On the third anniversary of the massacre on Raba’a square in Cairo, which claimed at least 817 dead, the Human Rights Watch has called on the Egyptian Parliament to conduct an independent inquiry, enforce accountability of people responsible on the basis of transitional justice, and provide compensation for families of victims. The report on this issue has been published on Sunday, August 14, argues that the Egyptian authorities have failed to adequately account for the use of force against the protesters. According to the Egyptian constitution, a law on transitional justice has to be passed before the end of current parliamentary session in October 2016.

Foreign Minister Zarif underlined the need for further trilateral cooperation between Iran, Turkey and Russia in fighting terrorism in the region. Speaking during the press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Islamic Republic was "delighted" to see Turkey starting new cooperation with Russia. "We are also ready to cooperate and help. These three countries [Russia, Iran and Turkey] should work together to bring peace and prosperity to the region," Zarif said.

The fighting in Aleppo continues in the wake of a recent rebel offensive that, on Saturday, August 6, has succeeded in breaking the government siege of eastern part of the city, inhabited by about 300,000 people. Moreover, as a result, the main supply route to government-controlled Western Aleppo, inhabited by about 1.2 million people, has been broken. Both sides are now reinforcing their positions, which results in intense clashes and increased civilian casualties. Rescuers in Eastern Aleppo have also reported a chemical attack that claimed 3 dead.

Two weeks after the start of loan deal negotiations, the International Monetary Fund and Egypt have announced an interim deal on Thursday, August 11. The staff-level agreement, if implemented, will start a three year Extended Funds Facility worth $12 billion. It is the result of a two-week visit of an IMF mission under Chris Jarvis that arrived in Egypt on July 30. According to Jarvis, the agreement ‘aims to improve the functioning of the foreign exchange markets, bring down budget deficit and debt, and raise growth.’ The mission chief has also declared that ‘Egypt is a strong country with great potential but it has some problems that need to be fixed urgently.’

Libyan militias, with the United States support, get the control over the headquarters of the Islamic State in Sirte. The spokesman of the loyal to the UN-backed Libyan government told that "the Ouagadougou centre is in our hands”. Sirte, which is situated on the Mediterranean coast is the IS stronghold in Libya. IS controlled Sirte since the February 2015. According to the pro-governmental forces, IS a still control some residential areas in of Sirte. As pro-governmental forces stated, the capturing of Ouagadougou centre was the main objective in the last offensive.

TRT News reported that, the Foreign Minister of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu has offered to connect the Turkish Stream pipeline, which the project is being developed by Russia, to the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), via which Azerbaijani gas planning to be delivered to European markets in 2020. The Foreign Minister Cavusoglu said in his speech that Ankara will buy only 16 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year via the Turkish Stream. The remaining volume of Russian gas can be exported through Turkey via TANAP by connecting it to the Turkish Stream.