The foreign ministers of eight Musilm countries—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia—issued a joint condemnation Sept. 6 of remarks by Israeli cabinet ministers announcing plans for the mass displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. (ToI)

Libya's rival governments agreed Aug. 30 to hold national elections within the next two years, with a view to re-unifying the country. After months of UN-sponsored talks, representatives from the country's eastern and western administrations—known as the 4+4 Committee—signed a pact on terms to restructure the electoral commission and address disputes over the process. The elections are to be run by an interim unified authority and "national sovereign institutions."

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) formally dissolved on Aug. 25, as the commander announced completion of the regional Kurdish-led army's integration into the Syrian national army. The move ends the existence of the force that served as Washington's main partner against ISIS in Syria and once controlled a large autonomous zone in the country's northeast. "We announce today the end of the mission of the Syrian Democratic Forces and declare, with full responsibility, their dissolution as an independent military force," Mazloum Abdi said in a televised speech at the presidential palace in Damascus, following meetings with President Ahmad al-Sharaa. (EuroNews)

Colombia formally joined the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (A3C) on Aug. 12, a US-led regional initiative under the rubric of the so-called "Shield of the Americas." US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that new far-right President Abelardo de la Espriella had authorized joint "counter-terrorism" operations, a move that opens the door to US-led strikes on Colombian territory, which Hegseth said has already been discussed. De la Espriella's granting of permission to US troops to operate within Colombia is likely unconstitutional—the transit and operation of foreign troops on Colombian soil requires Congressional approval. The agreement was formalized in Panama, where Hegseth spent two days meeting with the A3C's 19 partner members, deepening ties, and rallying opposition to the International Criminal Court, which he accused of launching a "lawless power grab" by potentially investigating US strikes in the region, a step it has not yet taken. (NACLA Update)

Yemen is closer to all-out war than at any other point since 2022, UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg told the Security Council on Aug. 13 amid an upsurge of violence in and around the divided country. A Houthi attack on a cargo ship in the Bab el-Mandeb strait on Aug. 11 killed six people, while fresh clashes between Houthi and government forces erupted in the frontline city of Taiz the following day. The Houthis said a drone strike the day after that on Saudi Arabia's Jizan oil refinery, on the Red Sea just over the border from Yemen, was a response to Saudi violations of Yemeni airspace. (TNH)

Lebanese firefighters, residents, and environmental groups have accused the Israeli military of deliberately lighting wildfires across the areas of southern Lebanon it occupies, with some labelling it "ecocide." According to the reports, up to 40% of the land in areas close to the front line has been burned by Israeli drones, flares and munitions since June, with firefighters in some cases attacked as they attempted to respond. (TNH)

More than 10,000 civilians are reported displaced in South Sudan’s Central Equatoria state following clashes between government troops and Ugandan forces. The fighting marks a sharp escalation in a long-running border dispute. Talks are underway at the scene to try to resolve the conflict over the contested area in Kajo-Keji county, along the frontier with Uganda's West Nile region. (TNH, Radio Tamazuj)

Remnants of the Russian mercenary group Wagner apparently not integrated into Moscow's new Africa Corps have effectively gone rogue in the Central African republic, financing their operations through narco-trafficking. According to a Wall Street Journal Report of July 11, the mercenaries are running an opioid empire, supplying tramadol to the national army, local militias, their own forces, and workers in gold mines the group operates. A painkiller in normal doses, tramadol acts as a stimulant in higher doses that can reduce fear, exhaustion and hunger in users. Proceeds from tramadol distribution, including exports, have helped the Wagner remnants in CAR maintain independence from Moscow. The rogue remnant force is said to be led by Pavel Prigozhin, son of the late Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. (TNH, United24)