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  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelRegional Implications and Geopolitics

    Japan: Inching Toward Palestine?

    Oct 16, 2024Saul Takahashi

    In September, Taro Kono, Japan’s former foreign minister and a main contender for president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), announced that if he were to…

  • From our Affiliates
    LebanonConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    GCC Responses to Israeli Aggression on Lebanon: Strategic Concerns and Regional Implications

    Oct 9, 2024The Unit for Political Studies

    The positions of the GCC countries toward Israel's war on Lebanon are appear divided. All share a deep concern about escalation and its potential impact on the…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    One Year After October 7: Assessments and Implications

    Oct 8, 2024Imad K. Harb Khalil E. Jahshan Tamara Kharroub Annelle Sheline

    Experts analyze various aspects of the past year of Israel’s war on Gaza and now its campaign against Hezbollah and Lebanon.

  • Viewpoint
    LebanonConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Nasrallah’s Killing Prompts Serious Calculations

    Sep 30, 2024Nabeel A. Khoury

    Israel’s killing of Hezbollah’s Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah has shocked many in Lebanon and the region regardless of what they thought of the man and hi…

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    The War Israel Wants but Hezbollah Rejects

    Sep 20, 2024Imad K. Harb

    The Israeli war on Hezbollah has just entered another deadly phase characterized by the sophisticated, but criminally minded, use of cyber warfare to detonate …

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenUS Foreign Policy

    Assessing GCC Perspectives on American-British Strikes Against Yemen’s Houthis

    Sep 11, 2024Giorgio Cafiero

    Since last November, Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, commonly known as the Houthis, has been attacking commercial and merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden and th…

  • Intern Corner
    EgyptMigrants, Refugees, and IDPs

    How Egypt has Failed Palestinians in Gaza

    Aug 22, 2024Emily Costello

    Egypt’s policy for Palestinian refugees has worsened the already immense suffering of those fleeing the war on Gaza. Corruption within the border security appa…

  • Policy Analysis
    TurkeyRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Turkey Is Not an Actor in the Gaza Conflict

    Aug 21, 2024Salim Çevik

    Prior to the Hamas attack on October 7, Turkey was in the process of political reconciliation with Israel. Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited Turkey in 202…

  • Viewpoint
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Haniyeh’s Assassination: Fallout from Israel’s Latest Killing Spree

    Aug 2, 2024Yousef Munayyer

    The assassination is the clearest message that Israel is not interested in an actual deal and is using ceasefire negotiations to extend the war while it kills …

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Israel Has Opted for War on All Fronts

    Jul 31, 2024Khalil E. Jahshan Tamara Kharroub Imad K. Harb Yousef Munayyer Hanna Alshaikh

    Israel's assassination of Hamas’s Political Bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah military leader Fuad Shukr is an unwarranted escalation that could lead t…

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    An Unwinnable Battle of Narratives in Lebanon Regarding War with Israel

    Jul 19, 2024Patricia Karam

    Hezbollah’s decision on war against Israel has attracted both support and objection from different political factions in Lebanon and helped lead to escalating …

  • Policy Analysis
    JordanRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    The Gaza War and Threats to Jordan’s Domestic and Regional Stability

    Jul 9, 2024Curtis Ryan

    Jordanians of all walks of life have watched the relentless war in Gaza with deepening alarm. By latest count, at least 38,000 Palestinians have been killed, m…

  • Policy Analysis
    EgyptConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    The Limits on Egypt’s Gaza “Containment Strategy”

    Jul 1, 2024Daniel Brumberg

    Egypt has opted to follow a containment strategy in order to manage the fallout from the Israeli war on Gaza, such as the spillover of the conflict into the Si…

  • Policy Analysis
    Saudi ArabiaUS Foreign Policy

    Difficulties Facing a US-Saudi Security Agreement

    Jun 25, 2024Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

    The search for a US-brokered Saudi-Israeli deal to normalize relations has assumed outsized significance in the administration’s approach to the Middle East.

  • Policy Analysis
    UAERegional Relations and Geopolitics

    UAE Restricts US Military Strikes from Its Territory

    May 22, 2024Gregory Aftandilian

    Fearing an attack by Iran or its allied militias in the region, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has restricted US military aircraft from targeting these proxy g…

  • Policy Analysis
    Saudi ArabiaUS Foreign Policy

    The Gaza Crisis Pushes Washington and Riyadh Closer

    May 15, 2024Daniel Brumberg

    Hamas’s May 6 acceptance of a hostage deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar was surely designed to induce the White House to pressure Israel to produce a counteroff…

  • Policy Analysis
    Saudi ArabiaUS Foreign Policy

    Saudi-Israeli Normalization Persists Amid Gaza War

    May 3, 2024The Unit for Political Studies

    Before “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” launched by Hamas on October 7, 2023, the Biden administration was attempting to conclude a diplomatic groundbreaking deal in…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Middle East Trajectories Emanating from the War on Gaza 

    May 2, 2024Nabeel A. Khoury

    Israel’s still unfolding war on Gaza is finishing its seventh month with no let-up in sight. The Palestinian death toll from Israeli operations has surpassed 3…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Gulf Arab States Avoid Iran-Israel Tensions

    Apr 25, 2024Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

    Years of shadow conflict between Israel and Iran, which included targeted assassinations as well as cyberattacks, gave way in April to direct confrontation and…

  • Viewpoint
    IranConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    A Failed Iranian Performance and Its Repercussions

    Apr 15, 2024Imad K. Harb

    Rare are the occasions when a purportedly capable country’s determined military response to attack turns out to be a mere theatrical performance. Such was the …

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Six Months of Carnage in Gaza

    Apr 12, 2024Yara M. Asi Imad K. Harb Khalil E. Jahshan Tamara Kharroub Yousef Munayyer

    Six months of the devastating Israeli war on the Gaza Strip have caused the death and injury of more than a hundred thousand Palestinians, spread starvation an…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Iran’s Resistance Strategy After Israel’s Damascus Attack

    Apr 12, 2024Daniel Brumberg

    Daniel Brumberg discusses whether Iran and Israel are on their way to a direct confrontation after the latter’s attack on the Iranian consulate’s annex in Dama…

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Hezbollah-Israel War Is Becoming Inevitable, and the United States May Not Prevent It

    Apr 10, 2024Patricia Karam

    Patricia Karam evaluates the possibility of a war between Hezbollah and Israel that would be a major escalation in the Middle East as the United States tries t…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenEnergy and Economics

    Houthi Red Sea Attacks Have Global Economic Repercussions

    Apr 5, 2024Jim Krane

    The Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping present a new phenomenon in geo-economic conflict: a non-state actor using asymmetric warfare not just to fight conventi…

  • Viewpoint
    JordanProtests and Activism

    Path of Least Cost: Assuaging Public Protests in Jordan

    Apr 1, 2024Imad K. Harb

    Once again, events in Gaza are showing up in the form of indignant protests in Jordan that, if not properly handled, could lead to serious challenges for the J…

  • Viewpoint
    Palestine/IsraelRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Whither the Arab World from What is Happening in Gaza?

    Mar 20, 2024Imad K. Harb

    Israel’s war on Gaza has recently entered its sixth straight month with no respite or apparent possibility of a permanent ceasefire that could spare the lives …

  • Policy Analysis
    Saudi ArabiaRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Saudi Arabia May Be Taking Center Stage in Post-Gaza Peace

    Feb 28, 2024Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

    With Israel’s war on Gaza in its fifth month amid ongoing international pressure for a ceasefire, Saudi Arabia has become the focus of much attention over what…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenUS Foreign Policy

    Instead of Houthi Designation, the United States Should Embrace a Comprehensive Approach

    Feb 28, 2024Afrah Nasser

    On January 17, the United States designated the Houthis in Yemen, also known as Ansar Allah, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) in response to t…

  • Policy Analysis
    UAERegional Relations and Geopolitics

    The UAE and the Red Sea Security Crisis

    Feb 27, 2024Giorgio Cafiero

    Despite the Israeli war on Gaza killing nearly 30,000 Palestinians, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has clung to the Abraham Accords, which it signed with Israe…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantUS Foreign Policy

    US Troops to Stay in Syria and Iraq but Perhaps Not for Long

    Feb 22, 2024Gregory Aftandilian

    In recent weeks, there have been meetings in Washington and in Baghdad about the presence in Iraq and Syria of US troops, whose official mandate is to aid loca…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Arab States Have Supported and Shunned Hamas in the Gaza War

    Feb 21, 2024Rami G. Khouri

    Four months of warfare between Israel and Hamas have generated regional and global dynamics that will shape the Middle East for decades. But the war in Gaza ha…

  • Policy Analysis
    JordanRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    From Gaza to the Syrian Border, Jordan Is Increasingly in the Line of Fire  

    Feb 9, 2024Curtis Ryan

    Since Israel launched its current war on Gaza last October, Jordanians have been closely watching the enclave, and the rising tensions in the region, with deep…

  • Policy Analysis
    EgyptConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Egypt, the Gaza War, and Fears of Another Nakba

    Feb 7, 2024Charles W. Dunne

    Like most Arab countries, Egypt was stunned by the conflagration ignited by last October’s Hamas attack inside southern Israel and subsequent Israeli onslaught…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenUS Foreign Policy

    From Gaza to Yemen and Back: The Biden Administration’s Confused Strategy

    Feb 1, 2024Nabeel A. Khoury

    On January 17, the Biden administration announced it was adding Yemen’s Houthis (also called Ansar Allah) to the US terrorist list. The move returned the rebel…

  • Viewpoint
    LebanonConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Continuing Skirmishes but No Hezbollah-Israel War

    Jan 25, 2024Imad K. Harb

    Daily and intense skirmishes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah and its allies across the Blue Line—in reference to the border drawn by the United Nations fo…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Iran Between Managing Allies and Modulating Its Deterrence

    Jan 25, 2024Daniel Brumberg

    This is a bad time for Iran to become embroiled in an expanding regional war that pits the Islamic Republic and its allies in Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen against …

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenUS Foreign Policy

    The Biden Administration Is Strong in the Red Sea but Weak in Gaza

    Jan 24, 2024Gregory Aftandilian

    After enduring weeks of regional tension, including Houthi rebel attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and on American commercial vessels, the Biden administratio…

  • Policy Analysis
    Regional Implications and Geopolitics

    Turkey’s “Guarantor System” for Ending the Gaza War Has Limitations

    Jan 17, 2024Ali Bakir

    In mid-October, following the UN Security Council’s failure to pass a Russian resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza, Turkey proposed a…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Normalization Survives Despite the Gaza War

    Jan 11, 2024Imad K. Harb

    The current Israeli war on Gaza, now well into its fourth deadly month, has cast a calamitous shadow over the lives of Palestinians and Israelis, as well as ov…

  • Policy Analysis
    OmanRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Oman, Gaza, and Relations with the United States

    Jan 5, 2024Giorgio Cafiero

    The Sultanate of Oman traditionally has maintained a low profile on the international stage while conducting a friends-of-all foreign policy based on moderatio…

  • Policy Analysis
    Regional Relations and Geopolitics

    The Far East Pivots to the Middle East 

    Jan 3, 2024Nabeel A. Khoury

    The phrase “Pivot to the East,” popularized during the Obama administration, signified a realization of the rising importance of China and of growing US intere…

  • Viewpoint
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Arouri’s Assassination Will Achieve Nothing

    Jan 3, 2024Imad K. Harb

    In its pursuit of Hamas leaders, an Israeli drone has assassinated Saleh al-Arouri, the Deputy Chairman of Hamas’s Political Bureau, a senior official in the o…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Russia and China on Gaza: Sidelined, Lurking—or Winning?

    Dec 22, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    It wasn’t that long ago that Russia and China seemed to dominate the Middle East, and the United States was on the brink of relegation to the sidelines.Russia …

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Lebanon’s Political Forces Oppose a War with Israel

    Dec 20, 2023Patricia Karam

    With a heightened risk of the Gaza war spilling over into Lebanon, currently mired in acute political, economic, and social crises, the country’s politicians v…

  • Viewpoint
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Expand the Arab Peace Initiative to Increase Its Chances of Success

    Dec 7, 2023Rami G. Khouri

    Some in the Arab region and the international community seem to expect that after the Israeli war on Gaza and the destruction of most life systems in the Strip…

  • Policy Analysis
    EgyptConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Egypt Muddles Through the Crisis in Gaza

    Dec 6, 2023Imad K. Harb

    Egypt has considered the Gaza Strip to be a soft underbelly since it ruled it prior to 1967, but also after it regained control of the Sinai Peninsula from Isr…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Assessing Yemen as a Second Front in the Gaza War

    Nov 30, 2023Nabeel A. Khoury

    On November 19, Yemen’s Houthis hijacked a cargo ship indirectly linked to Israel as it was traveling in the Red Sea. Much like their firing of missiles toward…

  • Policy Analysis
    TurkeyRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Erdoğan, Gaza, and Turkey’s Regional Reconciliation

    Nov 30, 2023Salim Çevik

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's first statements following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli war on the Gaza Strip were …

  • Policy Analysis
    IranRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Hamas’s “Al-Aqsa Flood” Challenges Iran’s Axis of Resistance

    Nov 27, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    While the Biden administration, with Qatar’s support, has succeeded in securing a deal with Israel and Hamas for a combat “pause,” it remains to be seen if thi…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arabian Peninsula and The GulfRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    GCC States and the War on Gaza: Positions, Perceptions, and Interests

    Nov 22, 2023Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

    The war on Gaza has for all intents and purposes reinstated the centrality of the Palestinian issue to the regional and international politics of the Middle Ea…

  • Viewpoint
    LebanonConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Hezbollah Reluctantly Awaits Israel’s Decision on War

    Nov 17, 2023Imad K. Harb

    The frontline on the Lebanese-Israeli border continues to witness the real skirmishes of an undeclared war between Israel and Hezbollah. Reciprocal attacks bet…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    Gaza, the Ruin of US Policy, and a Transformed Middle East

    Nov 16, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    The Biden administration must act quickly and offer specific plans and timelines to shape post-conflict expectations and establish its priorities with the part…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantUS Foreign Policy

    US Military Presence in the Middle East: Deterrence and Retaliation

    Nov 14, 2023Gregory Aftandilian

    The United States has recently bolstered its military presence in the Middle East as the Israeli war on Gaza escalated. Bolstering this presence is meant to de…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Does Syria Have a Role in the Israel-Hamas Conflict?

    Nov 6, 2023Patricia Karam

    As the war between Israel and Hamas rages, the Middle East is bracing for a wider, multi-front regional conflict that will have serious repercussions for the g…

  • Viewpoint
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Nasrallah Steers Clear of War

    Nov 3, 2023Imad K. Harb

    Where is Hezbollah and its General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah? This was a natural refrain over almost the last four weeks, voiced by many observers and partisa…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Jordan Sees the War on Gaza in Existential Terms

    Nov 2, 2023Curtis Ryan

    Like other countries in the Middle East and around the world, Jordan has been rocked to its very core by the devastating news about the Gaza Strip and the late…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Gaza and the Harbingers of Future Conflict

    Oct 30, 2023Nabeel A. Khoury

    The shock of civilian deaths in the latest Israel-Hamas conflagration is both a marker and a warning. It is a marker because for the first time Palestinians to…

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Erdoǧan’s Calculations as the Israel-Gaza Conflict Escalates

    Oct 25, 2023Mustafa Gurbuz

    On October 20, during Friday prayers at the historic Hagia Sophia Mosque in Istanbul, Ali Erbas, the head of Turkey's state-run religious affairs directorate, …

  • Policy Analysis
    LevantConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Will Saudi Arabia Renew the “Arab Peace Initiative” as the Middle East Seethes?

    Oct 23, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    Whether Hamas’s October 7 assault has ended whatever prospects existed for forging diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia remains to be seen. The…

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelUS Foreign Policy

    The War on Gaza: Deterrence or Inching toward Direct US Involvement?

    Oct 17, 2023Khalil E. Jahshan

    The official American position has passed through three phases in less than ten days. First, like Israel itself, Washington and its western allies suffered fro…

  • Policy Analysis
    IranRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    On the Limits of Iran’s Policy of “Maximum Tactical Flexibility”

    Oct 13, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    At some point, the tactical balls Tehran has been juggling could fall to the ground with unpredictable or dangerous strategic results.

  • Viewpoint
    Palestine/IsraelConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    The Unlikelihood of a Hezbollah-Israel War

    Oct 13, 2023Imad K. Harb

    As Israel turns to punish the Gaza Strip and its people for the Hamas attack on October 7, speculation arises as to whether the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation will …

  • Policy Analysis
    Palestine/IsraelRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Saudi-Israeli Normalization and the Hamas Attack

    Oct 11, 2023Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

    When Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) sat down on September 20 with Brett Baier of Fox News for his first English-language television inter…