On October 13, President Donald Trump stood in front of the Knesset to give a speech following the U.S.-brokered ceasefire and hostage exchange deal in Gaza. In his remarks, he thanked just a handful of Americans who made the agreement possible, figures like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Before all […]
Tag: Middle East
Four Years After the Fall of Kabul, Afghan Refugees Have Nowhere to Turn
In the months after the United States-backed government of Afghanistan first fell to the Taliban, international condemnation of the regime and support for Afghan refugees were swift and widespread. But now, the shifting tides of international immigration policy have definitively turned against Afghan refugees. As Iran, Pakistan, and the United States all begin to either […]
Symbolic Strikes, Real Consequences in the Middle East
The death of Ahmed al-Rahawi, Prime Minister of the Houthi-controlled government in Yemen, represents an escalation of Israel’s military strategy: a move from targeting infrastructure to assassinating leaders. Israel confirmed responsibility for the airstrike that killed al-Rahawi and portrayed it as a necessary dissuasion against the Houthis’ ongoing missile and drone attacks. Since 2023, the […]
Syria and the War on Terror: The Mask Finally Comes Off
The world watched with bated breath on December 8th, 2024, as rebel forces rolled into Damascus to oust then president Bashar Al-Assad. This ousting put an end to the reign of not only Bashar, but the Assad family, whose stranglehold on power in Syria began over five decades ago with Bashar’s father Hafez in 1971. […]
The Middle East’s New Great Game—and America’s Moment To Lead
History is a story of great power rivalries. In our time, the competitors are the United States, Russia, and China. As I’ve previously argued, the United States must pursue its interests pragmatically in order to retain global supremacy. However, abstract ideas and goals rarely ever translate to results. Actions are needed to bridge our vision of […]
The West’s Antichrist: The Rise of Antagonizing Iran
Over the last four decades, the West, led by US administrations, has been antagonizing Iran and discouraging any cooperation with Tehran and the Ayatollah, Iran’s supreme leader. When asked who the “greatest adversary” is to the United States, for instance, Vice President Kamala Harris said that it was obviously Iran, surprising many that consider China […]
Israel and Iran at the Precipice
The Middle East is no stranger to armed conflict, but the month of April nearly saw the region embroiled in its most substantial war in decades as long-term enemies Israel and Iran exchanged blows. Despite their decades-long animosity, these exchanges marked the first time that either country initiated direct military strikes against one another’s territory […]
The Modern-Day Pirates of the Middle East
In the rugged terrain of Yemen, where political lines blur and allegiances shift, the rise of the Houthi rebels marks a pivotal chapter in the nation’s turbulent history. The Red Sea, a critical piece in commerce and exchange, has become home to the Houthi rebels, a group causing chaos and disrupting geopolitics in the Middle […]
Women Can be Anything! Even Suicide Bombers.
She was sixteen years old when she killed three people. Passing through an Israeli checkpoint in Southern Lebanon on April 9, 1985, Sana’a Mehaidli was determined to become a martyr of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. She triggered her explosive-laden Peugeot, killing herself and two nearby Israeli soldiers. She went down in history as the […]
The Stakes of Egypt’s Next Presidential Elections
Amidst the latest atrocities in the Middle East, the world’s attention has again turned to commonly overlooked regional powers such as Egypt. Until recently, many of these powers had faded from political discussion since the end of the Arab Spring, superseded by the Saudi Vision 2030 seizing social media to highlight the progressive Gulf and […]