The corona contagion overshadows all other issues across the Middle East, as is the case globally. And while all other matters pertaining to the security situation in the Levant and beyond may have been marginalized in the public’s consciousness – they continue to pose challenges to local and major actors, alike.
In today’s program we will discuss the situation in Israel’s northern war-torn neighbor, where misery started long before the global plague; and is unfortunately expected to persist long after the coronavirus will has been subdued.
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 at the Moshe Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University.
Tag Archives: Iran
Jerusalem- Damascus strategic dynamics – Jerusalem Studio 477
A major focus of tension this year is sure to be the Israel-Syria relationship. while gradually coming out of its domestic nine-year conflict, Israel’s northern neighbor is still hosting forces threatening it – most prominently, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards elite Quds Force, as well as the Lebanese Hezbollah organization.
Panel:
– Jonathan Hessen, host.
– Amir Oren, analyst.
– Dr. Nir Boms, Research fellow, Moshe Dayan center at Tel Aviv University.
-Colonel (Reserve) Reuven Ben-Shalom, cross-cultural strategist and associate at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism.
-Prof. Ze’ev Khanin, Expert on Russian and Middle Eastern Studies, Bar Ilan and Ariel Universities.
The Fuel of a Revolution
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.
Continue readingA war in their terms or ours?
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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