The US and its allies don’t really care at this point whether President Assad remains in office or not since their most pressing concern right now is to remove Iranian military influence from Syria, but they won’t ever abandon their regime change plans so long as they think that this is the only way to…
Lebanon, as so often in the past, is facing mortal danger. Saudi Arabia is putting great pressure on the Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, a powerful but controversial figure who holds dual nationality – Saudi and Lebanese. Riyadh expects Lebanon to play by its own rules, sidelining Hezbollah, ending Iranian influence in the country, and…
Israel has long been the unchallenged bully in the Middle East, but now Tel Aviv will face consequences for its temper tantrums. That was the message from Damascus last weekend when the Syrian army shot down an Israeli F-16. The dramatic escalation happened as Israel claimed one of its warplanes was in Syrian airspace to…
The battle against Islamic State in Syria may be nearing its end, but the conflict in this war-torn country seems far from over. Competing factions and old rivalries have created a complicated, uncertain future for Syria. With so many different warring parties wrestling for control of Syria’s fate, it seems prudent to review the conflict’s…
How many Americans are aware that every two years the United States military engages in large scale exercises with the Israeli Defense Forces that simulate wars against Israel’s neighbors? Three thousand American soldiers are in Israel right now involved in maneuvers that are focused on countering a missile attack from Lebanon. When the exercise, known…
Lebanon is a pressure cooker which could blow at any moment, but don’t worry about confused US policy. Israel’s threats to invade are not irking the Lebanese, but many wish Hezbollah would end a local Shiite-Christian spat. America’s confused position in Afrin, northern Syria, is not the only location in the Middle East where Washington’s…
