Daily News Brief - 08/09/2022

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Please find below today’s daily news brief.

Iran | Albania: Tirana cuts diplomatic ties with Tehran following a massive cyberattack

• The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced on Wednesday that his country has ended diplomatic ties with Iran, accusing Tehran of launching a massive cyberattack against Albania this summer. He added that Iranian diplomats and support staff had been given 24 hours to leave the country. Rama stated that the damage caused by the attack is minimal compared to the goals. In a statement, Iran’s foreign ministry strongly condemned the Albanian government’s measure and dismissed the accusations. Albania and Iran have been bitter foes for years as Tirana hosts on its territory an Iranian opposition group called the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran. The political wing established its headquarters near Paris.

Iraq: Top court rules that it cannot dissolve the country’s parliament

• Following a demand by the influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that it cannot dissolve the parliament, as the political deadlock continues. The top court said in a statement that the parliament has to dissolve itself if it is deemed to have not performed its duties. According to the constitution, the legislature chooses Iraq’s president and prime minister and approves all laws. Since the parliamentary elections in October 2021, the body has been unable to elect the country’s leaders.

Israel | Palestine: One Palestinian was shot dead by an Israeli soldier after an alleged hammer attack

• A Palestinian man was shot and killed on Wednesday night after allegedly attempting to attack an Israeli soldier with a hammer. The incident took place near a military outpost in the occupied West Bank’s village of Baytin.

Israel | Qatar: Officials in talks to open a temporary office in Doha for the 2022 World Cup

• Officials confirmed on Wednesday that Israel and Qatar held diplomatic talks to open a temporary office in Doha for the 2022 FIFA World Cup with the purpose of providing consular assistance to the tens of thousands of Israelis who are expected to attend the games between November 20 and December 18. Israel has no diplomatic relations with Qatar, although there are strong security ties between the countries. Doha closed the official Israeli liaison office in 2008 following a war in the Gaza Strip.

Syria | Russia: At least seven were killed and more than a dozen injured in a Russian airstrike in Syria

• At least seven people were killed and 15 injured during a Russian airstrike in Syria’s last major rebel bastion in the northwestern province of Idlib on Thursday. At least four of those killed were civilians. According to local sources, the attack hit a stone quarry and a nearby home west of Idlib city.

Tunisia: Opposition says it will boycott the December vote and accuses the president of being “anti-democratic”

• Two of Tunisia’s opposition political groups announced that they will not take part in the parliamentary elections set for December this year and accused President Kais Saied of being anti-democratic. The Salvation Front, which brings together several groups opposed to Saied including the Islamist Ennahdha Party, also boycotted the July constitutional referendum. Their spokesperson Ahmed Najib Chebbi said that “participation in these upcoming elections will only be decorative, similar to what used to happen during the time of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.”

Turkey | Greece: Athens sends letter to UN, NATO, and EU decrying Turkey’s behavior

• The Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias sent a letter to the country’s NATO and EU allies as well as to the UN secretary-general, asking them to formally condemn the increasingly aggressive discourse by Turkish officials. In the letter, Dendias suggested that the tensions could escalate into a new open conflict by saying that “by not doing so in time [censoring Turkey’s behavior] or by underestimating the seriousness of the matter, we risk witnessing again a situation similar to that currently unfolding in some other part of our continent.”