This page links only to Crisis Group publications on Syria, Lebanon and Israel/Palestine, as researched and written by our Middle East and North Africa Program. For publications about Eastern Mediterranean energy, maritime boundaries, Turkey-Greece tensions and the Cyprus problem, please see our Eastern Mediterranean Rivalries page.
Just days after a new Israeli government was sworn in, one of its most extreme members paid a provocative thirteen-minute visit to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount/al-Aqsa Mosque complex. In this Q&A, Crisis Group expert Mairav Zonszein looks at what is behind this move and what it implies.
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Whenever the American forces there [in Syria] are attacked, the question arises again: Why are they there?
Renewed conflict [in northern Syria] will inevitably lead to mass displacement and suffering.
Israel recycles the same heavy-handed response to what it sees as Palestinian provocation.
There is total despair and lack of any political horizon on the Palestinian front. Israelis have become accustomed to continuing the status quo with no price to pay.
We’ve seen significant tension in Jerusalem, which hasn’t died down since the last line of conflict. It only makes sense for Jordan to try and intervene in some way to qu...
It is in Hezbollah’s interest to have at least the outward appearance of a functioning political system [in Lebanon] where everyone is involved, including the Sunnis.
The CrisisWatch Digest Lebanon offers a monthly one-page snapshot of conflict-related country trends in a clear, accessible format, using a map of the region to pinpoint developments.
Elections in Israel have brought a far-right coalition to power. In this Q&A, Crisis Group expert Mairav Zonszein and USMEP’s Daniel Levy analyse the results and their likely implications for Israeli policy and foreign relations.
Barring an eleventh-hour compromise, Lebanon will soon be without a president. An extended vacancy could stall action needed to ease the country’s economic crisis, risking unrest. With outside help, politicians should strive to avert this outcome – and to find ameliorative measures for the interim.
Israel would like to forge a military alliance with the Gulf Arab monarchies as part of its strategy for checking Iran’s power projection in the region. For Gulf capitals, however, the Israeli ambitions risk too much and offer too little.
Events in 2021 – particularly the Gaza war – put in sharp relief how much Europe’s policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict needs a refresh. The European Union and its member states should use the levers they have to push for their stated goal of a peaceful resolution.
Domestic politics in Israel and Lebanon could scuttle talks about their claims in the Mediterranean – and to the gas riches underneath. With the U.S. mediator’s help, the two countries should refocus on achieving an accord that serves their mutual interest and spares them a confrontation.
Its self-declared caliphate is gone, but ISIS continues to stage attacks and intimidate the public in much of its former domain. The forces fighting the group need to hinder the militants’ movement between Syria’s regions – and, above all, to avoid debilitating conflicts with one another.
To prevent ISIS from resurging, forces fighting the group should stop it from moving across regions and avoid conflict with one another. This timeline catalogues some of the major ISIS attacks and counter-ISIS operations from 2017 to February 2022.
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