Policy Analysis

If the administration wants its peace plan to break the peace process paradigm, it must suggest immediately achievable and flexible short-term goals.

As the latest regime offensive continues, hundreds of thousands of civilians are fleeing to overcrowded border camps, furthering Assad’s strategy of emptying as much of the Sunni Arab population as possible.

Despite its measured approach thus far, Tehran may come to view the latest showdown as an existential conflict with an irresolute adversary, warranting greater risk-taking on its part.

The Supreme Leader regards his rule as the central feature of the Islamic Revolution, so the latest White House order will seem like a shot at the entire system.

The regime’s economic pain is real, so it may eventually be willing to talk about extending the nuclear deal’s sunset provisions and limiting its military infrastructure in Syria.

Four experts discuss the opposition's landslide victory and its implications for Turkish politics generally and President Erdogan's future specifically.

From September 2015, Russia’s military intervention into the Syrian civil war succeeded in turning the conflict’s momentum from the opposition back to the Syrian government. However, in the past few years Russia has simultaneously undertaken a quieter intervention in the Syrian conflict through humanitarian institutions. While there has been a

The current blackout fits the regime's wider pattern of attempting to guarantee its survival by restricting access to information.

The guest list at the scaled-down meeting continues to shrink, while the tension caused by recent Iranian escalation looms in the background.

Turkey is too diverse demographically, too big economically, and too complicated politically to be governed from a presidential palace.

Rather than pinning false hopes on the Manama conference, the international community should focus on reforming the Paris Protocol and convincing the Palestinians to resume revenue transfers from Israel.

Although the island may reap diplomatic kudos and economic benefits for hosting such a high-profile event, the potential reactions of domestic sectarian communities and nearby Iran remain a concern.

Former American and French ambassadors discuss the regime's calculus and preview the upcoming U.S.-Russia summit in Jerusalem. Watch video or read a summary.

The resilient Muslim Brotherhood is only feeding off Cairo’s repression campaign, which cannot ensure stability indefinitely given the government’s failures on other fronts.

Nearly two years have lapsed since what was supposed to be a political blitzkrieg against Qatar metastasized into economic and geo-strategic trench warfare. Through effective counter-measures—and despite considerable financial drain—Qatar has seemingly been able to withstand the harsh diplomatic and logistic constraints imposed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab

There are no optimal options in the current Yemen war, but U.S. policymakers should seize the opportunity to bring Gulf governments into NATO-like agreements that avoid such dilemmas in the future.

His deep unpopularity made it difficult for many actors at home and abroad to criticize the current government, but Washington still stands to lose rather than gain if it comments on the matter.

Rockets continue to fall on American facilities, part of a deliberate effort to keep Baghdad from making Iraq a neutral crossroads in the region.

Emphasizing stabilization efforts now while at least mentioning Palestinian statehood just might give the Trump peace plan a chance later.

The price of oil is often directly related to global economic prospects, so Washington’s tariff tiff with Beijing could hit regional states doubly hard.