Policy Analysis

Amid growing pressure to dissolve the coalition and withdraw troops, the United States and its partners should continue pursuing good relations with Baghdad—but this time with a lighter footprint and increased regional cooperation.

The Iraqi "resistance" and their Iran-backed fellow travelers in Yemen have added a new example of jointly branded attacks to their growing list of collaborative claims.

Three Israeli experts analyze the strategic quandaries raised by Beijing’s vocal support for Hamas during the war.

Implied lower prices would weaken economic forecasts for major Middle East oil producers.

An opaque process and an apathetic electorate are among the reasons the contest does not warrant U.S. scrutiny.

A detailed look at what the group has been telling other Palestinians as it maneuvers to retake a role in the wider national movement and rebuild its forces.

Muqtada al-Sadr’s recent attempt to designate Eid al-Ghadir a national holiday has sparked fierce debates and threatens to further destabilize the Iraqi political system in the coming months.

U.S. officials are wary of Israel’s expanding political minefield and prefer to avoid direct intervention on domestically sensitive issues, but the policy implications of Gantz’s resignation—particularly the strengthening of the far right—will make it difficult to avoid weighing in.

Tehran has a history of stepping up its nuclear violations after public rebukes; in the current environment, such escalation could have regional proliferation implications.

The protest movement’s ability to weather pressures from the Assad regime has allowed Suwayda to remain an impressive display of solidarity, tenacity, and bravery, alongside a willingness after over a decade of conflict in Syria to still demand a better future.

The new emir’s suspension of parliament, followed by the appointment of a prime minister and crown prince, suggests a different direction for the oil-rich Gulf state.

Tehran and its proxies have been doing everything they can to destabilize Jordan during the Gaza war, from inciting protests and increasing drug and weapons smuggling to escalating armed threats from Iraq.

President Raisi’s fatal crash put a spotlight on the dire state of aviation safety in Iran, but the regime’s gross mismanagement and corrupt profiteering are to blame, not foreign sanctions.

A regularly updated visual tracker of northern border attacks by Hezbollah, the IDF, and Palestinian groups during the Hamas-Israel war.

Few of the prospective candidates have shown much interest in or talent for national security affairs, and none has articulated a vision for tamping down Iran’s aggression at home or abroad.

A ceremony held by Khamenei's office gave some clues about the pecking order of the Iraqi "resistance," with political players at the forefront and militia fighters and propagandists in the second tier.

As laid out in President Biden’s speech, the initial terms of the proposed deal include a disturbing imbalance in who guarantees that Hamas and Israel fulfill their commitments under the agreement—a problem that should be fixed now rather than later.

Links to Israel-linked companies, especially in light of the Rafah invasion, are again the culprit.

If implemented in full, Israel’s latest tax, banking, and victim-compensation measures could bring the West Bank’s two decades of relative stability crashing down—along with any plans to have the PA play a postwar role in Gaza.

The U.S. ambassador to Yemen joins an expert conflict practitioner to discuss Washington’s policy options for resolving the civil war.