A senior Iranian lawmaker has warned that the United States is “plotting a new invasion” by sending more troops to Iraq and Syria.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Paul Salem, Yousef Munayyer, and Randa Slim provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the meeting between Egyptian President Sisi and President Trump, the upcoming meeting between President Trump and Jordan’s King Abdullah, and the Trump administration’s adoption of Obama-era policies in Syria.
Read the full article on The National Interest.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s visit to President Trump signals the restoration of the close U.S.-Egyptian relations that have been a key pillar of U.S. policy toward the Middle East for four and half decades. The United States has an abiding interest in a stable, prosperous and well-governed Egypt, and Egyptians have an interest in close relations with the United States’ government, economy and society.
The full article can be found at The Cipher Brief.
The Cipher Brief: How influential is al Qaeda in Syria? What are the group’s objectives there?
This piece was co-authored by Michael Rubin, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Read the full article on Lawfare.
India has sought to continue its five-decade long cordial relationship with Syria despite the conflict raging there, and has been providing muted support for Bashar al-Assad’s government. However, as the Syrian conflict has dragged on, it has become increasingly clear that the conflict in Syria is the epicenter of the tremors that are shaking the region, placing India’s own national interests at risk. This essay examines the arc of India’s policy toward the Syrian crisis, within the context of the broader thrust of Indian foreign policy towards West Asia under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Over the past six years, Iran has played a key role in propping up the embattled regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, by sending Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) military personnel as well as recruiting, funding, training and leading an extensive network of Iraqi, Lebanese, Pakistani and Afghan Shiite militia forces.
Iran has announced that it will allow Russia to use Iranian bases “on a case by case basis” to launch air strikes against “terrorists” in Syria.
Six years after the fossilized authoritarian regime of Hosni Mubarak was swept from power by a tide of popular discontent, Egypt continues to face a multitude of economic and other challenges. This essay discusses the role that India has played, and could play in helping set Egypt’s economy on a more stable footing while broadening and deepening the bilateral relationship.
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Charles Lister, Randa Slim, Paul Salem, and Eran Etzion provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the meeting of the anti-ISIS coalition in D.C., the Iraqi Prime Minister’s visit to the U.S., the upcoming Arab League summit, and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to China.
The Israeli prime minister’s visit to Moscow last week offered Israel and Russia an opportunity to ‘synchronize watches’ as a new phase in the Syrian war unfolds.
The visit was short and business-like. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Tel Aviv in the morning and was back in Jerusalem that same evening. But his meeting with President Vladimir Putin, their fourth since the Russian intervention in September 2015, was long enough to reaffirm the principles that have enabled both Russia and Israel to protect their core interests in Syria.
A senior Iranian lawmaker says the Trump administration and its allies will not be able to establish safe zones in Syria, and that the deployment of American troops to Syria will also not change the trajectory of war in the Arab country, the Iranian Parliament’s official website reports.
