20Aug/19

Turkey vs Syria, amid international scrutiny

Academic, Middle East, Uncategorized, ,
https://www.tv7israelnews.com/vod/series/18738/?episode-id=AbmWiodW9Xk

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to invade northeastern Syria and establish a so-called ‘safe zone’ by force, unless the United States follows on a pledge to scale-back the presence of the pre-dominantly Kurdish SDF alliance, a local composition of Syrian militias that are backed by Washington. This has become a major bone of contention among several causes for dispute between the Erdogan government and Trump Administration.
Panel:
-Jonathan Hesse, host.
-Amir Oren, analyst.
-Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak, research fellow Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.
-Dr. Nir Boms, Research fellow, Moshe Dayan center at Tel Aviv University.

15Jul/19

Changing borders in a changing region: the civilian dimension and security predicament along the Syrian-Israeli border

Academic

The Syrian civil war – which has largely ended following bloody 8 years – serves as a prime case study of mechanisms which challenge border realities, as well as geography and demography, through engagement of manifold internal and external actors. This article discusses these processes and their implications by focusing on the Syro-Israeli borderland. It analyses the main actors and their motives, geography of interactions, as well as implications for humanitarian situation and security considerations. It is argued that while the dynamics in the Syro-Israeli borderland have several unique characteristics, they also point to a broader process of re-drawing borderlands and lines of influence in the Middle East region.

Boms,Nir & Zielińska Karolina (2019) Changing borders in a changing region: the civilian dimension and security predicament

along the Syrian-Israeli border, Israel Affairs, DOI: 10.1080/13537121.2019.1626090

More here

03Jun/19

An Iranian mud dilemma

Uncategorized

Inaction, on the other hand, will place the public focus on the beleaguered economy and foreign military adventures, two issues that have already brought Iranians to the streets.

By NIR BOMS, SHAYAN ARYA

May 21, 2019 22:11

The US policy on Iran, marked by the withdrawal one year ago from the nuclear agreement known as JCPOA, is continuing a path of pressure: renewal of sanctions; designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization; and the recent increase in military preparedness for a possible confrontation with the Islamic republic. While Iran reciprocated, with its own designation of the US Army as a terrorist organization and by issuing a nuclear ultimatum to Europe, the Islamic regime finds these unprecedented moves enormously frustrating. In this fragile state of affairs, a miscalculation by Iran could possibly ignite the flames of a war that no one wants.
 

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