Research & Commentary Results

Six months since the collapse of the Assad regime, the Russian military presence in Syria has remained entrenched in strategic locations such as the Hmeimim airbase and Tartous port on the coast, as well as at Qamishli airport in the northeast. This persistence has reignited an increasingly pressing debate about Moscow’s role in the new Syria.

With Bashar al-Assad ousted and Syria entering a new political chapter, what comes next for a country ravaged by war, repression, and sectarian divisions? Gonul Tol speaks with Steven Heydemann (Smith College) and Radwan Ziadeh (Arab Center Washington DC) about the challenges of transitional justice, prospects for democratic reform, and the role of Syria’s new de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharah. Can a centralized government model provide inclusive governance? What kind of support—or interference—should Syrians expect from foreign powers?

On June 19, false reports of an Israeli strike on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant sparked alarm across the Gulf. Though denied by Israeli officials, the claim traces back to a warning from Qatar’s prime minister of a potential catastrophe in the event of nuclear contamination — no water, no food, no life — due to the Gulf’s reliance on desalinated seawater. Gulf governments moved quickly to reassure the public that no radiation had been detected, but the episode underscored the region’s growing sense of vulnerability. A regional approach to water security could help to mitigate such risks.

The dust has barely settled following the dramatic 12-day war between Israel and Iran, but its political and strategic reverberations are already shaping the future of the Middle East. In this episode of Middle East Focus, Ross Harrison, senior fellow and book series editor at the Middle East Institute, joins hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj to assess what comes next — from Tehran’s internal power recalibrations to the future of Iran’s forward defense strategy, and shifting regional alliances.

The Iraqi government has long navigated a path between maintaining political ties with its Iranian neighbor and Tehran’s allies inside Iraq on the one hand, and preserving its security relationship with the United States on the other. Unsurprisingly, it quickly welcomed US President Donald Trump’s June 23 Israel-Iran cease-fire agreement.

After Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, can we learn to deal differently with Iran?

Where is Ali Khamenei? That is the question on the minds of many Iranians and foreign observers in the aftermath of the 12-day war between Iran and Israel. As missiles rained down and retaliatory strikes escalated, one voice was conspicuously absent: that of the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic.

Israel’s full-blown war against Iran threatens to upend regional dynamics and Turkey’s careful balancing act. The conflict presents both immediate threats and long-term strategic risks for Turkey.

As the Israel-Iran conflict intensifies, warnings are growing louder that the war could result in hazardous and destructive radiological spillover to much of the region. But the posturing of various key actors in the Gulf and beyond has opened the door to a broader political settlement between the United States and Iran that could end the hostilities before such a dangerous scenario comes to pass.

MEI Senior Fellow Paul Salem joins the program to assess Lebanon’s rapidly shifting political landscape. With a new president and government promising to enact reforms and reassert sovereignty, Lebanon faces a daunting agenda: disarming Hizballah, rebuilding institutions, navigating regional diplomacy, and restoring the economy.

The recent brief yet intense escalation of hostilities between India and Pakistan has further exposed the fragile nature of South Asia’s security landscape. The four-day tit-for-tat cross-border military confrontation between the two nuclear-armed rivals has significantly undermined prospects for normalization, redefining the rules of engagement and signaling a shift in how both countries may manage their relationship moving forward.

Ambassador Dina Kawar, Jordan’s Ambassador to the United States, joins host Brian Katulis for a wide-ranging conversation on Jordan’s efforts to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, its bilateral partnership with the United States, and its role in regional diplomacy.

The recent elevation of Gen. Asim Munir to the rank of field marshal is a thunderous declaration of the Pakistani military’s unassailable supremacy, a gesture that reverberates far beyond the barbed-wire perimeters of the Army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

Neoconservatives and MAGA isolationists are locked in a battle for the soul of Republican strategy. Nowhere is the split more glaring than over the Middle East: hawks view it as a proving ground for American power and allegiance to Israel, while isolationists see only endless wars that have bled America dry. Where does Trump fall in this tug-of-war?

As the EU prepares for its annual review of sanctions imposed on Syria, it faces a moment of reckoning — an opportunity to demonstrate whether its policies not only continue to be principled and legal, but also in line with its strategic interests. They no longer serve the purpose for which they were designed, and the EU should let the entire sanctions regime on Syria collapse unconditionally and immediately.