The blitzkrieg campaign by the Syrian rebel coalition headed by the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani ended the five-decade rule of the Assad family in Syria. President Bashar al-Assad was removed from power after an arduous and long decade of protest by the rebel groups. Amidst the dramatic shift, the future stakes of Iran in Syria have come into the spotlight. Being a prominent ally of Assad, Iran has faced strategic setback in a country crucial to enhancing its strategic depth. Nevertheless, it is too early to determine the aspect of strategic defeat as Tehran has the vitality to recalibrate its policy.
Tag: Iran
African Economies will Flourish in 2025
In October the IMF described a “two-track growth pattern” in sub-Saharan Africa. On one track are most of the 23 countries with sizeable exports of non-renewable commodities such as oil, gold or diamonds. These include Angola, Nigeria and South Africa. As prices for their exports sagged, their GDPs per person have dropped in the past decade. Most resource-rich countries have also been focused more on dividing the spoils of the boom years than on using the proceeds to build resilient economies.
Israel’s Ceasefire in Lebanon and Iran’s Next Move
Iran analysts live by two core assumptions: that the country wants to fight Israel through proxies, rather than directly, and that it doesn’t want all-out war. Both now look fragile. Iran launched missiles at Israel in April and October, both in retaliation for Israeli attacks. Most of the missiles were intercepted. But now Iran appears weaker: Israeli strikes on Iranian military facilities on October 26th struck a blow to its defences and its strategy. And the killing of Hizbollah’s top ranks dealt a blow to the “axis of resistance”, a group of militias backed by Iran.
Why Nuclear Weapons Remain the Privilege of the Few?
While a lot of countries associate the possession of nuclear weapons as a huge plus to their geopolitical power, there are still some that fear the consequences and stay within the protected boundaries of conservatism while going international. No matter how awed we can be when seeing nuclear missile tests or new launches happen, we still have a long way to go to see what constitutes hegemony very easily here and how only 9 countries in the world have gone nuclear so far. The problem with this distinction is, it is no longer dependent on resources or military strength, but rather a very calculative set of steps that go beyond what a simple human can imagine.
Gaza Starts to Feel Forgotten amid Syrian Crisis
Many Palestinians in Gaza cheered the scenes in Syria this week, as rebels overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Last month they watched the war in Lebanon end; now Syria’s 13-year civil war might be at a close too. But Israel’s war in Gaza drags on. At least 28 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Thursday, according to Palestinian medics.
Trump’s 2.0: Testing Period for Saudi-Iran Rapprochement
The shifting geopolitical landscape in West Asia has become particularly evident after the Saudi Arabia-Iran rapprochement. Despite the prevailing instability in the region exacerbated by the Gaza crisis, the détente between these arch-rivals has opened diplomatic channels to bolster cooperation. Amid rising pragmatism in the Gulf, Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential elections has brought United States policy in the region into the spotlight.
Israel-Hamas War: A Year of Bloodshed and Stalemate
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a long history and is a complicated topic. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced when the State of Israel was established in 1948. Since then, the region has been defined by decades of violence, including revolutions and wars. The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas first appeared in the 1980s and took over the Gaza Strip in 2007. The organisation has played a significant role in the war, frequently confronting Israel with weapons.
Mossad’s Strategic Gambles in the Middle East
Two years after the US struck the Al-Qaeda chief in Afghanistan, Israel has allegedly carried out an offensive covert operation in Iran, killing its most wanted Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, in a mysterious, sophisticated bomb blast, one of the critical successes in the global terror landscape after the US. However, Intelligence work in complicated situations has always led to playing a zero-sum game where conflict can go in two ways: either all hell breaks loose, or it can be strategically controlled and minimise escalation.
Why isn’t the United States Using its Oil Reserves?
The United States’ oil reserves, particularly the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), have played a crucial role in the nation’s energy security strategy since its establishment in 1975. The SPR, located in underground storage facilities in Texas and Louisiana, serves as a vital emergency stockpile of hundreds of millions of barrels of oil, ready to be utilised in times of crisis. Over the years, the U.S. government has maintained this reserve to shield the country from energy disruptions caused by various events, such as natural disasters, military conflicts and geopolitical tensions.
Israel Conducts Airstrikes on Iran Despite US Implorements to not Retaliate
According to a US official, Israeli Defense Force carried out an air strike on Iran on Friday, April 19, in retaliation to an Iranian attack last Sunday, April 14. The Iranian defense force has blocked three drones near the air base in Isfahan province. However Iran did not make any comment on who could be behind the attack and nor did Israel claim responsibility over the strike. The No large scale damage was caused by the attack, reported CNN. Sources said that Netanyahu government’s war cabinet has been planning for an attack since Monday which was hold back due to international pressure coming from allies like the United States and Gulf.