Middle Orient

As European officials moved to normalize relations with Damascus and ease years of sanctions on Syria this week, Russian cargo ships continued docking at Syrian ports carrying the oil and military support that still help keep the Syrian state afloat. The contradiction has become the defining feature of Syrian President …

The Iran war has reshaped global geopolitics by weakening U.S. credibility and the liberal world order, intensifying regional instability in the Middle East, disrupting energy markets and economies, and accelerating the shift of global power toward emerging alliances led by Russia and China. Global Disruption and the Shifting World OrderThe …

“It was the worst night since the start of the war, and this has been the worst war we have seen.” When the Israeli military repeated its displacement order for the entire city of Tyre (Sour) in southern Lebanon at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Ali Sleiman decided to head to …

The revelation that Israel established secret military bases inside Iraq during the recent war against Iran is far more than another episode in the region’s long history of covert operations. It signals a deeper transformation in Middle Eastern geopolitics: the normalization of clandestine cross-border military infrastructures, the erosion of Iraqi …

Several Syrian areas witnessed separate incidents during the days that coincided with the Eid al-Adha holiday, including shootings and clashes that left people dead and wounded in more than one governorate. In Hama countryside (western Syria), two civilians were killed and four others wounded in a shooting that targeted people …

De même que l’Europe des va-t’en guerre, les pétro-monarchies du Golfe paient le prix de la délégation de leur défense et de leur sécurité à Washington, leur ennemi déguisé en sauveur. En réalité, si les États du Golfe ne rompent pas structurellement avec la logique actuelle, la prochaine crise régionale …

Le mouvement Ansarallah contrôle depuis dix ans une partie importante du Yémen, parvenant à contrer une coalition régionale menée par l’Arabie saoudite et plaçant sous son autorité d’importantes routes maritimes nécessaires au bon fonctionnement de l’économie mondiale. Malgré le fait qu’il s’agisse d’un troisième pilier majeur (géopolitiquement parlant) du régime …

Rami Makhlouf (left) portrays himself as a messianic figure. Kamal Hassan (right) believes Alawites must take up arms to defend themselves. REUTERS/Illustration/Catherine Tai; Source photos: REUTERS/Stringer and Facebook From exile in Moscow, ex-intel chief Kamal Hassan and Assad cousin Rami Makhlouf are spending millions of dollars in competing efforts to …

Just as the United States and Iran’s negotiations to end their three-month war appear to be gaining momentum, Israel has stepped up operations on another volatile front in Lebanon. The recent decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intensify airstrikes and ground operations against Hezbollah, one of Iran’s closest …

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute are publishing daily updates to provide analysis on the war with Iran. The updates focus on US and Israeli strikes on Iran and Iran and the Axis of Resistance’s response to …