Executive Summary: The US airstrike targeting terrorist bases in Iraq and Syria challenges Russia's Middle East dominance, prompting Moscow to reassess its strategic ties, especially with Israel. Moscow's unequivocal pro-Palestinian stance overlooks regional dynamics, alienating key players like Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who oppose Hamas.... MORE

Since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the Houthis have launched volleys of cruise missiles and armed drones toward Israel (Middle East Monitor, December 7). Thus far, however, none of the missiles or drones have evaded Israeli and/or other countries’ regional air defenses. The... MORE

It has been almost two months since Russia terminated the United Nations–approved deal ensuring the safe export of Ukrainian wheat and corn from its Black Sea ports. And following his most recent meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on September 4 in Sochi, Russian... MORE

Executive Summary In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), China is determined to continue expanding its footprint primarily using economic and business-related tools. Defense and security cooperation, for now, plays a less important role in Beijing`s actions in the region. The activities of Chinese... MORE

On July 18 and 19, the Saudi city of Jeddah hosted a historic geopolitical event—the first-ever summit between the leaders of Central Asia and the Arab world. The presidents of the five Central Asian states—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan—met with the heads of state... MORE

The low-profile and high-impact meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on August 5 and 6 was never intended to produce a road map for ending the war in Ukraine; neither was it a summit, since the invitations sent to some 40 countries specified the level of... MORE

Since the countries of Central Asia gained independence in 1991, the Arab world has devoted most of its attention to the region promoting the revival of Islam and thereby promoting the fundamentalist Islam characteristic of much of the Arab East. The effort has prompted the... MORE

On July 6, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka held a three and a half hour–long press conference with domestic and international journalists hailing from Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Saudi Arabia and Qatar (President.gov.by, July 6). Apparently, the most anticipated themes were the... MORE

As President Xi Jinping said farewell to his host and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the end of his visit to Moscow last month, a few Western media outlets caught the Chinese strongman’s parting words to his good friend on the doorstep of  the Kremlin:... MORE

On February 13, the groundbreaking ceremony was held in Baku for the largest thermal power station (TSP) yet to be built in Azerbaijan with a planned capacity of 1,280 megawatts (MW) (Apa.az, February 13). The project’s total value is estimated at around $400 million, which... MORE