UNIPATH STAFF Pakistan’s Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications has announced plans to establish a cyber security authority to combat increasing threats to computer systems on which the country relies. Information Minister Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui noted that the authority would operate under a comprehensive cyber security policy the country is devising to defend against cyber crime. According to the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority, more than 50 million Pakistanis have access to mobile phones with high-speed internet access. Despite the risk associated with increased computerization, Pakistan’s economy will benefit from the spread of information technology, Siddiqui said. The ministry also intends…
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UNIPATH STAFF Although military service for female Emiratis remains voluntary, many female recruits have taken military training classes to demonstrate their love and loyalty to their homeland. In the summer of 2019, more than 200 Emirati school-age girls took basic and advanced courses to learn military skills such as weapons assembly and disassembly, close quarters combat, marksmanship, first aid, staging and order of movement, logistics, physical fitness and martial arts. The courses were organized by the Active and Reserve Service Department at Khawla Bint Al-Azwar Military School. The graduation ceremony was attended by several dignitaries headed by His Highness Sheikh…
To raise combat readiness to preempt potential terrorist attacks, the Saudi and Bahraini forces jointly launched two naval exercises: Bridge-20 and Waves-4. The drills occurred at King Abdulaziz Naval Base, southeast of Jubail, Saudi Arabia, in October 2019. Bridge-20 and Waves-4 came at a time of tension in the region due to attacks on Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and ships in the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. In each case, Iran was a prime suspect. The two combined exercises aimed to increase the readiness of the two countries’ forces to counter terrorist attacks that target oil…
Every year, Saudi Arabia hosts millions of religious pilgrims arriving from all over the world to perform the rituals of the Hajj. In the Hajj season of 2019, His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef, the Saudi minister of the interior, chaired the Higher Hajj Committee to ensure the safety and security of an estimated 2.5 million visitors. The World Health Organization (WHO) commended the government of Saudi Arabia for hosting the pilgrimage to Mecca without any health crisis or disease outbreaks, despite the discomforts of the August heat. Before the Hajj season, a WHO team visited health…
UNIPATH STAFF In response to popular calls to remove Daesh fighters from villages near the city of Baquba in Diyala governorate, Iraqi security forces conducted a preemptive attack in August 2019 on terrorist remnants in the region. Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the commander in chief, personally oversaw the launch of Operation Will of Victory III to eliminate Daesh pockets not just in Diyala but also in sections of Nineveh governorate. Ground forces included the Iraqi Army’s 5th and 20th divisions, the Commando Brigade, the Joint Operations Command, the Diyala Police Department, federal police and tribal mobilization forces. In addition to…
UNIPATH STAFF Egypt hosted one of the region’s premier cyber security conferences in September 2019 under the banner, “Cybersecurity in the Age of Digital Transformation.” The Arab Cyber Security Conference in Cairo is an annual event initiated in 2017 aimed at keeping individuals, governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations and private enterprises up to date with the latest security solutions and challenges. It also raises security awareness through technical discussions and brings together security professionals and organizations from across the Middle East and beyond to work jointly and exchange expertise. Information security officers attended from Australia, Bahrain, Germany, India, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco,…
UNIPATH STAFF Turkmenistan joined other Central Asian states in ratifying the Code of Conduct for the Achievement of a Terrorism-Free World, a United Nations initiative developed by Kazakhstan in 2018. The document commits Turkmenistan to stopping recruitment of terrorists, eliminating the threat of foreign terrorist fighters, blocking terror financing and stemming the spread of violent extremist ideologies. Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov signed the agreement during a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September 2019. The code of conduct reflects important elements of numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions, including Resolution 2396, which calls on member states to…
UNIPATH STAFF Kazakhstan hosted several delegations of U.S. officials in the summer of 2019, discussions meant to build on the two countries’ cooperation in matters of security, trade and investment. In a meeting with Kazakhstani President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on August 9, 2019, in Nur-Sultan, two members of the U.S. House of Representatives emphasized Kazakhstan’s importance in strengthening stability and security in Central Asia and Afghanistan as well as fighting international terrorism. Later that month, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale arrived in the Kazakhstani capital to meet the foreign ministers of all five Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan,…
Tajikistan is focusing on reintegrating citizens who renounced their previous involvement with ISIS and other terrorist groups, particularly women and children. As of mid-2019, the country had repatriated about 300 citizens, including 84 Tajik children returned in April from Iraq, where their fathers died or disappeared and their mothers were serving prison sentences. President Emomali Rakhmon floated the possibility of repatriation and reintegration for people who renounce illegal armed conflict aboard and have committed no other crimes. Most of these returnees would be granted exemption from criminal prosecution for their activities abroad. To avoid recidivism, the government has tasked police…
UNIPATH STAFF The discovery of sophisticated Iranian weaponry aboard a Yemeni dhow in February 2020 replicates a pattern of Iranian arms smuggling that has enflamed violence in the Arabian Peninsula. A boarding party from the U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy intercepted the dhow in the Arabian Sea and seized an arms cache destined for the Houthis in Yemen. The illicit arsenal — which included 150 anti-tank guided missiles — violated a United Nations Security Council embargo on supplying weapons to Houthi leaders and their representatives. Among the seized weapons were surface-to-air missiles, thermal imaging scopes for launching nighttime attacks,…