually large rats that sidewalk traps are too small to contain.

    Public health officials have warned the infestation poses tangible safety risks. A city-commissioned inspection conducted by a pest control firm found that the rotting waste and warm temperatures speed up fly breeding, and the insects can spread infection to open wounds on both humans and animals, increasing the risk of disease for local residents.

    While Lineage claims that approximately 80 percent of the spoiled food waste has been removed from the site as of this week, city officials have blasted the company’s response as inadequate. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who is running for re-election this year, confirmed this week that the company’s efforts have “fallen short”, and the county public health department has issued daily $500 citations for unsanitary and public nuisance conditions. Bass has set a strict August 13 deadline for Lineage to complete the full bulk waste cleanup, and has issued an executive order pausing all plans to rebuild the warehouse until full public health and safety protections are in place. In a letter to Lineage shareholders released Tuesday, Bass criticized the company for delayed communication, limited transparency, and insufficient community engagement, noting that repeated requests for updates on cleanup, environmental monitoring, and recovery efforts have gone unanswered.

    In response to the criticism, a Lineage spokesperson stated that cleanup crews are working around the clock to remove waste, clear debris, and dismantle damaged sections of the warehouse, acknowledging that odor reduction is a top priority. The company notes that the cleanup effort is a highly complex operation, and projects total costs will reach between $80 million and $100 million. The company expects to complete bulk waste removal by next week, up from 60 percent completion on July 31.

    To address immediate community needs, Mayor Bass has mobilized city resources and coordinated with local, state, and federal partners alongside non-profit organizations to bring support to Boyle Heights. The city has deployed mobile health clinics to the neighborhood and distributed thousands of air purifiers to local homes and businesses. Bass emphasized that she has met directly with residents since the first day of the crisis to center their input in the city’s response, acknowledging their frustration and noting that the community deserves transparency, clear communication, and robust support.

    Local residents, however, have repeatedly voiced anger at what they see as a slow, inadequate response from both the city and the warehouse operator, with many citing a lack of transparency and insufficient resources dedicated to the cleanup. As crews continue working to clear the site, the community remains trapped waiting for the stench and health risks to be eliminated.

  • Unpacking the Saudi Arabia-Pakistan-Turkey defense pact

    Unpacking the Saudi Arabia-Pakistan-Turkey defense pact

    On August 7, 2026, a landmark trilateral defense agreement was signed in the Saudi holy city of Mecca by the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey. Named the Makkah Joint Defense Agreement, this pact formally enshrines a collective defense principle: any armed aggression against one signatory will be treated as an attack against all three nations. It builds on the 2025 bilateral Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, expanding cooperation to include joint military drills, defense industrial partnerships, cross-border technology sharing, and coordinated intelligence exchange. While the framework for deeper collaboration is publicly established, details of operational protocols, specific military commitments, and implementation timelines remain undisclosed. This new pact represents one of the most consequential shifts in Middle Eastern and South Asian geopolitics in recent years, driven by overlapping but not identical national priorities across the three countries.

    ### The Strategic Drivers Behind the Pact
    The timing of the agreement is far from coincidental, rooted in a deeply unstable Middle Eastern security landscape. Decades-long tensions between the United States and Iran have yet to produce a lasting ceasefire, while Iran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen have stepped up attacks and threats against Saudi territory and Saudi-linked commercial and infrastructure assets. A recently finalized U.S.-Saudi civil nuclear cooperation agreement remains tied to ongoing negotiations over Saudi-Israeli normalization, with Washington conditioning the deal’s implementation on Riyadh formally joining the Abraham Accords. At the same time, shifting dynamics in the ongoing Gaza crisis and stalled talks over a regional peace framework have put new pressure on major Muslim-majority nations to take more active roles in regional security and diplomacy.

    For Saudi Arabia, the pact addresses growing anxieties over its vulnerability to regional threats as it pursues its ambitious Vision 2030 economic transformation agenda. Recent disruptions to Red Sea shipping and heightened risks of closure to the Strait of Hormuz, through which a quarter of global oil trade passes, have underscored how quickly regional conflict can derail Saudi economic goals by disrupting energy exports, scaring off foreign investment, and disrupting core trade routes. Riyadh thus needs strategic partners that can supplement its own defense capabilities with manpower, intelligence, advanced technology, and geographic depth.

    Pakistan brings a long-standing defense partnership and a large, battle-tested military establishment to the alliance, while Turkey answers Saudi Arabia’s need for a second, ideologically aligned partner with expanding regional influence. Under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ankara has actively pursued a policy of expanding its strategic footprint far beyond its Anatolian heartland, positioning itself as a leading power across the entire Muslim world. Turkey has deepened political, military, and industrial ties across the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, and South Asia, driven by Erdoğan’s goal of elevating Turkey to a top-tier global power. Its active military involvement in Syria, long-running confrontation with Kurdish militant groups, and expanding partnerships across the Muslim world confirm its broad extra-regional ambitions.

    ### Pakistan’s Dual Calculus: Benefits and Hidden Risks
    For Pakistan, the pact offers immediate tangible benefits at a time of deep economic and political uncertainty. Islamabad has long been dependent on external financial assistance and bailout packages to stabilize its economy, and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has failed to resolve the country’s deep structural economic weaknesses. Beijing has also grown more cautious about extending new large-scale financing to Islamabad and has pushed for repayment of outstanding loans, while Pakistan has struggled to secure sufficient financial support from other global and regional partners.

    Under the new trilateral framework, Saudi Arabia is expected to provide much-needed financial aid, discounted energy supplies, and new foreign direct investment, while Turkey will offer access to advanced defense technology, military training, intelligence sharing, and defense industrial collaboration. Domestically, Pakistan’s military establishment can frame the agreement as proof that the country has regained its status as a strategically critical global player, strengthening Field Marshal Asim Munir’s domestic legitimacy and consolidating the military’s long-held political influence.

    However, the pact carries significant long-term risks for Pakistan that could undermine its national sovereignty and security. Unlike the earlier bilateral Saudi-Pakistan arrangement, which was built on Saudi financial support in exchange for Pakistani military capabilities, Turkey’s entry adds a broad new geopolitical and defense industrial dimension to the alliance. Turkey already has a deep defense partnership with Pakistan: the two countries cooperate on drone development, naval platform manufacturing, and joint defense projects, and their partnership expanded dramatically during the 2025 India-Pakistan border confrontation, when Ankara provided open political support to Islamabad and Turkish defense systems and advisors reportedly played a role in Pakistani military operations.

    The new trilateral framework will accelerate this cooperation, giving Pakistan greater access to Turkish defense technology, including participation in Ankara’s cutting-edge KAAN fifth-generation fighter jet program. But for Turkey, this partnership is more than a commercial defense arrangement: it is a core component of Ankara’s “Asia Anew Initiative,” which seeks to expand Turkish geopolitical influence across South and Southeast Asia. Recent high-level military visits from Bangladesh and Pakistan to Ankara confirm this expanding strategic push, which includes a growing Turkish maritime presence in the Indian Ocean.

    The greatest long-term risk for Pakistan is what analysts term “strategic entrapment.” If the pact’s collective defense commitments require Pakistani military deployments beyond Saudi territory, Islamabad could find itself drawn into conflicts in Yemen, Syria, and other regional hotspots that serve no core Pakistani national interest. Pakistan already stretched its military resources during the 2026 Iran conflict, when it deployed approximately 8,000 troops, a full fighter jet squadron, and advanced air defense systems to Saudi Arabia under its 2025 bilateral pact.

    Most critically, closer alignment with Saudi Arabia and Turkey threatens to severely damage Pakistan’s historically delicate relationship with Iran. Pakistan shares a 900-kilometer porous border with Iran, and Tehran has already issued sharp criticism of the new trilateral pact, warning that it will not deliver greater security to Saudi Arabia. If Iran views Pakistan as an active participant in Saudi and Turkish efforts to counter Iranian regional interests, Islamabad could face rising diplomatic pressure and increased militant activity along its western border, particularly in Balochistan, where the Pakistani military is already fighting a long-running separatist insurgency and countering militant violence.

    Pakistan currently finds itself balancing multiple competing strategic demands: securing Saudi financial support, deepening defense ties with Turkey, maintaining its all-weather alliance with China, managing its complex relationship with the United States, and avoiding open confrontation with Iran, all while positioning itself as a neutral mediator in the ongoing Iran crisis. This balancing act is growing increasingly unsustainable, and once Pakistan commits military and logistical resources to Saudi and Turkish security goals, withdrawing from those commitments will become progressively more difficult.

    ### New Strategic Challenges for India
    The Makkah Pact creates a new set of complex security challenges for India, which cannot afford to dismiss the trilateral alliance as a purely Middle Eastern development. For New Delhi, the core concern is not just that Pakistan will receive additional military support from Saudi Arabia and Turkey: it is that Pakistan will act as a gateway for Turkey to expand its strategic footprint into South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.

    At the same time, Indian policymakers need not view Saudi Arabia’s participation in the pact as a sign that Riyadh intends to abandon its deepening strategic and economic ties with New Delhi. Saudi Arabia holds massive economic, energy, and investment interests in India, and its primary motivation for joining the trilateral pact is to counter Iranian-aligned threats closer to home, not to undermine Indian security interests.

    The real risk for India lies in the combined capabilities the three allies bring to the table: Saudi Arabia’s financial resources can bolster Pakistan’s military capacity, Pakistan provides geographic access, manpower, and military infrastructure across South Asia, and Turkey contributes advanced defense technology, training, and intelligence coordination. This creates a far more capable military ecosystem in Pakistan than the earlier bilateral Saudi-Pakistan arrangement.

    Turkey’s long-standing open support for Pakistan on Kashmir and its expanding maritime and defense presence in the Indian Ocean mean that New Delhi cannot treat the Turkey-Pakistan partnership as a purely bilateral matter. Shared ideological alignment on political Islam also creates opportunities for greater cross-regional strategic coordination that could run counter to Indian interests.

    To protect its national security, India will need to closely monitor the implementation of the pact, particularly with regard to practical cooperation on intelligence sharing, joint military exercises, defense industrial collaboration, technology transfer, and cross-regional military deployments. New Delhi should also deepen strategic engagement with other nations that share concerns over expanding Turkish influence, strengthen its own defense, maritime, and intelligence capabilities, and deepen security and economic cooperation with other Gulf Cooperation Council members.

    Notably, India should not abandon its own expanding strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has repeatedly signaled that it values its ties with New Delhi, and New Delhi can work to make clear that the trilateral defense pact need not derail bilateral cooperation between India and Saudi Arabia. India’s goal should not be to force Saudi Arabia to choose between India and Pakistan, but rather to make Riyadh aware of the potential risks of enabling the buildup of Pakistani military capabilities that could eventually be used against Indian interests.

    As regional geopolitical alignments grow increasingly complex, Pakistan has gambled that the pact will restore its strategic relevance in the Middle East and South Asia. But by entering this trilateral alliance, Islamabad has stepped into a far larger geopolitical game whose long-term consequences it may ultimately be unable to control.

  • Hundreds arrested over French wildfires, but who is to blame?

    Hundreds arrested over French wildfires, but who is to blame?

    This summer, France has faced its most destructive wildfire season since the end of World War II, with flames scorching more than 300,000 acres of land across the country and forcing emergency responders into action, most notably in the southwestern Gironde region where an all-out crisis response was launched in late July. As smoke clears from the worst-hit areas, the French public and experts are increasingly asking one pressing question: what has driven this unprecedented catastrophe?

    Climate scientists and fire investigators point first to the long-documented impact of human-caused fossil fuel emissions, which have pushed global temperatures steadily upward and created the dry, parched conditions that allow wildfires to ignite and spread with alarming speed. But official data reveals a stark secondary truth: nine out of every 10 wildfires in France are started by human activity, a statistic that has pushed the Paris government to launch a widespread crackdown on those deemed responsible – even as critics accuse the administration of being chronically underprepared for the scale of this year’s infernos.

    So far, France’s interior ministry has announced 420 arrests of people accused of either deliberately or accidentally igniting blazes, more than 160 of whom are minors. The scope of these arrests ranges widely: one 23-year-old man is facing up to 15 years in prison and a €150,000 fine if convicted of deliberately starting 10 separate blazes across southeastern Var over just five days last month. Other defendants have already received immediate sentencing, including a man handed a three-year jail term for starting three fires in the Raon-L’Étape forest in the Vosges region, even though local newspaper L’Est Républicain noted only a few square meters of vegetation burned.

    Critics argue that many of these prosecutions are disproportionately harsh and unfair. Reports have emerged that a homeless person and an individual with severe autism have both been jailed for accidentally starting fires after throwing away discarded cigarette butts. Muriel Gestas, a defense lawyer who has represented multiple people accused of arson – including two professional firefighters – says she was stunned by the sheer volume of arrests, describing the crackdown as excessive. She also casts doubt that most of the cases will ultimately result in convictions.

    Leading French newspaper Le Monde has echoed these concerns, pointing out that authorities have refused to release key details about the cases, including whether most charges involve deliberate arson or accidental ignition, and how arrest numbers compare to previous fire seasons. This lack of transparency, the outlet argues, makes any meaningful assessment of the crackdown impossible. But supporters of the hardline approach, including Bordeaux chief prosecutor Renaud Gaudeul, defend the strategy, arguing that current extreme conditions justify strict action. “The conditions for a charge of endangering lives are met for those who throw a cigarette butt or light a barbecue in wooded areas,” Gaudeul told Le Monde. “It only takes a tiny spark for it to start.”

    Pinpointing the exact origin of a wildfire is an inherently complex process, especially during extreme drought. Eric Dufayet, a veteran fire investigation officer, explained that even the smallest spark can ignite a major blaze when vegetation is as parched as it is this summer. After a fire is contained, Dufayet’s team first maps the burn perimeter to trace the flames back to their point of origin, which often forms a distinct V-shape when wind patterns are consistent. Investigators then work backward from that point to identify the cause, and in cases of deliberate arson, they often recover DNA or fingerprint evidence from ignition devices left at the scene.

    Industry experts broadly agree that deliberate arson accounts for only a small share of this year’s fires. The vast majority are accidental, with ignition sources ranging from sparks from construction equipment and faulty power lines to discarded cigarette butts and unattended outdoor barbecues. Dufayet notes that even a cigarette butt can easily start a blaze under the right conditions, referencing the so-called “30 rule”: fires are most likely to ignite when temperatures hit at least 30°C, relative humidity drops below 30%, wind speed stays under 30km/h, and at least 30% of the cigarette remains unburnt. During this summer’s record drought, he adds, these conditions are nearly ubiquitous, making even small accidental risks far more dangerous than usual.

    Psychiatrists break down those who start wildfires into three broad categories: people who act out of negligence, those who stand to benefit from the fire (such as through insurance payouts), and people living with pyromania, a rare psychiatric condition where individuals feel a compulsive attraction to fire. Michel Lejoyeux, a professor of psychiatry and addictive behavior at Paris 7 University, explains that pyromaniacs do not seek financial gain or revenge – they are drawn to fire for its own sake. Still, he notes that pyromania is extremely rare, difficult to diagnose, and accounts for very few arson convictions.

    In some cases involving firefighters accused of starting blazes, Gestas says motives can vary: some accused firefighters may have started fires to be seen as heroes who would then lead the response, while volunteer firefighters may have been motivated by financial gain from tax-free overtime pay for emergency work.

    As the controversy over the government’s crackdown continues, broader concerns over wildfire risk are far from over. Meteorological forecasts show another major heatwave is just days away from reaching France, raising the risk of new blazes. President Emmanuel Macron, who has described this year’s fire season as “completely unprecedented,” says that public criticism of the government’s response is not a priority right now. “We will have to replant and rebuild a different kind of forest because we must adapt to the structural conditions of climate change,” Macron said this week. “The time for reviewing lessons learned will come. In the meantime, the country must remain united.”

    Even so, the widespread damage from this year’s wildfires – which have destroyed hundreds of homes, devastated local tourism and small businesses, damaged ecosystems, and worsened air quality across large swathes of the country – has left the French public demanding answers about what went wrong, and how the country can better prepare for future fire seasons amplified by climate change.

  • FIFA condemns ‘concerted and ongoing effort’ to weaken Infantino

    FIFA condemns ‘concerted and ongoing effort’ to weaken Infantino

    As the 2025 FIFA presidential re-election campaign approaches, a growing storm of controversy has engulfed incumbent head Gianni Infantino, with the global football governing body issuing a fierce public rebuke of what it calls an organized, sustained campaign to weaken both its leadership and reputation. The latest wave of criticism comes on the heels of the collapse of Infantino’s controversial private World Cup investment plan, and new unproven allegations published by a major British newspaper last Friday.
    The claims published by *The Telegraph* center on actions Infantino took during his tenure as Secretary General of UEFA, European football’s top governing body, between 2009 and 2016. Citing anonymous sources, the outlet reported that Infantino abused his influence to secure a promotion for a female UEFA staff member with whom he allegedly had an intimate relationship. The newspaper further alleged that the employee received a six-figure payout when she left the organization, in addition to roughly £45,000 (equivalent to $60,700) to cover tuition fees for an elite business school program. When reached for comment by Agence France-Presse (AFP), UEFA confirmed that a departure settlement and MBA tuition payment were provided to the individual in question, but did not address the broader allegations of improper influence.
    In an official statement posted to social media on Saturday, FIFA pushed back forcefully against the cascade of negative coverage and calls for Infantino’s resignation. The organization acknowledged that it welcomes legitimate oversight of its work, but drew a clear line between constructive scrutiny and bad-faith attack. “Scrutiny is not a licence to distort facts, amplify unsubstantiated allegations or manufacture distractions designed to undermine progress,” the statement read. “Where reporting is inaccurate or misleading, FIFA will challenge it directly and vigorously.”
    Infantino’s current crisis began in late October 2024, when he first unveiled a plan to open World Cup tournament operations to private investment. The proposal sparked immediate widespread backlash from global football stakeholders, most notably UEFA, which ultimately forced Infantino to shelve the plan. Even after the proposal was withdrawn, UEFA has stood firm in its opposition, reaffirming its threat to organize a boycott of future World Cup tournaments last Thursday, arguing that the u-turn was not enough to resolve concerns over Infantino’s leadership.
    With Infantino set to stand for re-election next March, FIFA’s Saturday statement also addressed efforts by opponents to alter the election outcome through non-democratic means. The organization made clear that it “will not support, facilitate or tolerate any process concerning the election of the FIFA President that is inconsistent with FIFA’s Statutes, democratic procedures and established governance framework.” It added that critics who lack sufficient backing from FIFA member associations have no right to push their agenda through false claims and innuendo, rather than the established democratic processes already set out by the governing body.

  • The political black hole over the Strait of Hormuz

    The political black hole over the Strait of Hormuz

    Uncertainty over the status of Iran’s supreme leader and deepening internal power rifts have pushed the country to the brink of state failure, sending ripple effects of instability that reach all the way to China’s doorstep and leaving Beijing facing a tricky diplomatic dilemma. At the center of current regional tensions is a newly emerging Iran-Oman agreement that regime-affiliated media in Iran claims will formalize Tehran’s continued control over the Strait of Hormuz, the critical chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of global oil supplies pass daily. From Washington’s perspective, any international recognition of Iran’s full control over the strait would deliver a major blow to U.S. and global commercial interests, granting Tehran a powerful strategic tool to blackmail the international community during future political disputes by threatening to block traffic through the waterway.

    With U.S. midterm elections approaching and high-stakes multilateral negotiations underway with Beijing across a range of issues, the Biden administration is strongly motivated to block international recognition of Iran’s claim, a move that carries major stakes for U.S. global influence. But behind what appears to be a political win for Tehran lies a far more concerning, underreported transformation inside Iran’s ruling regime that points to accelerating fragmentation of central power and looming systemic chaos.

    On August 5, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency published remarks from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who openly acknowledged that communication with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has become extremely difficult in recent weeks. Analysts say this unusual public comment, amplified by a major Chinese state media outlet, may be a quiet signal that Beijing itself is struggling to establish reliable lines of communication with Tehran’s top decision-makers, raising questions about who actually holds power in the country. Iranian media reports have further fueled these doubts, claiming Pezeshkian was only granted a brief meeting with a figure presented as Khamenei, held in a dark, tinted-window vehicle at a secret location outside the capital.

    It remains unclear whether Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s late long-time supreme leader Ali Khamenei, even exercises full control over his own circumstances, let alone the affairs of the entire country. These disclosures from Iran’s own elected president confirm long-running rumors of bitter, intractable splits at the highest levels of Iran’s leadership. The most radical factions within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are widely believed to have seized de facto ultimate power, using Mojtaba as a largely powerless figurehead to legitimize their rule. This arrangement has isolated both Mojtaba and the hardline IRGC leadership, creating a cascade of disruptive internal power dynamics that threaten to unravel central governance.

    To compound this instability, Iran’s military command structures were deliberately decentralized and devolved to local regional units years ago to pre-empt the risk of U.S. decapitation strikes on top leadership, and there is little sign these structures can be re-centralized any time soon to restore clear top-down command. Unconfirmed but persistent rumors also suggest Israeli intelligence has cultivated close contacts with senior Iranian officials who are prepared to launch a coup against the current hardline regime, fueling a culture of pervasive paranoia and mutual suspicion across all levels of government. Under this climate, any official, for any reason, can be targeted and purged on accusations of treason, making it nearly impossible to build consensus or implement consistent policy.

    The result is a broken decision-making system: any proposed compromise with external powers can be immediately vetoed by radical factions that dismiss any deal as a “traitor’s surrender,” while the official supreme leader remains a distant, opaque figure controlled by unelected hardline factions behind the scenes. Despite this political chaos, Iran still retains active production capacity for missiles and drones, as well as large stockpiles of these weapons, creating a dangerous scenario: a fractured state with plentiful tools to project destabilizing force across the region.

    This portrait adds up to a country mired in deep institutional disarray, on the edge of full state failure. Yet history shows that failing states can survive for years while remaining a major threat to regional security, as seen in Myanmar, where years of brutal civil conflict have failed to unseat the ruling military junta. A collapsed, failing Iran would expand a broad arc of instability stretching from Central Asia all the way to the Mediterranean coast. The U.S. has thus far avoided being drawn into the messy Iranian quagmire, but even if Tehran retains de facto control over the Strait of Hormuz, the country’s political fragmentation poses unique new risks to regional security and global oil markets.

    One potential path to de-escalation that has been floated by geopolitical analysts involves offering security guarantees to Mojtaba Khamenei and other top Iranian leaders in exchange for Tehran rolling back its claims to full control over the strait. On a more positive note, Iran’s growing internal instability has paradoxically helped unify regional states that were once deeply divided over how to address Tehran’s expansionist threats. Middle Eastern nations are now converging on coordinated strategies to limit Tehran’s harmful regional influence, building new medium- and long-term pressure campaigns to constrain the regime. This has also accelerated regional plans to build oil and gas export pipelines that bypass the Strait of Hormuz entirely, a shift that will ultimately restrict Iranian trade and further isolate the country’s hardline religious leadership.

    For China, the current situation creates a tricky diplomatic balancing act. While Beijing would likely welcome any setback to U.S. interests in the region, its demonstrated inability to intervene and mediate the dispute for Gulf allies has left China sidelined from evolving regional political dynamics, which are increasingly dominated by the U.S. and Israel. Finding common ground with Washington and Jerusalem to address the Iranian crisis would be a major challenge for Beijing, in large part because it is not clear what strategic benefits Beijing would gain from such collaboration. However, the emergence of a large, unstable political black hole along China’s western border will almost certainly create new security and economic risks for Beijing in the near term. The Iranian meltdown is unfolding at the same time that Russia faces ongoing military setbacks and struggles to hold its position in Ukraine, meaning China could soon find itself bordered by multiple zones of active instability – a outcome that Beijing has long sought to prevent.

  • Turkey and Saudi Arabia’s rocky relations: A brief history

    Turkey and Saudi Arabia’s rocky relations: A brief history

    In a moment laden with religious and geopolitical symbolism, the leaders of three major Muslim nations gathered this week in Islam’s holiest city of Mecca to perform Friday prayers together, capping years of gradual reconciliation and marking a new chapter in regional security cooperation. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif joined the collective worship at the site, a public display of unity that follows years of strained ties between Ankara and Riyadh.

    The symbolic prayer service comes on the heels of a landmark breakthrough: the signing of a historic trilateral joint defense agreement between the three countries, which for the first time places the three regional powers under a unified security framework. While Pakistan has long maintained warm, stable diplomatic and economic ties with both Saudi Arabia and Turkey, the relationship between Ankara and Riyadh has been defined by centuries of rivalry and decades of alternating détente and open rupture.

    To understand the gravity of this week’s developments, it is necessary to trace the long, fraught history of relations between the two nations. Tensions over claims to leadership of the global Sunni Muslim community date back to the founding of both modern states in the early 20th century, with roots stretching even further to the 19th-century Ottoman-Saudi war, when Ottoman forces crushed an early Saudi expansion across the Arabian Peninsula. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed after World War I, the House of Saud defeated local rivals to seize control of Mecca and Medina in 1925, ending more than 350 years of continuous Ottoman rule over Islam’s two holiest sites. Formal diplomatic relations between the newly established Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Republic of Turkey were not established until the 1930s, and the two sides maintained generally cordial ties for decades after: both backed Iraq during the 1980s Iran-Iraq War (with Saudi support far more public) and aligned with the United States during the 1991 Gulf War.

    Even during this period of calm, however, low-level frictions persisted. Turkey repeatedly criticized Saudi Arabia for demolishing historic Ottoman-era sites across the kingdom, including fortresses, cemeteries, and 19th-century railway infrastructure. The most high-profile dispute came in 2002, when Turkey’s culture ministry condemned the demolition of the 220-year-old Al-Ajyad Fortress, which overlooked Mecca’s Grand Mosque. Turkey’s then-parliament speaker called the destruction “sinful behaviour in breach of the moral values of Islam”, but Saudi Arabia defended the move as a exercise of its sovereign right to redevelop the site to accommodate growing numbers of religious pilgrims. The site was later redeveloped to house the Mecca Clock Tower, one of the tallest structures in the world.

    This era of cordiality, interrupted only by minor disputes, collapsed into deep strategic disagreement after the 2010 Arab Spring. While both Riyadh and Ankara backed efforts to oust longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, their approaches to regional uprisings diverged sharply across the Middle East. In Egypt, Turkey openly supported the first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi and fiercely condemned the 2013 military coup led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a close ally of Saudi Arabia. For years after the coup, Ankara hosted Egyptian opposition media outlets and dissident groups, and Erdoğan refused to recognize Sisi’s government, calling for the release of tens of thousands of political prisoners.

    Strategic rifts widened across the region in subsequent years. During the 2017 Saudi-led blockade of Qatar, which accused Doha of supporting terrorism and meddling in regional affairs, Ankara sided openly with Qatar and deployed military forces to the Gulf state. In post-revolution Libya, where power fractured into rival factions after 2011, Turkey backed the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, while Riyadh threw its support behind eastern-based warlord Khalifa Haftar. Tensions boiled over into open hostility in early 2018, when Mohammed bin Salman labeled Turkey part of a “triangle of evil” alongside Iran and extremist religious groups.

    Relations hit their modern lowest point later that year, following the killing of veteran Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a former contributor to Middle East Eye, who was murdered by Saudi operatives inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. Turkish prosecutors indicted 20 Saudi citizens over the killing, building a case based on phone records, entry and exit logs, witness testimony, and analysis of Khashoggi’s personal devices. Erdoğan publicly stated the killing had been ordered at the “highest levels” of the Saudi government. In the years that followed, Riyadh imposed an unofficial boycott on Turkish goods that saw Turkish exports to Saudi Arabia plummet 92% year-on-year in 2021, after systematically pressuring local businesses to drop Turkish products from store shelves. Both sides also blocked each other’s state media outlets.

    After more than four years of open rupture, Ankara and Riyadh formally ended their dispute in 2022, as part of a broader wave of regional rapprochement led by Saudi Arabia. That June, Mohammed bin Salman traveled to Ankara for his first visit since Khashoggi’s killing, meeting Erdoğan at the presidential palace and agreeing to deepen cooperation across trade, defense, energy, and tourism. A key concession from Turkey that cleared the way for reconciliation was the transfer of the Khashoggi murder trial to Saudi courts, meeting a core Saudi demand for restoring ties.

    The reconciliation between Ankara and Riyadh fits into a broader regional shift: Saudi Arabia has moved to end disputes across the Middle East in recent years, including ending its three-and-a-half-year rift with Qatar, launching peace talks with the Houthi movement in Yemen, and restoring full diplomatic relations with Iran in a 2023 deal brokered by China. For Turkey, mending ties with oil-rich Gulf states was also an economic priority, as Ankara grappled with a collapsing national currency and widespread economic instability. Since the 2022 reconciliation, the two sides have signed a series of major deals on technology, defense, and renewable energy, highlighted by a 2023 Saudi agreement to purchase Turkish drones in what remains the largest defense contract in Turkey’s history.

    In recent months, growing strategic alignment on regional issues has pushed the two countries even closer. In Syria, both now back the new government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa and have joined forces to lobby the United States to lift crippling sanctions on Damascus. In Libya, once a point of sharp division, both now back the internationally recognized unity government. In war-torn Sudan, both Riyadh and Ankara support the Sudanese Armed Forces led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, while the UAE backs the rival Rapid Support Forces. In Somalia, too, Ankara and Riyadh stand together in supporting the internationally recognized central government, while the UAE backs Somaliland’s bid for independence. Notably, a growing public rift has emerged between Saudi Arabia and its one-time closest Gulf ally the UAE, with Turkey increasingly aligned with Riyadh on these issues, even as Ankara avoids taking an open public stance to protect its own substantial financial ties with Abu Dhabi.

    This week’s joint prayer service and historic defense pact cement the completion of a years-long reconciliation process, reshaping the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East and creating a new trilateral security bloc connecting South Asia, the Anatolian Peninsula, and the Arabian Gulf.