Security Official Assassinated in Aden

Gunmen on a motorcycle assassinated the director of security operations in Aden, Yemen, on Sunday. It is the latest attack in a spate of violence in the city. Similar attacks in recent weeks have been blamed on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, but no group has asserted credit for the assassination yet. The tenuous security situation in the de facto capital of anti-Houthi controlled Yemen is one of the biggest challenges for the Gulf coalition operating in Aden. Thousands of Emirati soldiers are now operating in the country and trying to reimplement local governance and initiate nation-building projects.

Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, is experiencing critical fuel and medical shortages. Aid organizations warned yesterday that Al Sabeen Hospital, which currently has as many as 3 million people in its service area, may be forced to close in the next two days because it lacks the supplies to operate.

Egyptian Court Sentences Three Journalists to Prison Term

An Egyptian court sentenced three Al-Jazeera journalists to three years in prison for reporting done in 2013. Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed remain in Egypt, while the third, Australian journalist Peter Greste, was deported earlier this year. The sentence is the conclusion of a retrial after an appeals court threw out a previous seven-year sentence. The trial has been roundly criticized by rights groups, advocates of journalistic freedom, and foreign officials, including the British ambassador to Egypt, who has been summoned to meet with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry after making critical comments about the trial.

Headlines

• The Egyptian government announced that the first round of parliamentary elections will be held October 18-19, with a second round scheduled for November; Egypt has not had a parliament since it was dissolved in June 2012.

• The Islamic State continued its destruction of ancient ruins at Palmyra, Syria, demolishing the First-Century Temple of Baal with explosives.

• Amid increased operations against Kurdish militants and the Islamic State, the Turkish government has begun offering rewards for identifying terrorists.

• At least 10 people were killed and scores more remain hospitalized after a fire in a Saudi Aramco residential building in Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

• Iran sentenced two people to 10 years in prison for spying on behalf of the United States, but it is not known who the individuals are or if one of them is Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian.

Arguments and Analysis

“To those who will not read these words” (Wael Eskander, Daily News Egypt)

“I do not want to count how many of the people I know personally are targeted, assaulted, put in prison. Many I’ve known well, some our paths crossed often, even more close friends to my friends. I do not want to count because it will be sad and seemingly finite for what seems like infinite injustice. Many are not as well known to others as Alaa Abel Fattah, Yara Sallam, Sanaa Seif and Mahienour El-Massry, but they are no less valuable. Among those imprisoned are some of the finest and bravest people I’ve come to know across the world, and I’ve done my fair share of travelling. It is not a coincidence that the finest are in jail or targeted. They are there because of that. Many are not just a case of an unfortunate loss of people with integrity who have been sentenced for other reasons. They are in there because of their positions and their integrity.”

“First female voters register in Saudi Arabia” (Brian Whitaker, al-Bab)

“Although the elections themselves are not particularly significant, the inclusion of women as both voters and candidates is an important step forward and builds on a royal decision in 2013 to appoint 30 women to the Shura Council — the unelected quasi-parliament. However, the length of time it has taken to reach this point raises doubts about the kingdom’s ability to implement reform on the scale that will be needed to avoid an eventual collapse of the system. And the price of granting electoral rights to women is a further entrenchment of gender apartheid.”

-J. Dana Stuster

SALEH AL-OBEIDI/AFP/Getty Images