Middle Orient

Russia’s ambassador to the Assad regime, Alexander Yefimov, said that his country’s agreement with Turkey regarding Idleb does not eliminate the necessity of its “return” to what he described as “the sovereignty of the legitimate government as soon as possible.” The Russian ambassador made these remarks during an interview with …

The fourth anniversary of the start of the battle for Raqqa, which led to the city’s liberation from the Islamic State (IS), has just passed. Raqqa was IS’ Syrian capital, and it took over four months for the liberators, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to wrest back control of the …

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continue to deceive their donor organizations. Supposedly, the group is providing for families living in the camps and trying to coordinate with several Western European countries to increase material support. A delegation even visited France and was scheduled to visit several other countries, including the …

Russian President Vladimir Putin did not commit to renewing a United Nations cross-border operation for aid to Syria during Wednesday’s meeting with his US counterpart Joe Biden, a senior US official has said. There was “no commitment, but we made clear that this was of significant importance for us if …

Analysts cannot offer any definitive indications about the fate of the Syrian issue after the summit between president Joe Biden, and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Reports hinted, however, at the possibility of cooperation between the two countries. Some reports described the Biden-Putin meeting as a pragmatic summit, while other …

The roots of the current political system: A historical view Speaking on the eve of U.S. forces’ entry into Iraq in March 2003, then-U.S. President George W. Bush said that one of the reasons for the war was to “liberate” Iraq’s people and to help them achieve a “united, stable, …

The eruption of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in May 2021 brought the Palestinian issue to the forefront of Arab affairs, albeit temporarily.[1] Against this backdrop, it is interesting to consider how terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (IS) and Al Qaeda (AQ) reacted to this latest chapter of …

Over the course of two weeks in May and June, the Middle East Institute hosted its inaugural Lebanon policy conference in collaboration with the American Task Force on Lebanon (ATFL) and LIFE. This series of events brought together leading diplomats, policymakers, economists, development practitioners, and think tank professionals from the …

This week, which will see Iran’s presidential elections, was also supposed to mark the finale of nuclear talks among Iran, Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany, and the European Union in Vienna. But a new deal is unlikely to be reached by Friday. The question now is what to make of …

Weeks before U.S. President Joe Biden met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO summit, Erdogan vowed that the meeting would be transformative. In a virtual gathering with American investors last month, he predicted that the encounter would “herald a new era.” It was no …