Saudi Arabia has emerged as a critical ally for Syria's new interim government. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman played a key role in getting the United States to lift many sanctions on Syria. Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa has made it clear that he wants the kingdom to have a big say in his country's affairs that would go beyond helping it finance its reconstruction. However, as Saudi researcher Aziz Algahashian explains, Saudi Arabia is not giving him a carte blanche.

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Last week’s arrest of Lahur Talabani in a violent raid that left four dead set a dangerous precedent, one that could undermine PUK leader Bafel Talabani and the Kurdistan region as a whole, says independent analyst Shayan Talabany.

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Jalel Harchaoui, an expert on Gulf and North African power dynamics, unpacks the evolving relationship between the two regional rivals. While ties have improved dramatically since 2021, he warns that lingering rivalries across Africa could reignite tensions.

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Haian Dukhan, a leading expert on Syria’s tribal dynamics, unpacks the stakes in the latest surge of violence between Sunni Bedouin tribes and the Druze minority in Suwayda.

Retaining tribal support is essential for the country’s post-Assad regime. The government’s failure to quell clashes that have left more than 1,000 people dead has ignited Sunni anger and emboldened the Kurdish minority, which has forged its own Sunni tribal alliances.

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On July 11, a group of PKK fighters burned their weapons in a ceremony marking the end of their forty-year-long armed campaign against the Kurdish state. Aliza Marcus, a leading expert on the militant group, says it is too early to determine whether the PKK will abandon armed struggle completely and that much depends on what steps Ankara is prepared to take to meet Kurdish demands.

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Professor Mohsen Milani, the author of the recently published, "Iran's Rise and Rivalry with the U.S. in the Middle East," explains that airpower alone cannot dislodge Iran's clerical regime. With Iran capable of relaunching its nuclear program, the risk of further Israeli attacks is real. The outcome would likely be regional chaos.

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Nacho Amor is the European Parliament's rapporteur on Turkey. Speaking to Al-Monitor, he blasts EU leaders for their silence over Turkey's appalling human rights record, including the jailing of more than a dozen democratically elected mayors from the main opposition CHP party. He also warns the country's Kurds — who are in the process of negotiating constitutional changes with the government that would allow the country's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, more powers in exchange for Kurdish rights — that without democracy for all, there can be none for a few.

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Israel’s conflict with Iran has wiped out dozens of top military leaders and scientists and inflicted major damage on critical facilities, yet the regime has survived.

The Iranian people have not risen up; to the contrary, they have rallied around the flag amid a surge in anti-Western sentiment. However, the regime will need to embark on serious reforms to keep the people on its side, says Iranian American academic Vali Nasr

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