Middle Orient

On July 12, at the NATO summit in Washington, Turkey threatened to take steps to exclude Israel from all cooperation with NATO. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that “until comprehensive, sustainable peace is established in Palestine, attempts at cooperation with Israel within NATO will not be approved by Turkey.” This …

Nearly a year on from Hamas’ Oct. 7 offensive against Israel, Israel’s strategic environment — and indeed the strategic landscape of the wider Middle East — has changed profoundly. Hamas’ astounding surprise attack touched off a destructive war with Israel and a limited but fierce regional conflagration between Israel and …

Iran’s recent decision to construct a 295 km wall along its border with Afghanistan is a stark reminder of the regional and global anxieties surrounding the rise of terrorism under Taliban rule. This wall is not just a physical barrier but a symbol of Iran’s growing concerns about the spread …

Israelis have been deeply divided these last years, unable to coalesce around a government. After five general elections, they decided to dismiss the Lapid/Gantz team and to put a new coalition – formed around Netanyahu and small Jewish supremacist parties – into power. However, soon after the formation of the …

ISIS carried out at least nine confirmed attacks in July in the Homs, Hama, Raqqa, Deir Ez Zor, and Aleppo governorates. These attacks killed at least 13 pro-Assad regime soldiers and nine civilians and wounded at least four more soldiers. There were also two high quality* attacks carried out during …

The United States, Israel, and international mediators plan to continue ceasefire talks despite Hamas’ rejection of the latest ceasefire-hostage proposal. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on August 19 to discuss the ceasefire-hostage …

Hamas is now in dire need of a ceasefire because its leaders want to hold on to power in the Gaza Strip. If the Biden-Harris administration and its Iranian, Qatari and Egyptian allies manage to impose a ceasefire on Israel, it will be viewed by many Arabs and Muslims not …

When the guns eventually fall silent in Gaza, Israelis and Palestinians will confront a decades-old reality that cannot be overcome by violence and political half-measures. Both Jews and Palestinians will continue to assert privileged ownership of Palestine, citing centuries of history, the merits of which will never be settled conclusively …

While the world’s attention has been fixed on the brutalities of the Israeli occupation state, the illegal US military occupation of neighboring Syria has been largely neglected. Now, local and regional resistance is coalescing to target the American occupation head-on. The strategic placement of US military bases in northeastern Syria …

The current uprising in Syria’s Deir Ezzor represents the growing armed resistance of local Arab tribes against US-backed Kurdish forces who control their land and resources – potentially opening up a new front for West Asia’s Axis of Resistance. On 7 August, a coalition of Syrian Arab tribes recaptured several …