• Policy Analysis
    TurkeyConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Obstacles to a Turkey-Syria Reconciliation

    Mar 29, 2023Salim Çevik

    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad paid an important visit to Moscow in mid-March 2023. One of the main agenda items was the Turkish-Syrian reconciliation that R…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Arab States Are Normalizing with Syria’s Assad Regime

    Taking advantage of the devastating earthquake that ravaged parts of northwestern Syria in February, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has tried to use the trag…

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

    The GCC Is On Board with the Saudi-Iran Agreement

    The signing of a joint trilateral statement by senior national security officials from Saudi Arabia and Iran in the presence of Chinese officials in Beijing on…

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqUS Foreign Policy

    Iraq 20 Years since the 2003 US Invasion

    On March 20, 2003, the United States led an invasion of Iraq supposedly meant to halt its development of weapons of mass destruction. Lacking the support of th…

  • Policy Analysis
    The Arab WorldUS Foreign Policy

    US Middle East Policy: The Trump-Biden Doctrine in Action

    Mar 22, 2023Charles W. Dunne

    All US presidents, it seems, need their own foreign policy “doctrine.” President James Monroe famously started the trend in 1823, and many others—Truman, Eisen…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Yemen and the Saudi-Iran Rapprochement

    Mar 22, 2023Nabeel A. Khoury

    In the closing scene of the 1942 film Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart, walking off into the fog with his occasional nemesis as they plan their next move together, …

  • Policy Analysis
    IraqDemocracy and Governance

    Unfinished Business: Nation-Building in Iraq Since 2003

    Mar 21, 2023Rend Al-Rahim

    Nothing so perfectly expresses the failure of nation-building in Iraq as the cry of protesters in 2019, when they chanted, nureed watan, “we want a country.” T…

  • Policy Analysis
    LebanonRegional Relations and Geopolitics

    Lebanon and Syria and the Saudi-Iran Detente

    Mar 21, 2023Imad K. Harb

    The recent China-brokered agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran is expected to have a de-escalating effect on many issues in the Midd…

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

    China as Middle East Matchmaker

    Mar 16, 2023Daniel Brumberg

    While the central role that China recently played in renewing diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia underscores the United States’ declining influ…

  • Policy Analysis
    SyriaMigrants, Refugees, and IDPs

    Politics, Displacement, and the Human Toll of the Recent Earthquake in Syria

    Mar 15, 2023Heba Gowayed

    On February 6, 2023, the earth shifted at the fault line that runs along the Turkey-Syria border, resulting in a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which was followed j…

  • Intern Corner
    EgyptEnergy and Economics

    Egypt Has Broken Its Social Contract with Its Citizens

    Mar 14, 2023Salmah Arfouly

    In response to rising oil and food prices, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi recently insinuated that Egyptians should “eat tree leaves” in order to surv…

  • Policy Analysis
    YemenConflicts and Conflict Resolution

    Oman’s Interests and Role in the Conflict in Yemen

    Mar 14, 2023Afrah Nasser

    In the course of the conflict in Yemen, Oman’s role has evolved substantially and in various ways. Currently, expectations are high that the sultanate will be …

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