Rehabilitating Assad: The struggle for influence in Syria’s endgame
How Damascus could become the next arena for geopolitical competition between the region’s Arab power centers and Iran.
How Damascus could become the next arena for geopolitical competition between the region’s Arab power centers and Iran.
Biden appears to be revoking a Trump-era waiver that put the U.S. in the middle of a battle over Syria’s crude resources.
Why lifting sanctions is a controversial, but realistic, approach after nine years of failure.
This new round of sanctions is targeted at anyone doing business with Bashar al-Assad, including Lebanon, a country that’s already dealing with economic crisis of its own.
Shifting the approach to focus on shared humanitarian interests on the ground can open the door to cooperation with Russia, maintain Western influence in Syria, and facilitate the rebuilding of a war-torn country.
European governments should shift their central focus to proactively protecting and bolstering, rather than further squeezing, those Syrian societal forces that are still standing.
The UAE does not always share Riyadh’s and Washington’s perspectives on international issues, driving Abu Dhabi to take actions that sometimes veer away from Saudi and US foreign policy objectives.
The battle for Idlib underscores Russia’s increasing dilemma on how to deal with Turkey as Moscow becomes increasingly active on key MENA dossiers in which Ankara has high stakes.
Given the escalation of violence between Turkey and Syrian government forces, Putin’s balancing act between Erdogan and Assad may no longer be sustainable.