ISIS appears to have collapsed in Syria in the wake of the SDF’s military defeat and subsequent integration, followed by the withdrawal of US troops. To the extent that the US prioritizes the group’s enduring defeat in the country, a relationship centered in Damascus is the best way to achieve it.
The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) is a proposed multinational infrastructure initiative aimed at upgrading connectivity between the three regions through integrated trade, energy, and digital networks. Announced at the G20 summit in New Delhi in September 2023, IMEC is envisioned partially as a counterweight to China’s international infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative.
Challenging Israel’s exceptionalism in American politics
While support for Israel across the political spectrum remains strong in Washington, the traditional bipartisan consensus in favor of unconditional support for Israel has begun to fray in recent years.
As Israelis head to the polls once again, is the fourth time the charm?
Israelis are going to the polls on Tuesday for the fourth time in two years. But while the main issue in each of these elections has been to decide the fate of a single man, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the political landscape has meanwhile been shifting significantly, primarily toward the right.
Ten years ago this week, at the American embassy in Damascus, we heard of the first anti-government protest through a quiet whisper in the diplomatic community. A few young kids had run through the historic Hamadiya market yelling “freedom,” as everyone else in the Syrian capital was glued to their television, watching the Arab Spring unfold in nearby states.
Out of ill-will and incompetence, Lebanese decision-makers continue to violate macroeconomics’ most fundamental principles in their handling of Lebanon’s financial meltdown. Erroneous — or worse still, inexistent — fiscal and monetary policy choices are amplifying by the day the devastating socioeconomic repercussions that the country will face for years, if not decades, to come.
Definitional doom: How Iran and Israel derail legal application in cyberspace
Despite the importance of cyberattacks, little has been written about the relationship between these attacks and the applicable law. States are still struggling with controversies involving definitions, even though there is wide applicability of both laws and norms in this context. As a result, cyberspace remains relatively anarchic and the continued controversies have impeded further progress. Although the global discussion has only just begun, it is clear that the rising prevalence of state-led cyber operations warrants a thoughtful, innovative, and immediate regulatory response. Pressure has been building on the governments of the Middle East to join the conversation as their relevance and power in the cyber domain grows.
“الحرب الخفية بين إيران وإسرائيل تدور رحاها الآن في الميادين الثلاثة: الجوي والبري والبحري. لكن نتيجتها ستُحسم في نهاية المطاف في ميدان الدبلوماسية والسياسة، وبشكل أساسي من خلال خيارات السياسة الأمريكية”.
A decade on, the Syrian crisis is far from over and the US must step up
As Syrians mark the 10-year anniversary of the 2011 uprising this week, it remains inescapably true that the country’s debilitating crisis is far from over. After a decade of conflict that was initiated and driven by an utterly ruthless regime and reinforced and diplomatically protected by its Russian and Iranian allies, Syria is broken.
ISIS and the Assad regime: Strategy and counter-strategy in Syria’s Badia
It has been more than a month since the launch of military operations by Syrian regime forces and their allies, with air support from the Russian air force, in the Syrian Badia — the country’s expansive central desert region — in an attempt to eliminate ISIS cells deployed there. To date, however, these operations have not yielded any tangible results.
"داعش" والنظام الاستراتيجية والاستراتيجية المضادة في البادية
مضى قرابة الشهر على العمليات العسكرية التي تشنها قوات النظام السوري وحلفائها، بدعم جوي من الطيران الروسي في البادية السورية، في محاولة للقضاء على خلايا تنظيم “داعش” المنتشرة في تلك المناطق، لكن تلك الهجمات لم تُثمر عن نتائج تذكر حتى اللحظة.
الهجمات العسكرية للقوات المعادية للتنظيم لم تتغير على الصعيدين العملياتي والاستراتيجي، فقد اقتصرت على عمليات توغل لقوات برية بأسلحة خفيفة ومتوسطة، بغطاء جوي من طائرات حربية روسية تُمهد بعمليات قصف جوي، وطائرات مروحية مرافقة للقوات المتقدمة برياً تحسباً لهجمات التنظيم الدفاعية.
“The war of hunger … scares me more than the war of cannons”: As inflation soars, Syria’s economy spirals downward
As the Syrian conflict reaches its 10-year anniversary, the economic consequences of a decade of war have been nothing less than catastrophic. Instability and inflation are likely to remain major problems over next 10 years — and possibly well beyond — but for now they have created a new level of despair in government-held areas. The Syrian economy has entered its most fragile phase yet and the prospects of a serious recovery remain all but a distant hope as the fiscal challenges confronting the country far outweigh the meagre remedies on offer.
The oldest peer-reviewed publication dedicated to the study of the modern Middle East, MEI’s flagship journal covers politics, society, and culture in the region.
