auto-update week 9

middle-east/aj.json

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "Introduction": {
     "Background": {
-      "text": "<p>Azerbaijan - a secular nation with a majority-Turkic and majority-Shia Muslim population - was briefly independent (from 1918 to 1920) following the collapse of the Russian Empire; it was subsequently incorporated into the Soviet Union for seven decades. Since 1991, Azerbaijan has had a protracted conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, populated largely by ethnic Armenians but incorporated into Soviet Azerbaijan as an autonomous oblast in the early 1920s. In the late Soviet period, an ethnic-Armenian separatist movement developed that sought to end Azerbaijani control over the region. Fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988 and escalated after Armenia and Azerbaijan attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. By the time a ceasefire took effect in May 1994, separatists, with Armenian support, controlled Nagorno‑Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories.</p> <p>Efforts to negotiate a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia began in the mid-1990s under the aegis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group, which was co-chaired by France, Russia, and the United States. At the same time, cease-fire violations and sporadic flare-ups continued. In September 2020, a second sustained conflict began when Azerbaijan took action to try to regain the territories it had lost in the 1990s. After six weeks of fighting that saw significant Azerbaijani gains, Russia brokered a cease-fire.  Armenia returned to Azerbaijan the seven territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh that it had previously occupied and also the southern part of Nagorno-Karabakh. Despite Azerbaijan’s territorial gains, peace in the region remains elusive because of unsettled issues concerning the delimitation of borders, the opening of regional transportation and communication links, the status of ethnic enclaves near border regions, and the final status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Russian peacekeepers deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh to supervise the cease-fire for a minimum five-year term have not prevented the outbreak of sporadic, low-level military clashes along the Azerbaijan-Armenia border and in Nagorno-Karabakh.<br><br>In the three decades since its independence in 1991, Azerbaijan has significantly reduced the poverty rate and has directed some revenue from its oil and gas production to develop the country’s infrastructure. However, corruption remains a burden on the economy, and Western observers and members of the country’s political opposition have accused the government of authoritarianism, pointing to elections that are neither free nor fair, state control of the media, and the systematic abuse of human rights targeting individuals and groups who are perceived as threats to the administration. The country’s leadership has remained in the ALIYEV family since Heydar ALIYEV, formerly the most highly ranked Azerbaijani member of the Communist Party during the Soviet period, became president in the midst of the first Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1993. Heydar ALIYEV groomed his son to succeed him, and Ilham ALIYEV subsequently became president in 2003. As a result of two national referendums that eliminated presidential term limits and extended the presidential term from 5 to 7 years, President ALIYEV secured a fourth term in April 2018 in an election that international observers noted had serious shortcomings. Reforms are underway to diversify the country’s economy away from its dependence on oil and gas; additional reforms are needed to address weaknesses in government institutions, particularly in the education and health sectors, and the court system.</p>"
+      "text": "<p>Azerbaijan - a secular nation with a majority-Turkic and majority-Shia Muslim population - was briefly independent (from 1918 to 1920) following the collapse of the Russian Empire; it was subsequently incorporated into the Soviet Union for seven decades. Since 1991, Azerbaijan has had a protracted conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, populated largely by ethnic Armenians but incorporated into Soviet Azerbaijan as an autonomous oblast in the early 1920s. In the late Soviet period, an ethnic-Armenian separatist movement developed that sought to end Azerbaijani control over the region. Fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988 and escalated after Armenia and Azerbaijan attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. By the time a ceasefire took effect in May 1994, separatists, with Armenian support, controlled Nagorno‑Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories.</p> <p>Efforts to negotiate a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia began in the mid-1990s under the aegis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Minsk Group, which was co-chaired by France, Russia, and the United States. At the same time, cease-fire violations and sporadic flare-ups continued. In September 2020, a second sustained conflict began when Azerbaijan took action to try to regain the territories it had lost in the 1990s. After six weeks of fighting that saw significant Azerbaijani gains, Russia brokered a cease-fire.  Armenia returned to Azerbaijan the seven territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh that it had previously occupied and also the southern part of Nagorno-Karabakh. Despite Azerbaijan’s territorial gains, peace in the region remains elusive because of unsettled issues concerning the delimitation of borders, the opening of regional transportation and communication links, the status of ethnic enclaves near border regions, and the final status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Russian peacekeepers deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh to supervise the cease-fire for a minimum five-year term have not prevented the outbreak of sporadic, low-level military clashes along the Azerbaijan-Armenia border and in Nagorno-Karabakh; in September 2023, Azerbaijan took military action to regain control over Nagorno-Karabakh; after a conflict of approximately 24 hours, nearly the entire ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh fled to Armenia<br><br>In the three decades since its independence in 1991, Azerbaijan has significantly reduced the poverty rate and has directed some revenue from its oil and gas production to develop the country’s infrastructure. However, corruption remains a burden on the economy, and Western observers and members of the country’s political opposition have accused the government of authoritarianism, pointing to elections that are neither free nor fair, state control of the media, and the systematic abuse of human rights targeting individuals and groups who are perceived as threats to the administration. The country’s leadership has remained in the ALIYEV family since Heydar ALIYEV, formerly the most highly ranked Azerbaijani member of the Communist Party during the Soviet period, became president in the midst of the first Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1993. Heydar ALIYEV groomed his son to succeed him, and Ilham ALIYEV subsequently became president in 2003. As a result of two national referendums that eliminated presidential term limits and extended the presidential term from 5 to 7 years, President ALIYEV secured a fourth term in April 2018 in an election that international observers noted had serious shortcomings. The Azerbaijani government announced that the next presidential election will take place in February 2024. Reforms are underway to diversify the country’s economy away from its dependence on oil and gas; additional reforms are needed to address weaknesses in government institutions, particularly in the education and health sectors, and the court system.</p>"
     }
   },
   "Geography": {
@@ -1156,7 +1156,7 @@
   },
   "Military and Security": {
     "Military and security forces": {
-      "text": "Azerbaijan Armed Forces: Land Forces, Air Forces, Navy Forces, State Border Service, Coast Guard<br><br>Ministry of Internal Affairs: Internal Troops, local police forces; Special State Protection Service (SSPS): National Guard (2023)",
+      "text": "Azerbaijan Armed Forces: Land Forces, Air Forces, Navy Forces, State Border Service, Coast Guard<br><br>Ministry of Internal Affairs: Internal Troops, local police forces; Special State Protection Service (SSPS): National Guard (2024)",
       "note": "<strong>note:</strong> the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Security Service (intelligence, counterterrorism) are responsible for internal security; the SSPS is under the president and provides protective services to senior officials, foreign missions, significant state assets, government buildings, etc; the National Guard also serves as a reserve for the Army"
     },
     "Military expenditures": {
@@ -1207,7 +1207,7 @@
   },
   "Transnational Issues": {
     "Disputes - international": {
-      "text": "<p><em>Armenia-Azerbaijan:</em> tensions existed for years over the break-away Nagorno-Karabakh region and the Armenian military occupation of surrounding lands in Azerbaijan; Azerbaijan seized part of the enclave during six weeks of fighting in 2020 and the remainder in a short conflict in September 2023; in October 2023, Baku and Yerevan began preliminary discussions on a peace treaty, the demarcation of borders, and full normalization of relations; nevertheless, concerns persist in Armenia that Azerbaijan could invade in order to force the establishment of a transit corridor to the exclave of Naxicvan (Nakhichevan)<br><br><em>Azerbaijan-Georgia:</em> a joint boundary commission agrees on most of the alignment, leaving only small areas at certain crossing points in dispute; consequently, the two states have yet to agree on a delimitation or demarcation of their common boundary; one area of contention is where the international boundary should run through the 6th-13th Century David-Gareja monastery complex<br><br><em>Azerbaijan-Iran:</em> in recent years, tensions between Azerbajian and Iran have risen in part because of warming ties between Azerbaijan and Israel, and Baku's claims that Tehran has backed Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave<br><br><em>Azerbaijan-Russia: </em>Russia has complained of cross-border smuggling<br><br><em>Azerbaijan-Turkey:</em> none identified; as of 2023, Turkey and Armenia were discussing normalizing relations<br><br><em>Caspian Sea (Maritime Boundary):</em> Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia ratified the Caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on equidistance, while Iran continues to insist on a one-fifth slice of the sea; bilateral talks continue with Turkmenistan on dividing the seabed and contested oilfields in the middle of the Caspian<br><br>local border forces struggle to control the illegal transit of goods and people across the porous, undemarcated Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian borders</p>"
+      "text": "<p><em>Armenia-Azerbaijan:</em> tensions existed for years over Nagorno-Karabakh region and the Armenian military occupation of surrounding lands in Azerbaijan; Azerbaijan seized part of the enclave during six weeks of fighting in 2020 and the remainder in a short conflict in September 2023; Baku and Yerevan have since had discussions on a peace treaty, the demarcation of borders, and full normalization of relations, although bi-lateral tensions remain<br><br><em>Azerbaijan-Georgia:</em> a joint boundary commission agrees on most of the alignment, leaving only small areas at certain crossing points in dispute; consequently, the two states have yet to agree on a delimitation or demarcation of their common boundary; one area of contention is where the international boundary should run through the 6th-13th Century David-Gareja monastery complex<br><br><em>Azerbaijan-Iran:</em> in recent years, tensions between Azerbajian and Iran have sometimes been high in part because of ties between Azerbaijan and Israel, and Baku's claims that Tehran has backed Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh<br><br><em>Azerbaijan-Turkey:</em> none identified; as of 2023, Turkey and Armenia were discussing normalizing relations<br><br><em>Caspian Sea (Maritime Boundary):</em> Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia ratified the Caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on equidistance, while Iran continues to insist on a one-fifth slice of the sea; bilateral talks continue with Turkmenistan on dividing the seabed and contested oilfields in the middle of the Caspian<br><br>local border forces struggle to control the illegal transit of goods and people across the porous, undemarcated Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian borders</p>"
     },
     "Refugees and internally displaced persons": {
       "IDPs": {

middle-east/am.json

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "Introduction": {
     "Background": {
-      "text": "<p>Armenia prides itself on being the first state to formally adopt Christianity (early 4th century). Armenia has existed as a political entity for centuries with varying geographical boundaries and differing levels of political independence, but for much of its history it was under the sway of various empires including the Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Persian, Ottoman, and Russian. During World War I, the Ottoman Empire instituted a policy of forced resettlement coupled with other harsh practices targeting its Armenian subjects, especially those living in the eastern provinces of Anatolia, that resulted in at least 1 million Armenian deaths; these actions have been widely recognized as constituting genocide. During the early 19th century, significant Armenian populations fell under Russian rule as a result of Russian military successes against the Persian (1813) and Ottoman (1828) empires. After the Bolshevik Revolution toppled the last Russian tsar in 1917, Armenia declared its independence in 1918, but was conquered by the Soviet Red Army in 1920. Armenia, along with Azerbaijan and Georgia, was initially incorporated into the USSR as part of the Transcaucasian Federated Soviet Socialist Republic; in 1936, the federated republic was separated into its three constituent entities, which were maintained until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.</p> <p>Armenia has a longstanding conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan about the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The region historically had a mixed Armenian and Azerbaijani population, although ethnic Armenians have constituted the majority since the late 19th century. In 1921, Moscow placed Nagorno-Karabakh within Soviet Azerbaijan as an autonomous oblast, a decision that Armenian political leaders and the public repeatedly sought to alter through petitions and complaints, starting in the 1930s. In the late Soviet period, a separatist movement developed that sought to end Azerbaijani control over the region. Fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988 and escalated after Armenia and Azerbaijan attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. By the time a cease-fire took effect in May 1994, separatists, with Armenian support, controlled Nagorno‑Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories. constituting a total of 14 percent of Azerbaijan’s overall territory. Armenia and Azerbaijan engaged in a second military conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in September-November 2020, as a result of which Armenia lost control over much of the territory it had captured a quarter-century earlier. Under the terms of a cease-fire agreement signed in November 2020, Armenia returned the territories around Nagorno-Karabakh and some parts of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan and accepted the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to the remainder of the region. Armenia’s only remaining territorial connection to Nagorno-Karabakh after 2020 was through the five-kilometer wide Lacin Corridor, which passed through Azerbaijani-held territory and was under the control of Russian peacekeepers. </p> <p>Turkey closed its common border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan during the first period of conflict with Armenia and has maintained a closed border since then, leaving Armenia with closed borders both in the west (with Turkey) and east (with Azerbaijan). Armenia and Turkey engaged in intensive diplomacy to normalize their relations and open the border in 2009, but the signed agreement was not ratified in either country and became a dead letter in 2018, when Armenia officially withdrew its signature. In 2015, Armenia joined the Eurasian Economic Union alongside Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. In November 2017, Armenia signed a Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the EU.</p> <p>In spring 2018, former President of Armenia (2008-18) Serzh SARGSIAN of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) tried to extend his time in power by becoming prime minister, prompting popular protests that became known as the “Velvet Revolution.” After SARGSIAN resigned, the leader of the protests, Civil Contract party chief Nikol PASHINYAN, was elected by the National Assembly as the new prime minister on 8 May 2018. PASHINYAN’s party has prevailed in subsequent legislative elections, most recently in June 2021. </p>"
+      "text": "<p>Armenia prides itself on being the first state to formally adopt Christianity (early 4th century). Armenia has existed as a political entity for centuries with varying geographical boundaries and differing levels of political independence, but for much of its history it was under the sway of various empires including the Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Persian, Ottoman, and Russian. During World War I, the Ottoman Empire instituted a policy of forced resettlement coupled with other harsh practices targeting its Armenian subjects, especially those living in the eastern provinces of Anatolia, that resulted in at least 1 million Armenian deaths; these actions have been widely recognized as constituting genocide. During the early 19th century, significant Armenian populations fell under Russian rule as a result of Russian military successes against the Persian (1813) and Ottoman (1828) empires. After the Bolshevik Revolution toppled the last Russian tsar in 1917, Armenia declared its independence in 1918, but was conquered by the Soviet Red Army in 1920. Armenia, along with Azerbaijan and Georgia, was initially incorporated into the USSR as part of the Transcaucasian Federated Soviet Socialist Republic; in 1936, the federated republic was separated into its three constituent entities, which were maintained until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.</p> <p>For over three decades, Armenia had a longstanding conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan about the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The region historically had a mixed Armenian and Azerbaijani population, although ethnic Armenians have constituted the majority since the late 19th century. In 1921, Moscow placed Nagorno-Karabakh within Soviet Azerbaijan as an autonomous oblast, a decision that Armenian political leaders and the public repeatedly sought to alter through petitions and complaints, starting in the 1930s. In the late Soviet period, a separatist movement developed that sought to end Azerbaijani control over the region. Fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988 and escalated after Armenia and Azerbaijan declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. By the time a cease-fire took effect in May 1994, separatists, with Armenian support, controlled Nagorno‑Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani territories. constituting a total of 14 percent of Azerbaijan’s overall territory. Armenia and Azerbaijan engaged in a second military conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in September-November 2020, as a result of which Armenia lost control over much of the territory it had captured a quarter-century earlier. Under the terms of a cease-fire agreement signed in November 2020, Armenia returned the territories around Nagorno-Karabakh and some parts of Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan and accepted the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to the remainder of the region. In September 2023, Azerbaijan took military action to regain control over Nagorno-Karabakh; following an armed conflict of approximately 24 hours, nearly the entire ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh fled to Armenia immediately afterwards.</p> <p>Turkey closed its common border with Armenia in 1993 in support of Azerbaijan during the first period of conflict with Armenia and has maintained a closed border since then, leaving Armenia with closed borders both in the west (with Turkey) and east (with Azerbaijan). Armenia and Turkey engaged in intensive diplomacy to normalize their relations and open the border in 2009, but the signed agreement was not ratified in either country and became a dead letter in 2018, when Armenia officially withdrew its signature. In 2015, Armenia joined the Eurasian Economic Union alongside Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. In November 2017, Armenia signed a Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the EU.</p> <p>In spring 2018, former President of Armenia (2008-18) Serzh SARGSIAN of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) tried to extend his time in power by becoming prime minister, prompting popular protests that became known as the “Velvet Revolution.” After SARGSIAN resigned, the leader of the protests, Civil Contract party chief Nikol PASHINYAN, was elected by the National Assembly as the new prime minister on 8 May 2018. PASHINYAN’s party has prevailed in subsequent legislative elections, most recently in June 2021. </p>"
     }
   },
   "Geography": {
@@ -1149,7 +1149,7 @@
   },
   "Military and Security": {
     "Military and security forces": {
-      "text": "Armenian Republic Armed Forces: Armenian Army (includes land, air, air defense forces) (2023)",
+      "text": "Armenian Republic Armed Forces: Armenian Army (includes land, air, air defense forces) (2024)",
       "note": "<strong>note: </strong>the Police of the Republic of Armenia is responsible for internal security, while the National Security Service is responsible for national security, intelligence activities, and border control"
     },
     "Military expenditures": {
@@ -1170,10 +1170,10 @@
       }
     },
     "Military and security service personnel strengths": {
-      "text": "approximately 45,000 active troops (42,000 ground; 3,000 air/defense) (2022)"
+      "text": "approximately 45,000 active troops (42,000 ground; 3,000 air/defense) (2023)"
     },
     "Military equipment inventories and acquisitions": {
-      "text": "the military's inventory includes mostly Russian and Soviet-era equipment (2023)"
+      "text": "the military's inventory includes mostly Russian and Soviet-era equipment (2024)"
     },
     "Military service age and obligation": {
       "text": "18-27 for voluntary (men and women), contract (men and women) or compulsory (men) military service; contract military service is 3-12 months or 3 or 5 years; conscripts serve 24 months; men under the age of 36, who have not previously served as contract servicemen and are registered in the reserve, as well as women, regardless of whether they are registered in the reserve can be enrolled in contractual military service; all citizens aged 27 to 50 are registered in the military reserve and may be called to serve if mobilization is declared (2023)",
@@ -1194,7 +1194,7 @@
   },
   "Transnational Issues": {
     "Disputes - international": {
-      "text": "<p>local border forces struggle to control the illegal transit of goods and people across the porous, undemarcated Armenian, Azerbaijani, and Georgian borders<br><br><em>Armenia-Azerbaijan:</em> tensions existed for years over the break-away Nagorno-Karabakh region and the Armenian military occupation of surrounding lands in Azerbaijan; Azerbaijan seized part of the enclave during six weeks of fighting in 2020 and the remainder in a short conflict in September 2023; in October 2023, Baku and Yerevan began preliminary discussions on a peace treaty, the demarcation of borders, and full normalization of relations; nevertheless, concerns persist in Armenia that Azerbaijan could invade in order to force the establishment of a transit corridor to the exclave of Naxicvan (Nakhichevan) <br><br><em>Armenia-Georgia:</em> Georgians restrict Armenian access into Samtse-Javakheti ethnic Armenian areas; Armenia has made no claims to the region<br><br><em>Armenia-Iran:</em> none identified<br><br><em>Armenia-Turkey:</em> as of 2023, Turkey and Armenia were discussing normalizing relations</p>"
+      "text": "<p><em>Armenia-Azerbaijan:</em> tensions existed for years over Nagorno-Karabakh and the Armenian military occupation of surrounding lands in Azerbaijan; Azerbaijan seized part of the enclave during six weeks of fighting in 2020 and the remainder in a short conflict in September 2023; Baku and Yerevan have since had preliminary discussions on a peace treaty, the demarcation of borders, and full normalization of relations but bi-lateral tensions remain<br><br><em>Armenia-Georgia:</em> Georgians restrict Armenian access into Samtse-Javakheti ethnic Armenian areas; Armenia has made no claims to the region<br><br><em>Armenia-Turkey:</em> as of 2023, Turkey and Armenia were discussing normalizing relations</p>"
     },
     "Refugees and internally displaced persons": {
       "refugees (country of origin)": {

middle-east/gg.json

@@ -1164,7 +1164,7 @@
   },
   "Military and Security": {
     "Military and security forces": {
-      "text": "Defense Forces of Georgia (DFG; aka Georgian Defense Forces or GDF): Ground Forces, Air Force, National Guard, Special Operations Forces, National Guard; Ministry of Internal Affairs: Border Police, Coast Guard (includes Georgian naval forces, which were merged with the Coast Guard in 2009) (2023)",
+      "text": "Georgian Defense Forces (GDF; aka Defense Forces of Georgia or DFG): Ground Forces, Air Force, National Guard, Special Operations Forces, National Guard; Ministry of Internal Affairs: Border Police, Coast Guard (includes Georgian naval forces, which were merged with the Coast Guard in 2009) (2024)",
       "note": "<strong>note:</strong> the Ministry of Internal Affairs also has forces for protecting strategic infrastructure and conducting special operations"
     },
     "Military expenditures": {
@@ -1201,7 +1201,7 @@
   },
   "Transnational Issues": {
     "Disputes - international": {
-      "text": "Russia's military support and subsequent recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia independence in 2008 continue to sour relations with Georgia; Russia maintains military bases and troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia"
+      "text": "Russia's military invasion and subsequent recognition of the so-called independence of Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions in 2008 continue to sour relations with Georgia; Russia maintains military bases and troops in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, occupying about 20 percent of Georgia's territory"
     },
     "Refugees and internally displaced persons": {
       "refugees (country of origin)": {

middle-east/ir.json

@@ -590,7 +590,7 @@
         "text": "unicameral Islamic Consultative Assembly or Majles-e Shura-ye Eslami or Majles (290 seats; 285 members directly elected in single- and multi-seat constituencies by 2-round vote, and 1 seat each for Zoroastrians, Jews, Assyrian and Chaldean Christians, Armenians in the north of the country and Armenians in the south; members serve 4-year terms); note - all candidates to the Majles must be approved by the Council of Guardians, a 12-member group of which 6 are appointed by the supreme leader and 6 are jurists nominated by the judiciary and elected by the Majles"
       },
       "elections": {
-        "text": "first round held on 21 February 2020 and second round for 11 remaining seats held on 11 September 2020 (next full Majles election to be held in 2024)"
+        "text": "first round held on 21 February 2020 and second round for 11 remaining seats held on 11 September 2020 (next full Majles election to be held on 1 March 2024)"
       },
       "election results": {
         "text": "percent of vote by coalition (first round) - NA; seats by coalition (first round) - conservatives and hardliners 226, reformists 19, independent 40, religious minorities 5; as of June 2021 by-elections; composition - men 274, women 16, percent of women 5.6%"
@@ -1204,7 +1204,7 @@
       "note": "<strong>note: </strong>conscripts serve in the Artesh, IRGC, and Law Enforcement; approximately 80% of Artesh ground forces personnel are conscripts, while Navy and Air/Air Defense Force personnel are primarily volunteers; conscripts reportedly comprise a significant portion of the IRGC"
     },
     "Military deployments": {
-      "text": "continues to maintain a military presence in Syria reportedly of a few thousand personnel, mostly of special operations and IRGC forces (2023)",
+      "text": "continues to maintain a military presence in Syria reportedly of a few thousand personnel, mostly of special operations and IRGC forces (2024)",
       "note": "<strong>note:</strong> Iran has recruited, trained, and funded thousands of Syrian and foreign fighters to support the ASAD regime during the Syrian civil war"
     },
     "Military - note": {

middle-east/iz.json

@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@
       "text": "Al Fatah Alliance [Hadi al-AMIRI]<br>Azm Alliance [Khamis al-KHANJAR]<br>Babiliyun Movement [Rayan al-KILDANI]<br>Imtidad [Ala al-RIKABI]<br>Ishraqat Konun [Jaafar AZIZ]<br>Kurdistan Democratic Party F [Masud BARZANI]<br>National Contract Party [Falih al-FAYYAD]<br>New Generation Movement [SHASWAR Abd al-Wahid Qadir]<br>Patriotic Union of Kurdistan [Bafel TALABANI]<br>Sadrist Bloc [Muqtada al-SADR]<br>State Forces Alliance [Haydar al-ABADI]<br>State of Law Coalition [Nuri al-MALIKI]<br>Taqadum [Muhammad al-HALBUSI]<br>Tasmim Alliance [Asad al-IDANI]<br><br>numerous smaller independent, religious, local, tribal, and minority parties"
     },
     "International organization participation": {
-      "text": "ABEDA, AFESD, AMF, CAEU, CICA, EITI (compliant country), FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, OPCW, OPEC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer)"
+      "text": "ABEDA, AFESD, AIIB, AMF, CAEU, CICA, EITI (compliant country), FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, NAM, OAPEC, OIC, OPCW, OPEC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO (observer)"
     },
     "Diplomatic representation in the US": {
       "chief of mission": {

middle-east/tu.json

@@ -1289,7 +1289,7 @@
     },
     "Refugees and internally displaced persons": {
       "refugees (country of origin)": {
-        "text": "10,244 (Iraq) (mid-year 2022); 41,390 (Ukraine) (as of 14 December 2023) (2023); 3,174,851 (Syria) (2024)"
+        "text": "10,244 (Iraq) (mid-year 2022); 41,665 (Ukraine) (as of 15 February 2024) (2023); 3,174,851 (Syria) (2024)"
       },
       "IDPs": {
         "text": "1.099 million (displaced from 1984-2005 because of fighting between the Kurdish PKK and Turkish military; most IDPs are Kurds from eastern and southeastern provinces; no information available on persons displaced by development projects) (2022)"