We, the Muslims of Ukraine, defend our state and have the right, which the Almighty gave us, to defend ourselves from external aggression.

From the appeal of Sheikh Said Ismagilov, Mufti of the Spiritual Administration.

Muslims of Ukraine " If we take into account the vote at the UN General Assembly on a resolution condemning Russia's aggression against Ukraine, then the picture is as follows: the Gulf countries - Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Qatar, Bahrain - supported it. In the Eastern Mediterranean, the resolution was supported by Jordan - a devoted ally of the United States and Lebanon. The latter is suffering from the political and economic crisis and Hezbollah's dictatorship and publicly shows signs of solidarity with Ukraine, such as lighting up houses with the colors of the Ukrainian national flag.. In North Africa, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya voted for the resolution. Cairo's effective vote is an important signal, but I guess the main considerations were related to the issue of food security. We'll talk about this a little lower..

Algeria, whose government is very closely linked to Russian military plans (think, for example, of joint exercises in North Ossetia last fall), abstained during the vote.. Morocco, a country in conflict with Algeria, did not vote at all. Iraq and Iran also abstained during the vote.. The latter, of course, is not an Arab state, but, given the Iranian influence in the region, Tehran's position cannot be neglected. In this country, by the way, in relation to Russian aggression, there is a split in political elites. Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reaction has already gone viral. On his Twitter, he wrote about the Ukrainian people and the Armed Forces of Ukraine: “Your worthy and almost incredible resistance revealed the satanic plots of the enemies of mankind. Believe that the great Iranian nation stands by your side admiring this heroic perseverance." No, he has not ceased to be an Islamist and an enemy of the United States and Israel, but the sincerity of his reaction causes a certain cognitive dissonance. The Iranian opposition inside the country and supporters of the Shah Pahlavi abroad unequivocally spoke out against the war in Ukraine. But the current leadership demonstrates loyalty to Russia. And the leadership of the Sentinel Corps of the Islamic Revolution (KCHIR) generally went into all serious trouble. However, Iran has much to do: the current Iranian leadership is interested in restoring the nuclear agreement and is nervous about the Russian intention to link the agreement with sanctions.

The only country in the Arab world that voted against is Assadist Syria.. I don't think anyone is surprised by this position. After all, Bashar al-Assad owes his tenure to Putin and is a devoted subject of the Russian tyrant.. The Syrian case is also important in the context of numerous reports and even official statements about the readiness of mercenaries from the Middle East to fight on the side of Russia against our country.. Different numbers were called - from five hundred to twenty, or even forty thousand possible Syrian combatants. Similar statements were made, by the way, by the Lebanese Hezbollah, but there it is more like playing in front of the camera than something serious.

Experts are skeptical about the possibility of sending a large contingent to Ukraine and are even more skeptical about its ability to conduct offensive operations in Ukrainian conditions.. Actually, there are not so many trained soldiers in Assad’s army, and reducing the military contingent by at least a thousand can create a critical situation at the front. Do not forget that the war in Syria has not ended, although it has subsided. In order not to be unfounded: as soon as talk began about the transfer of Assadites to Ukraine, how the militants of the " Therefore, not everything is so clear.

Attracts attention and active opposition to the plans to mobilize mercenaries by Arab public organizations and religious figures. In numerous sermons, authoritative Islamic scholars urge Muslims not to take part in the war against Ukraine, as this is contrary to the instructions of the Holy Quran.. There are numerous statements by representatives of the Arab diasporas in Ukraine to the citizens of their countries with a call to refrain from participating in the war. In other words, civil society works.

I cannot but touch upon such an important point as the mood on the so-called Arab street, or in other words, public opinion. Here, it must be admitted, not everything is so good.. Anti-American, anti-Western narratives function quite successfully and have many adherents.. Here we are reminded of participation in the operation in Iraq, and Zelensky's tweets about the missiles that fall on Israel, and talk about moving the embassy to Jerusalem (false in fact). Compare this situation with the Syrian one and emphasize the differences in attitudes towards refugees. This is the traditional anti-colonial, anti-Western rhetoric, where Russia takes the place of a kind of anti-leverage to Western expansionism. But at the same time, they also report about Ukrainian flags in the Gaza Strip, and about the support of the West Bank Palestinians for our struggle. I am sincerely grateful to those Palestinians who are devotedly working on the information front, covering events in Ukraine on numerous Arab channels, and to those who, with a surgical scalpel, save Ukrainians in hospitals. “We must understand that only a decisive struggle, such as the Ukrainians demonstrate, can attract the attention and favor of the whole world to our Palestinian problem,” they write on social networks..

Of the global issues that are becoming increasingly relevant for the Middle East in the context of the war, of course, food security is at the forefront..

In the event of a failure in sowing and a crop failure, a sharp jump in grain prices can be expected, and this can lead to destabilization in the region. Suffice it to recall that the " It's not hard to imagine what could happen this year.

The longer the conflict continues, the clearer it becomes that it will not be possible to simply sit out. The Arab countries recognize the obvious fact that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a turning point in the old security system. It is difficult to understand, and even more so to adequately respond to it.. But I'll have to.