MUST-READS

• US Strategy in Iraq and Syria
  The Campaign Against the Islamic State

  A combination of airpower and Iraqi ground forces is at least an uncertain possibility in Iraq, but Syria will remain an enduring mess. The United States, its allies, the region, and the world will have to live with the reality that some form of Jihadism and violent Islamist extremism will persist regardless of what happens to the Islamic State. Moreover, they must be prepared to live with the fact that Jihadism and violent Islamist extremism will remain a far broader problem throughout the region.

  • WSJ - Islamic State Funds Push Into Syria and Iraq With Labyrinthine Oil-Smuggling Operation
  • CSM - Islamic State 101: Why are Arab countries so reluctant to help?
  • Al Monitor - Do Syrians support foreign intervention against IS?
  • Foreign Affairs - State of Confusion
  • AFP - The Reluctant Posse
  • Washington Post - The apocalyptic magazine the Islamic State uses to recruit and radicalize foreigners
• MENA Markets
  Saudi, UAE and Egypt in focus at investment talks

  The debate about the resurgence of the MENA region took center stage at the Emirates Stadium as institutional investors from 27 countries with aggregate assets under management in excess of $8 trillion gather alongside senior management from over 70 of the largest and most actively traded companies in the MENA region for the opening session of the conference — the largest MENA-focused investment conference in the United Kingdom.

• Anti-ISIS Coalition
  Opinion: A Coalition of Uncertainty

  The situation confronting Obama and Secretary of State John F. Kerry is considerably murkier, to say the least. The United States is not just herding cats, it is herding wolves, rabbits, chameleons, and maybe a few sheep.

  • Bloomberg - U.S. Expands Airstrikes on Islamic State Targets in Iraq
  • AP - Tiny Qatar Plays Outsize Role in US War Strategy
  • AP - Turkey mulls 'buffer zone' against Jihadist group
  • NYT - Kerry Says U.S. Is Open to Talking to Iran, Even as Ayatollah Is Dismissive
  • Washington Post - ISIS Strategy Lacks Firepower
  • Defense One - Obama’s Dramatic Reversal on Bush’s Laws of War
• Well-Being
  Country Well-Being Varies Greatly Worldwide – KSA in top 10 for Community and Physical Well-Being Categories

  One in six adults worldwide are considered thriving -- or strong and consistent -- in at least three of the five elements of well-being, as measured by the inaugural Gallup-Healthways Global Well-Being Index in 2013. Residents of the Americas region are the most likely to be thriving in three or more elements (33%), while those in sub-Saharan Africa are the least likely (9%).

• ISIS Funding
  Islamic State group’s war chest is growing daily

  The Islamic State group has taken over large sections of Syria and Iraq, and controls as many as 11 oil fields in both countries, analysts say. It is selling oil and other goods through generations-old smuggling networks under the noses of some of the same governments it is fighting: Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, Turkey and Jordan. While U.S. intelligence does not assess that those governments are complicit in the smuggling, the Obama administration is pressing them do to more to crack down. The illicit oil is generally transported on tanker trucks, analysts said.

  • The Hill - Syrian opposition: No ISIS cease-fire
• US-Saudi
  Arab Nations Offer to Conduct Airstrikes Against ISIS, U.S. Officials Say

  Several Arab countries have offered to carry out airstrikes against militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, senior State Department officials said Sunday.

  • Washington Post - U.S. aims to exclude Iran from coalition against Islamic State
  • CNN - Who is doing what in the coalition battle against ISIS?
  • CBS News - John Kerry: "We are at war" with ISIS
  • Defense One - Here's What Arab Militaries Bring to the Fight Against the Islamic State
  • Al-Arabiya - Opinion: America can degrade ISIS, Arabs should destroy it
  • The Guardian - US 'encouraged' as UAE and Saudis offer help in coalition attack on Isis
• GCC Economies
  Saudi Arabia, Kuwait ‘still too reliant on oil revenues’

  Saudi-based investment firm Alkhabeer Capital said in a report that the annual budget spending in GCC countries still continues to be driven almost entirely by income from the export of hydrocarbons although the contribution of non-hydrocarbon GDP to the overall GDP has significantly increased over the past two decades.

• Economic Cities
  Saudi City in the Desert Project Seeks to Woo Chinese Investors

  Saudi Arabia is building four economic cities to attract foreign investment and create jobs. KAEC, as the project is known, will include a port and business district as well as residential areas and resorts. It will be built over 168 square kilometers (65 square miles), about the size of Washington D.C., according to the project’s website.

• Yemen Drone Strike
  US drone strike targets AQAP fighters in Shabwa

  Local officials in Yemen's southern Shabwa province reported that an American drone strike killed five al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fighters today. Today's strike is the first reported in Yemen since Aug. 17.

• U.S.-Iraq
  Obama: More Airstrikes and Troops to Iraq to Defeat Islamic State

  The U.S. will deploy another 475 troops to Iraq to help support Kurdish and Iraqi security forces working to defeat IS. Those troops will join the several hundred American troops Obama deployed in June, but none of them are working in a direct combat role and they will provide support through training, equipment and intelligence, said Obama.

  • The Hill - Treasury to 'intensify' work to block ISIS funds
  • AP - France Ready to Participate in Iraq Airstrikes
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