08Dec/19

The Fuel of a Revolution

Iran, Lebanon, Middle East, Syria, Uncategorized, , , , ,

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Iran in recent weeks, after the government announced a tripling of the price of gasoline. Credit: Belga

Faced with crippling international sanctions, revenue shortfalls and budget deficits, the Islamic regime in Iran seems to have made a fatal miscalculation by suddenly tripling the price of gasoline, a move which appears to put an entire region in flames.

Frustrated by worsening economic conditions, soaring prices and devastating national currency devaluation, Iranians from across the country immediately took the streets to demand a reversal of the decision. But what seemed to have started as a peaceful civil demonstration – in where drivers turned off their vehicles in the middle roads and highways  –  quickly escalated to a full-fledged uprising in nearly 100 cities. But not just in Iran. In Iraq, protesters burned the Iranian consulate in the holy city of Najaf and in Lebanon hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets, demanding the resignation of a government dominated by pro-Iran factions.

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24Oct/19

Turkey’s military plans in Syria- Jerusalem Studio 458

Syria

One of the most crucial turning points in the Syrian civil war culminated this week with Turkey’s cross-border incursion into northeastern Syria. While Ankara’s declared goal aims to implement a territorial safe-zone, as a buffer between the Kurdish militias and southern Turkey; the Kurdish forces have been forced to alternate alliances, by submitting to their arch-enemy, Syrian president Bashar Assad.
Panel:
– Jonathan Hessen, host.
– Amir Oren, analyst.
– Prof. Zeev Khanin, Expert on Russian and Middle Eastern Studies, Bar Ilan and Ariel Universities.
– Dr. Nir Boms, Research fellow, Moshe Dayan center at Tel Aviv University.

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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