Analysis

Stana Dubajic   As the Syrian tragic war draws to its end, another potentially explosive development in the region is increasingly gaining media attention in recent weeks – the Iraqi Kurdish referendum. With less than two weeks left to the Referendum date, the Kurds seem to be faced with a …

By Peter Korzun • Despite differences over Syria and the Iranian nuclear deal, current Russia-Saudi Arabia relations are arguably at an apex, both in terms of shared interests and mutual understanding. It has just been announced that King of Saudi Arabia Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud will visit Russia in late October. …

On August 31, the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups of Jaysh Ahrar al-Ashayer and Jaysh Usud al-Sharqiya released a Syrian pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Ali al-Helw and 30 Syrian soldiers. Al-Helw’s warplane, a Mig-23BN, crashed in the northern Suwayda countryside on August 15. Jaysh Usud al-Sharqiya captured the …

By Shehab Al Makahleh, Special to Al Arabiya English | Friday, 25 August 2017 • Jordan and Iraq have agreed to reopen the Turaibil – al-Karamah border crossing shortly after Eid Al Adha. A Jordanian security official has told Al Arabiya English that the Karamah crossing will be opened for …

By M K Bhadrakumar  The geopolitics of the Middle East is witnessing a tectonic shift with the emergence of a Turkish-Iranian axis that would have seemed unbelievable until recently. The 3-day visit by Iran’s chief of general staff General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri to Turkey last week was the first …

The Islamic State (ISIL) has been given one last chance to leave central Syria before the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) closes the 5 km gap between the Al-Raqqa and Homs governorates. With some of their forces already besieged in eastern Hama, the Islamic State cannot afford to have …

By Abdel Bari Atwan The surprises keep coming in Syria, one after the other. They reflect radical changes in the local, regional and international dynamics that have long governed the conflict ravaging the country. Following the Syrian Arab Army’s recovery of the town of as-Sukhna in the governorate …

Shehab Al-Makahleh and Maria Dubovikova The future of Syria is now being decided in Amman after the withdrawal of Syrian armed opposition troops from neighborhoods near the Jordanian-Syrian border, leaving the crossing point of Naseeb under the control of the Syria Arab Army (SAA). The fate of Syria, and importantly …

The UAE, not an old state and not even a state in every sense of the word, was founded in the 1970s with the British support for small sheikhdoms and immigration of people from other parts of the Arab Peninsula. The 47-year-old state lies on the southern coasts …