So I remember reading a manga (4koma) about 10 or 12 years ago online that was sort of similar to Hetalia but it was about the middle east. The characters were all chibi with most of them being girls who wear hijabs. The series seemed very focused on bring up social issues and awareness with one strip being about people stealing water from the poor. There is a high likely hood the original manga was a webcomic, so it wasn't very polished, it was not in color. I am 90% sure the manga was originally in Japanese.
I know this might be a bit too obscure, but I am a bit curious about it because it's not really a topic you usually see talked about in manga.
Looking up info on the comic, it is interesting to see it predates Hetalia. I sort of thought it was inspired by Hetalia but it could be the other way around.