Executive Summary August 2026 marked an inflection point across the Middle East and North Africa, defined by an accelerated shift from indirect proxy confrontations toward state-centric deterrence and pragmatism. The ongoing confrontation between the United States and Iran has expanded…
Within a matter of weeks, Saddam Haftar appeared to move beyond the role of a military figure operating within his father’s power structure. In Moscow, he sat alongside President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, in a meeting that carried implications…
How Washington and Tehran Are Weaponizing Military Escalation to Dictate Terms at the Negotiating Table In the narrow, congested chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz—the vital maritime artery through which a fifth of the world’s petroleum flows—supertankers sat dead in…
The most revealing sign of Iran’s postwar security crisis may not be the missiles it fires or the generals it appoints. It may be the names it has yet to announce. Months after the killing of Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib,…
The most consequential part of Hamas’s recent message to U.S. envoy Jared Kushner was not what the movement said about the Gaza ceasefire, Israeli withdrawals, or reconstruction. It was what Hamas reportedly said about itself. During talks in Cairo, Hamas…
One of the main reasons behind the Trump administration’s decision to go to war with Iran was the objective of preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and eliminating its ability to do so. After more than five months of…
The strategic environment along the Lebanese-Israeli border is undergoing a structural transformation in the rules of engagement that had governed the rhythm of confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah for nearly two decades. The conflict is no longer governed by the…
In less than two weeks, the Turkish capital, Ankara, witnessed an unusually intense and timely diplomatic and security surge regarding the Libyan file. This was highlighted by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Intelligence Chief İbrahim Kalın receiving a high-level delegation…
Amid escalating military tension in the Persian Gulf, Oman—backed by regional and international support—launched an intensive diplomatic push to save freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz by adopting the Asian “Strait of Malacca” model. This vision proposed a…
Recent military developments in the Middle East have been accompanied by unprecedented operational coordination between Washington and Tel Aviv. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz revealed that US fighter jets and refueling tankers launched directly from bases inside Israel to conduct…
