Levant

Following a year of protests and as the war with Hamas and Hezbollah enters its eighth month, the domestic scene in Israel looks poised for a political transition. Pro-democracy mayors and city councils across the country have grown increasingly influential when it comes to safeguarding and advancing liberal values. They are now better positioned and more motivated to make an impact on Israeli national politics, particularly as early elections look ever more likely.

Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.

As the world focuses on Israel’s war in Gaza, northwest Syria is undergoing a significant political upheaval that could lead to major instability. For the last three months, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, an armed Sunni Islamist group that governs more 4.5 million people in the Idlib region, has been facing widespread protests.

Israeli leaders insist that the extreme destruction in the Gaza Strip is unavoidable given Hamas’ use of “human shields” and the fact that the militant group has embedded itself among the civilian population and routinely operates from civilian structures like hospitals and schools. But far from explaining the current devastation, the questionable “human shields” charge has become a way to shield Israel from legitimate scrutiny and accountability.

In recent months, Israel’s situation in the Red Sea has grown increasingly challenging in the security, economic, and diplomatic spheres. But the country is in a better position to meet these challenges and threats by leveraging the strategic regional partnerships it has developed over the past several years.

In recent weeks, the southern Syrian province of Sweida has seen a series of kidnappings targeting regime military officers. Unlike the financially motivated incidents common in the region, these abductions, which occurred on April 2 and 25, stand out because they targeted individuals based on their affiliation with the regime of Bashar al-Assad rather than their personal identities. Reports suggest that Sweida residents orchestrated the abductions as a way of negotiating the release of relatives detained by the regime.

Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.

March 26, 2024, marked the 45th anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. Over the years, this bilateral settlement has proven its stability and resilience, despite a series of crucial challenges. Yet the Begin-Sadat legacy, and the benefits it brings, is now in jeopardy.

Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.

A version of this article first appeared as part of an Expert Views special feature on the new rules of the game in the Iranian-Israeli conflict.

The month of April saw a series of unprecedented escalations in the long-simmering Iranian-Israeli conflict, with both countries launching missile and drone attacks against the other’s territory for the first time in history.

In the wake of these strikes, what will be the impact on the regional security and political environment going forward, what is needed to stabilize the new rules of the game, and how can US diplomacy help to facilitate that process? MEI has asked its experts to weigh in.

Even as more and more countries move toward authoritarianism, big cities across the world are becoming strongholds for pro-democracy forces, a fact underlined by the recent local elections in Israel and Turkey. So the question is, can cities lead a democratic revival in countries that have experienced a democratic recession?

Read MEI’s weekly briefing featuring expert analysis of key regional developments for the week ahead.