Policy Analysis

Yemeni rebels successfully attacked a UAE military vessel with what appeared to be an Iranian cruise missile, raising the need for a stronger U.S. role in the strategic waterway.

The last remaining Islamic State stronghold in eastern Syria is poised to fall, and given the potentially major strategic implications for the Kurds, Turkey, the rebels, and other actors, one of them may act quickly to determine its fate.

With some Arabs leading the call, various dissidents like the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) core of the NCRI are accelerating their calls for regime change in Iran.

What binds Saudi Arabia with Japan, of course, and increasingly separates it from the U.S., is oil. Saudi Arabia is by far the world’s largest exporter of it; Japan is one of the largest importers.

Coalition and Iraqi planners seem to have settled on a phased approach aimed at encircling the city, hitting Islamic State targets with precision weapons, and minimizing civilian casualties, but the aftermath could prove more difficult than the battle itself.

The IRGC has sought to prove the resilience and technological prowess of its new UAVs by displaying them next to recovered models from other countries, but it may also be trying to mask key shortcomings.

Politics has become a life-or-death struggle for several of America's important partners in the Middle East, says Eric Trager, and their leaders increasingly perceive even mild U.S. encouragement on human rights issues as support for domestic enemies. The next president will face a decision about how to prioritize America's strategic

However hard it seems for Iran to fight against the United States’ “soft war,” nothing appears easier and less costly than mobilizing Iranians worldwide against Saudi Arabia or poisoning their consciencewith anti-Arab sentiments.

It seems that more than five years of the Syrian crisis are not enough for a a Syrian to say, “I have a dream!”

The House of Saud is probably not headed for a serious crash, but its growing domestic tensions make a fender-bender increasingly likely.

Internal political bickering and public discontent over economic problems could complicate the upcoming Mosul campaign and the KRG's long-term unity.

How the next president deals with the conflict in Syria will shape American foreign policy in the Middle East for years to come, says Andrew Tabler, and American decisions in Syria will determine the course of American relations with our regional allies, with Iran, and even with Russia. Join us

In order to start a “holy war” against the West, al Qaeda tried to lure Western countries into the Middle Eastern military quagmire. ISIS’ goal, however, is to create a social conflict in the West in order to weaken it, since a weakened enemy is an easier target in the long run.

Arabs and Israelis are in the same boat, facing Iranian-backed threats all around them and yearning for Western leadership on how best to roll back the regime's destabilizing policies.

The two countries appear to be compartmentalizing their shared and divergent interests in Syria and Iraq, but such an approach is highly vulnerable to unexpected military incidents and other factors.

Their presence will likely be more low-profile than for Rabin's funeral twenty years ago, but this is more a sign of the post-Oslo times than a rebuttal of their increasingly close ties with Israel in various spheres.

The killing of Ahmed Halawa highlights the complex web of rivalries, political calculations, and security fears driving recent West Bank power dynamics.

As he saw it, the key to Zionism was not waiting for others to determine the country's future.

A bipartisan team of distinguished former officials share their insights from a recent tour of key regional capitals.

The Washington Institute's counselor, a veteran U.S. envoy, remembers the late Israeli leader's visionary but pragmatic approach to pursuing peace.