... stated above, began rebuilding the bases they left in 2019 with a view to prevent an advance of Turkish units and their allied Syrian opposition units should Russian troops withdraw from the area.
The third scenario
is the most radical one. It envisions Turkey and its allies advancing ... ... and westward from the Operation Source of Peace area. The goal is to finally establish a safe zone stretching from Idlib to Iraq’s border. In this case, Ankara will have to overcome the resistance of both Washington and Moscow, and it will make it ...
The seminar was divided into two sessions: "Political instability in Lebanon and Iraq: View from Russia and Israel" and "Libya: between Turkey, Egypt and others?"
On July 28, 2020, Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) together with the Center for Political Research, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, with the support ...
... tensions.
The Three Core Sub-Regions of the Middle East
The Fertile Crescent (The Levant and Iraq)
Some experts believe that different paths will prevail in the sub-region of the Middle East: North Africa, the Gulf and the Fertile Crescent (the Levant and Iraq). The focus will be on resolving the Syrian crisis with the victory of the Assad regime and allies. Yet, Russian-Turkish ties will be affected by Russian-Syrian-Iranian intervention near the Turkish border. The threat that this would impose on the Turkish armed forces could spark a proxy war in Syria or at least in the North-West of the country.
Lebanon ...
The reality is that, like it or not, the West, including Europe, are on the losing side of the conflict in Syria and this automatically limits leverage
During the 11
th
EU–Russia Expert Network on Foreign Policy (EUREN)
meeting
, Andrea Dessì,
Senior Fellow within IAI's Mediterranean and Middle ... ... by convincing the US to return to a more stable and predictable foreign policy towards the region.
On October 26, 2019, the Iraqi-born leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed during a U.S. raid. What do you ...
... working paper was prepared by the Russian International Affairs Council as part of the RIAC’s project on «Conflicts in the Middle East: Tools and Strategies for Settlement». This paper is devoted to analyzing the situation in the oil and gas market in Iraq and Syria, as well as the energy policy of Russia in the Arab Mashreq region. The authors also analyze Iraq’s oil prospects in the post-war period under sanctions against Iran. Special attention is paid to the Kurdish factor and the role the Kurds play in the future of energy in the region, ...
... previously traditionally dominant player in the region – the United States. Another multilateral tool, which helped Russia in the region, was the intelligence-sharing Baghdad Information Center, which included representatives of the special services from Russia, Iran, Iraq and Syria. In 2019, there were four key policy areas for Russia in Syria:
the involvement of regional and European states in the discussions of refugee return and reconstruction (for example, Russia welcomed the establishing of a Istanbul format with the ...
... Studies (IRAS, Iran), the Center for Strategic Research (SAM) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, Middle East Technical University (Turkey), American University of Beirut (Lebanon), Damascus Center for Research and Studies (Syria), Al-Rafidain Center For Dialogue (Iraq), Al-Quds University (Palestine), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia, and other. The Russian side was represented by experts from RIAC, RAS Institute of Oriental Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics, MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign ...
... Libya [
4
]. This direct military intervention by Western states is what led to the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. Considering the results of these approaches, as well as the destructive influence of the actions of Western governments in Afghanistan and Iraq, Russia and China took a different decision on the Syria issue.
While Russia and the United States had an active military presence in Syria, China adopted a more flexible position, one that left room for manoeuvre. However, Beijing expressed its general attitude towards regional conflicts at the very ...
... including those based on Shiite ideology, are bound to fail. Moscow is already working to uphold Syria’s statehood and strengthen that country’s armed forces;one recent example was the
formation
of the Fifth Assault Corps).However, the success of the Russian approach depends on the international settlement talks and the reconciliation process within Syria. As for Iraq, the optimal solution would be to legitimize the pro-Iranian forces by incorporating them into the governmental security system, while preserving the country’s secular status, lest the Sunni population become radicalized. Whether this approach ...
... the states involved in the conflict more interested in defeating the Islamic State or in overthrowing the al-Assad regime?
Can there be a military “solution” to the global war on terrorism? Will the Islamic State movement really be destroyed in Iraq and Syria? Or will it simply drift like a nomad to other regions, into the Russian Caucasus, North Africa, Egypt and the Sinai, southwest Asia and Afghanistan, as well as Kashmir?
How will the entry of the Islamic State into Afghanistan impact the ongoing war between NATO and the Taliban? The U.S. refused to participate in the ...
