The fall of the Assad regime in December 2024 has not ended Syria’s security challenges, as episodes of sectarian violence and Islamic State resurgence persist, exacerbated by foreign fighters embedded within fragmented militia networks. Initial international efforts to expel foreign fighters fell short, leading to a policy shift toward integrating …

The Iran-Israel conflict confirmed a shift in the regional balance of power away from Iran, but might set the stage for further combat. U.S. and Israeli officials have defined a “new normal” in which either will take further military action if Iran tries to advance its nuclear program. Gulf and …

Less than two weeks after rebel forces led by Ahmad al-Sharaa ousted Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, a U.S. State Department delegation arrived in Damascus to talk with the country’s new leader. It was a meeting few could have predicted. Roughly a decade earlier, the U.S. had declared al-Sharaa — …