All Policy Analysis by David Schenker

On June 7, Lebanon goes to the polls to elect a new government. All told, 587 candidates are competing for the 128 parliament seats, and with just days to go, the contest is too close to call. Both the pro-West March 14 coalition incumbents and the Syrian-Iranian-backed Hizballah-led March 8

PolicyWatch #1523 is the second in a two-part series on President Obama's trip to Egypt on June 4 and examines the likely impact of the visit on U.S.-Egyptian relations. Part one focused on the president's much-anticipated speech to the "Muslim world." On June 4, President Barack Obama will deliver his

Anyone who has watched an Arab summit knows that the Middle East is racked with divisions. The highlight reel from the March 2009 Doha summit leads with a lengthy ad hominem attack by Libya's leader Muammar Qaddafi against Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, so severe that the Qatari hosts cut the

On Monday, the annual Arab Summit will convene in Doha, Qatar, a meeting that may become a media circus if invited Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir -- recently indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for murdering nearly a half million of his countrymen in Darfur -- attends. Nonetheless, for participating

The reconstruction period that followed the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War can be instructive for those seeking to curtail Hamas's political influence as Gaza enters a period of restoration. This article assesses the stakes for the Middle East and the international community in this early phase of rebuilding Gaza. © IHS (Global)

In early March, two senior U.S. officials traveled to Damascus for the highest-level bilateral meeting in years, part of the new administration's policy of "engagement." Washington seeks to test Damascus' intentions to distance itself from Iran. While a "strategic realignment" of Damascus is unlikely, in the short term, the diplomatic

This Saturday, Lebanon's pro-West March 14 coalition officially kicks off its election campaign in Beirut. Two weeks ago, the Hizballah-led opposition -- backed by Syria and Iran -- started campaigning in its stronghold in the Beqa Valley. With less than three months until Lebanon's parliamentary election, the contest, which pits

Reports from Damascus say Syria's leading dissident is on his deathbed. Riad Seif, 62 and suffering from prostate cancer, has spent the last year in Adra prison as punishment for attending a meeting of pro-democracy groups in Damascus. Syrian President Bashar Assad has prohibited him from seeking treatment abroad, a