Human Rights Watch (HRW) on July 21 called upon the Jordanian government to immediately reverse a policy that mandates displacing a Bedouin community from the Petra area, a UN-recognized World Heritage Site, through forcible evictions. Human Rights Watch deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Adam Coogle, stated:

Jordan can't claim to protect Petra's living heritage while sidelining the community that embodies it. It should work, together with UNESCO, to uphold the rights of the Bedul and ensure their full participation in the shaping of the future of the site they've called home for generations.

According to the report, the government is forcibly evicting the Bedul, one of several Bedouin communities living in the Petra area in the southern part of Jordan. In targeting the community for eviction, Jordanian authorities are violating their economic, social, and cultural rights, and their rights to housing.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) on July 20 called on the Syrian government to hold accountable those who attacked peaceful protesters in front of the country's legislature in Damascus two days earlier. The protest had been convened to oppose the escalating violence in the southern province of Suwayda, and to demand the protection of minorities and the promotion of civil peace in the country.

Angolan police used excessive force and carried out arbitrary arrests during a peaceful protest in Luanda on July 12, Human Rights Watch charges. According to reports, officers fired tear-gas and rubber bullets without justification, assaulted demonstrators, and detained 17 protesters, some of whom were released only after legal intervention.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned a deadly Israeli artillery strike that damaged Gaza's historic Holy Family Catholic Church, calling the attack "unacceptable" and reiterating calls for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages. The strike, which occurred on July 17, killed three civilians and injured several others, including parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli, according to the Vatican.

France officially transferred control of its last military installations in Senegal to local authorities in a ceremony on July 17, bringing to an end the permanent deployment of French troops in the country since Senegal gained independence in 1960. The withdrawal of over 350 troops marks the completion of a process initiated in March, when France began handing over multiple military sites. These have included the Rufisque communications station outside the capital Dakar, turned over on July  1.

As a dictatorship consolidates in Turkey, aspiring strongman Recep Tayip Erdogan is launching a special attack on municipalities, arresting the mayor of Istanbul and removing elected governments in hundreds of cities and towns across the country—mostly in the restive Kurdish east. In the United States, aspiring strongman Donald Trump is now threatening to similarly remove Zohran Mamdani if he becomes mayor of New York, and order a federal take-over of the city government. Border czar Tom Homan says he will "flood the zone" with ICE agents in "sanctuary cities" such as New York and Los Angeles. In Episode 287 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg argues that Trump forcing the issue could accelerate the breaking point in which localities coast-to-coast assert their autonomous powers in repudiation of the fascist-coopted federal leviathan—vindicating Murray Bookchin's theories of radical municipalism.

At a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels July 15, the bloc opted not to take punitive action against Israel over widespread evidence of war crimes and atrocities committed in Gaza. For weeks, the EU had been discussing a range of potential actions, including: suspending its free trade agreement with Israel, an arms embargo, banning the import of products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and ending visa-free travel for Israeli citizens. Instead of taking any of these measures—which advocates argue are necessary to avoid complicity in serious violations of international law—EU ministers pointed to an aid deal for Gaza struck on July 10 as justification for inaction. The details of that deal remain vague, and it has so far shown little on-the-ground impact. Amnesty International assailed the apparent quid pro quo as a "cruel and unlawful betrayal" of the Gazans.

Three days of drone attacks on oil-fields in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region have brought operations at several facilities to a halt and slashed crude output. The targeted sites include fields at Zakho, operated by Norway's DNO; the Sarsang field, operated by US-based HKN Energy; and the Ain Sifni field, operated by Hunt Oil, all in Dohuk governorate. Kurdistan authorities also said a drone was downed near Erbil airport, which hosts US troops. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Kurdish authorities blamed the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units, a paramilitary network aligned with the Baghdad government and backed by Iran. The attacks come amid renewed dispute between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government over whether the KRG may enter into hydrocarbon contracts with foreign firms. In May, the central government filed a complaint against the KRG for signing gas contracts with two US companies, including HKN Energy, asserting that all oil and gas deals must go through Baghdad. (Daily Sabah, Arab Weekly)