Summary: the conventional wisdom among critics in the West remains that erroneous assumptions led to the war and once it ended a series of blunders entrenched chaos and violence; Renad Mansour offers a more nuanced perspective.
Summary: as the death toll from the 6 February earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria rises past 35,000 the situation of getting humanitarian aid to Syrian survivors is deeply compromised by internal and external rivalries created by Syria’s 12 year civil war.
Summary: as the death toll from the 6 February earthquakes that hit Türkiye and Syria rises past 35,000 the situation of getting humanitarian aid to Syrian survivors is deeply compromised by internal and external rivalries created by Syria’s 12 year civil war.
Summary: the business and sectarian elites that rule Lebanon, aided and abetted by Iran and Syria, are behaving with predictable selfishness.
Summary: Iraq has a new prime minister but old problems remain even as Muqtada al-Sadr weighs up his opportunities while playing the long game after pulling his party out of parliament.
Summary: with the protest movement virtually silenced, the opposition either in jail or in exile, Bahrain’s ruling family is moving forward, building on higher oil prices and financial support from its GCC neighbours to meet at least some of the concerns of its citizens.
Summary: Sheikh al-Qaradawi has died leaving behind a complex and controversial legacy.
Summary: Iraq has still to form a government nearly a year after parliamentary elections. The impasse is indicative of a far bigger malaise: a dysfunctional state whose sovereignty is held hostage to armed groups and sectarian interests.
Summary: Jordan sees in a cautious rapprochement with Iran an opportunity to improve strained relations with the GCC and to find a way out of its economic crisis.
Summary: a major overhaul of the government, with key hardliners in the ruling family being sacked, signals that Crown Prince Salman is back in the driver’s seat.
