Jalel Harchaoui, an expert on Gulf and North African power dynamics, unpacks the evolving relationship between the two regional rivals. While ties have improved dramatically since 2021, he warns that lingering rivalries across Africa could reignite tensions. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Haian Dukhan, a leading expert on Syria’s tribal dynamics, unpacks the stakes in the latest surge of violence between Sunni Bedouin tribes and the Druze minority in Suwayda. Retaining tribal support is essential for the country’s post-Assad regime. The government’s failure to quell clashes that have left more than 1,000 people dead has ignited Sunni anger and emboldened the Kurdish minority, which has forged its own Sunni tribal alliances. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On July 11, a group of PKK fighters burned their weapons in a ceremony marking the end of their forty-year-long armed campaign against the Kurdish state. Aliza Marcus, a leading expert on the militant group, says it is too early to determine whether the PKK will abandon armed struggle completely and that much depends on what steps Ankara is prepared to take to meet Kurdish demands. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Professor Mohsen Milani, the author of the recently published, "Iran's Rise and Rivalry with the U.S. in the Middle East," explains that airpower alone cannot dislodge Iran's clerical regime. With Iran capable of relaunching its nuclear program, the risk of further Israeli attacks is real. The outcome would likely be regional chaos.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nacho Amor is the European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey. Speaking to Al-Monitor, he blasts EU leaders for their silence over Turkey's appalling human rights record, including the jailing of more than a dozen democratically elected mayors from the main opposition CHP party. He also warns the country's Kurds — who are in the process of negotiating constitutional changes with the government that would allow the country's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, more powers in exchange for Kurdish rights — that without democracy for all, there can be none for a few. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Israel’s conflict with Iran has wiped out dozens of top military leaders and scientists and inflicted major damage on critical facilities, yet the regime has survived. The Iranian people have not risen up; to the contrary, they have rallied around the flag amid a surge in anti-Western sentiment. However, the regime will need to embark on serious reforms to keep the people on its side, says Iranian American academic Vali Nasr See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

As the Iran-Israel conflict enters its fifth day, there are growing signs that the United States will intervene on the side of its Israeli allies. Iranian scholar Hamidreza Azizi says Israel is aiming for regime change or to turn Iran into a failed state. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ankara's latest effort to end a four decades long Kurdish insurgency is opaque and is full of risks and opportunities for Turkey and Syria's Kurds says lawmaker Cengiz Candar. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Talmiz Ahmad, a former Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, explains why Gulf nations led by Saudi Arabia tilt in favor of India despite long-running ties with Muslim Pakistan. Pakistan's refusal to join Saudi Arabia in its war against the Houthis — and a jihadi attack on Mumbai in 2008 — were a tipping point, he says. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Charles Lister, the head of the Syria Initiative at the Middle East Institute in Washington, argues that after five months in power Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the ultimate pragmatist, is adjusting to the complexity of governing his ethnically diverse and fractured country. This involves striking deals with the Kurds and Druze that fly in the face of the rigidly centralized model he once espoused. And contrary to popular belief he is not a "Turkish puppet,” Lister says. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Makram Rabah, an assistant professor at the American University in Beirut, says that Syria's interim president lacks the power to control his own army and that Washington needs to engage with Syria's new government to help defuse sectarian violence and for peace to prevail in the war-ravaged country. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Starvation, disease, mutilation and death have become the norm for children in Gaza, says Arwa Damon, founder of the INARA charity. She warns that aid workers, journalists and medics are also being targeted, making it nearly impossible to deliver relief to children trapped in a cycle of despair. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Since last week, Turkey has been rocked by mass protests over the jailing of Istanbul's opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, on thinly-evidence corruption and terrorism charges. These protests are widely seen as the most significant challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since he came to power 22 years ago. Turkey experts Gonul Tol and Lisel Hintz weigh the risks and opportunities for the country’s beleaguered democracy. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Russia is seeking to keep its naval bases in Syria, viewing them as a vital strategic asset. Syria's interim president, a hard nosed pragmatist, will likely strike working relations with the Kremlin while trying to defuse tensions with Israel and win over the United States, says the International Crisis Group's Jerome Drevon, who has met Sharaa numerous times. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The wave of sectarian violence that gripped Syria last week has marred the image of the country's new Islamist president, Ahmad al-Sharaa. Could the government have done more to prevent it? French academic Fabrice Balanche says it absolutely could have. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Israel's expansionist policy in Syria's Golan Heights and its support for the Druze and Kurdish minorities are justified by Israeli officials on the grounds that they are protecting natural allies and countering Turkish influence. Yet Syria expert Joshua Landis says Israel's actions are having the opposite effect, making Syria's new Islamist leaders more dependent on Turkey for their protection. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Private military contractors are changing the nature of warfare as national governments outsource fighting to mercenaries, especially in the Middle East and Africa. None has elicited as much interest as Russia's Wagner Group and its founder Yevgheny Prighozin with others following in his footsteps, as author John Lechner explains. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Since April last year, the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been in talks with imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. The goal is to get his organization to end its 40 year-long armed campaign against the Turkish state. But one of Turkey's demands, that Ocalan’s concessions extend to northeast Syria where a PKK-linked group has been in control since 2012, is unrealistic, says Kurdish Peace Institute director Giran Ozcan. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The surprise fall of Iran's close regional ally Bashar al-Assad has dealt a huge blow to Tehran's so called axis of resistance running through Iraq onto Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran's loss is Turkey's gain and Tehran is increasingly worried about rising Turkish influence, says Hamidreza Azizi. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Iran is badly weakened by Israel's pummeling of its Shiite allies in the Levant. Yet, unlike during Trump's first presidential term, Gulf powerhouse Saudi Arabia has been mending relations with the Islamic Republic. Vali Nasr, a leading expert on Iran, says there is room for cautious optimism for nuclear talks to resume. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.