Summary: as his allies and former Arab critics rally around the Syrian president he is using the lure of lucrative reconstruction contracts to strengthen his position.
Summary: with the world otherwise occupied, the desperate situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Türkiye and Jordan has been shuffled to one side. Fresh thinking is urgently required.
Summary: with resentment growing in Turkey towards Syrian refugees, President Erdoğan offers homes and promises of a ‘self-sufficient economic infrastructure’ to encourage 1 million to leave.
Summary: Gulf monarchies’ refusal to side with the US and Europe against Russia is not about Russia. It is about a transactional approach to protecting national interests and avoiding the costs of strategic alignment.
Summary: with the exception of occasional news reports, the war in Syria grinds on with little coverage of the growing threat of IS or awareness that the international community has moved to accept Bashar al-Assad back into the fold even as millions of Syrians continue to suffer inside and outside the country.
Summary: while scientists around the world rush to assess the impact of the emerging Omicron variant, much of the Middle East is at a worrying threat threshold.
Summary: Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries when criticised on human rights grounds accuse their critics of interference in internal domestic affairs.
Summary: competing ideas for increased security in the Gulf “tinderbox”. UK under Johnson backs the US. Legal considerations.
Summary: Hudaida ceasefire survives but going nowhere. Yemen divided, the war stalemated, human suffering continues. UN out of ideas.
Summary: Trump declares the US a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia. Increased resistance from Congress. Wider still and wider.
