Turkey’s National Security Council announced the end of Operation Euphrates Shield on March 27, an unexpected move considering the many official statements that it was to be extended to Turkey’s next target, the People’s Protection Units (YPG)-held Syrian city of Manbij (CNNTürk, March 27). The... MORE

As Syria’s civil war enters its sixth year, the balance of the conflict has tilted toward Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Baathist regime. Bolstered by its international and regional allies, the regime is touting numerous territorial gains — including the reassertion of its authority over eastern... MORE

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Moscow, on March 10, unsurprisingly generated a great deal of attention (Hürriyet, March 10). Indeed the bilateral Turkish-Russian relationship has been a game changer in Syria for some time. And the timing of the visit notably followed the... MORE

As the Syrian civil war enters its seventh year (the conflict officially started on March 15, 2011, with mainly peaceful protesters in Damascus coming out into the streets to demand democratic reforms and the release of political prisoners), a potential peace deal remains out of... MORE

The massive Russian military involvement in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad may be the first move to reestablish Moscow’s influence over the entire Middle East (see EDM, March 8). Russia has also been seeking contacts in conflict-ridden Libya, which still lacks an effective... MORE

In February, the Iranian government extradited five members of the same family originating from Hamadoni district, in southern Tajikistan, back to their home country (Radio Ozodi, March 2). Abdulfayz Vazirov, 33, and his sister Mohira Salimova, 32, left Tajikistan for Russia in the summer of... MORE

The whirlwind of Russian scandals continues to spread across government offices in Washington, DC; but in Moscow the impression is gradually forming that those scandals will soon blow over, so it is time to prepare Russia’s diplomatic moves and pile up the bargaining chips. The... MORE

In mid-January, Islamic State (IS) fighters seemed to be retreating in the face of advancing U.S.-backed Iraqi forces in the city of Mosul in Iraq. They were also under pressure from attacks by Turkish-led forces in Aleppo, Kurdish guerrillas in Raqqa and the forces of... MORE

All too often, Russian policy in the Middle East is perceived as tied mainly or exclusively to Syria and its ongoing civil war. But in fact, Moscow has long sought to expand its influence across the entire region; its intervention in Syria, in turn, has... MORE

On January 28, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) — the Jabhat al-Nusrah successor group formed in July 2016, which now claims that it is no longer al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria — announced, along with other groups, the formation of a new coalition called Hai’at Tahrir al-Sham... MORE