11Oct/19

A war in their terms or ours?

Iran, Middle East, , , ,
By Nir Boms and Shayan Arya

By Nir Boms and Shayan Arya , Levant News

By: Nir Boms and Shayan Arya

The conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been escalating beyond rhetoric and is fast moving into an actual military confrontation. Following a long round of proxy moves from Yemen – as well as an attempts to stop oil tankers in the Persian gulf – Iran have crossed another escalation threshold with a recent a missile attack on the Saudi Abqaiq oil field. Condemnations and additional sanctions have already taken their course and seem to have frustrated the Islamic regime even further. Yet, these measures did not stop Iranian actions such as last week seize of another ship as well as the announcement on newusage of advanced centrifuges in violation of the 2015 nuclear agreement.

Judging from current trajectory, these last moves will again likely to result in additional rounds of sanction or “limited escalations.” However, sooner or later, a new strategy will be required as the current one is having little effect on Iran’s motivation to destabilize oil markets and continue it’s path of nuclear and proxy confrontation.

Few seek another war in the Middle East. But will that likely leave the victory in the hands of Iran’s supreme leader and its top military operator, Qasem Suleimani?

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17Sep/19

Syria, eight-and-a-half year to its multi-sided conflict

Middle East, Syria

It is now one-hundred months since Syria became subjected to – what started as a popular uprising and quickly turned into a civil war – ultimately being transformed into a multi-dimensional conflict, involving regional and global forces.
What are the prospects for an end to – what has been frequently defined as – a conflict that quickly deteriorated into the worst humanitarian crisis since world-war two.
Panel:
– Jonathan Hessen, host.
– Amir Oren, analyst.
– Dr. Nir Boms, Research fellow, Moshe Dayan center at Tel Aviv University.
– Dr. Mordechai Nisan, retired lecture on Middle East Studies at Hebrew University Jerusalem

09Sep/19

Iraq, a battlefield of global and regional rivalries

Iran, The Gulf

Attention in the Middle East has gradually returned to a country, which in recent years seemed to have faded from its center stage prominence. The country in question: Iraq, is fighting remnants of the Islamic State, which lives on through its hold on key religious and ideological institutions. The Central Government in Baghdad is also trying to avoid collapse, due to various ethnic components pulling Iraq apart, while at the same time it contends with the ongoing stand-off between Iran and its regional adversaries.
Panel:
– Jonathan Hessen, host.
– Amir Oren, analyst.
– Dr. Eran Lerman vice president of the Jerusalem Institute of Strategy and Security and a lecturer at Shalem College.
– Dr. Nir Boms, Research fellow, Moshe Dayan center at Tel Aviv University.