MUST-READS

• Saudi-Lebanon
  Lebanon to get Saudi-financed arms soon

  Lebanon's army will soon receive military equipment as part of a $1 billion grant from Saudi Arabia to help it fight Islamist militants encroaching into Lebanon from Syria, former Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said on Tuesday.

• Pentagon Costs
  Pentagon: Up to $1.1B cost for Iraq, Syria

  The Pentagon has spent as much as $1.1 billion on U.S. military operations against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria since the mission began in mid-June, including more than $62 million alone in Navy airstrikes and Tomahawk cruise missiles.

• Hajj and Public Health
  Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca epidemic-free, says Saudi Arabia

  Among its preventive measures, Fakieh’s ministry set up a “command and control” centre to direct the hajj health operation, and required every pilgrim to complete a health screening questionnaire. Passengers were monitored by thermal cameras that detect high body temperature, and 15 isolation rooms were set up to hold any suspicious cases at the airport in the city of Jeddah. Fakieh said 170 people were considered as possibly having Mers but all proved to be negative.

• Pew Data on Islam
  Ben Affleck and Bill Maher are both wrong about Islamic fundamentalism

  Overall, the picture that emerges of fundamentalism among the world's Muslims is considerably more complicated than either Affleck or Maher seem to realize. There's no doubt that, particularly among some Middle Eastern Muslims, support for intolerant practices runs high.

• Islamic State
  Opinion: Let’s teach our youth to build, not destroy

  We need to come up with urgent solutions. We should develop a more effective strategy to confront the dangerous threat of ISIS that continues to gain power and has already reached our borders.

• Nusra Front
  U.S., anti-Assad rebels in Syria remain at odds over role of al Qaida’s Nusra Front

  To the United States and its allies, the Nusra Front is a fearsome al Qaida affiliate whose extremist ideology has no place in a future Syria. To many Syrian rebels, however, Nusra fighters are vital warriors in the battle to topple President Bashar Assad, even if the moderates don’t share the group’s end goal of a religious state.

  • Foreign Policy - Obama's Trying to Train Syrians and Iraqis to Fight ISIS. Easier Said Than Done.
  • Washington Post - Islamic State presses offensives in Iraq, Syria; defenders call for more airstrikes
  • War on the Rocks - We Don't Need and Won't Find Moderates to Defeat ISIL
• Turkey and ISIS
  Turkey to approve a bigger military role in Iraq and Syria — but not on American terms

  Erdogan urged lawmakers to vote in favor of the resolution authorizing intervention in Syria and Iraq, which renews a similar 2012 mandate set to expire Saturday. Significantly, this authorization adds language allowing the government to permit “foreign militaries” to use Turkish soil for cross-border attacks, potentially paving the way for the United States to launch airstrikes from Turkish bases. The proposal is expected to pass because Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party has a majority in parliament.

  • Reuters - New NATO Leader Says Alliance Would Defend Turkey if It Was Attackedtrikes in Iraq
  • VOA - Turkish MPs to Vote on Military Action Against IS
• NCUSAR
  Nasdaq keen to boost Mideast business links

  In an unprecedented move, Nasdaq, New York’s Stock Exchange, invited John Duke Anthony, president of the National Council on US-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) along with a delegation from Qatar, led by Qatar’s Economy and Commerce Minister Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al-Thani, to ring the opening bell at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square.

• Monthly Saudi Chartbook
  Jadwa: KSA money supply growth touches 13-month high

  Jadwa Investment’s chart book for October also says that reserve assets of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) increased by $4.4 billion in August, their highest monthly gain since March this year.

• Syrian Refugees
  U.S. to greatly expand resettlement for Syrian refugees

  The State Department is reviewing more than 4,000 applications from Syrian refugees seeking permanent homes in the United States next year or beyond, up from dozens considered for resettlement this year and last, officials said. The expansion reflects determinations by the United Nations refugee agency and the United States that tens of thousands of refugees living outside Syria are unlikely to ever be able to return.

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