Middle Orient

Le gouvernement Netanyahou a approuvé un plan pour étendre les colonies sur le plateau du Golan, motivé par le contexte de guerre en Syrie et la volonté de doubler la population israélienne sur place, selon The Jerusalem Post. Le gouvernement israélien a approuvé ce dimanche 15 décembre un plan d’expansion …

The HTS-controlled interim government is continuing to reconcile with former members of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). The Russian-backed SAA 5th Corps in Lattakia is reportedly negotiating with the interim government to “merge its forces” into the new Syrian army.[1] Integrating members of other armed groups, including the SAA, into …

Derrière l’insolent succès des ouvrages climatosceptiques en France, c’est une véritable guerre culturelle qui se joue. Son enjeu ? Les connaissances relatives à l’énergie. On y trouve notamment les « pétrosavoirs », portés par l’industrie fossile, qui font tout pour rendre inaudibles les bonnes nouvelles relatives aux énergies renouvelables. Il …

A severely hobbled Hezbollah was in no position to help defend former Syrian President Bashar Assad, a longtime ally, from the lightning-fast insurgency that toppled him. With Assad gone, the militant group based in Lebanon is even weaker. Hezbollah was dealt a major blow during 14 months of war with …

War is of its nature an uncertain business. Only in retrospect does Assad’s fall, so improbable last week, now look fated. It is ironic, given the opprobrium with which Arab normalisation with his regime was greeted by pro-rebel advocates, that that same normalisation may have helped spell his doom. Seeking …

Donald Trump isn’t yet back in the White House — but his Iranian policy is clear. Like he did in his first term, he’ll pursue a vigorous policy against Tehran, hampering its nuclear programme and backing its rivals across the Middle East. If history is anything to go by, meanwhile, …

Old grievances in Western politics have been reopened by the sudden fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. And they are as dispiriting in their dishonesty as they are myopic in their self-interest. On the one hand, we have the unrepentant interventionists convinced that the tyrant’s fall would have happened years earlier …

Turkish historian Professor İlber Ortaylı critically analyses Syria’s governance and explores its sectarian dynamics and potential future. He points out that the Arab Alawite Nusayri minority, through a mafia-like structure, holds control over the country. This governance model has deeply impacted Syria’s socio-political framework. Ortaylı also suggests that Syria might …

The fall of Assad’s regime, while ostensibly surprising for many, was quite predictable. Syria’s economy had been devastated by more than a decade of war, compounded by sanctions that crippled state infrastructure and left 90 percent of Syrians below the poverty line. Moreover, state subsidies on essentials such as food …

After insurgents toppled Syrian President Bashar Assad this month, many senior officials and members of his dreaded intelligence and security services appear to have melted away. Activists say some of them have managed to flee the country while others went to hide in their hometowns. For more than five decades, …