Publications

In 2017, the major actors in the international arena continued the cautious policy of recent years: a limited investment of resources in the Middle East, based on the desire to avoid falling into regional cauldrons that continue to simmer, though mostly on a low flame. Among the principal events that preoccupied the international actors were the ongoing campaign against the Islamic State, the stabilization of the Bashar al-Assad regime, and the worsening Sunni-Shiite conflict, especially between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Other important issues included the entrenchment of Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s authoritarian regime in Turkey, the Kurdish attempt to split off from Iraq, the Egyptian anti-terrorism campaign aimed at Salafi jihadist elements in Sinai, the attempted reconciliation between the warring factions in the Palestinian arena (the Gaza Strip/Hamas versus the West Bank/Fatah/ Palestinian Authority), the war in Yemen, and the regional effects of the upheavals in the Saudi Arabian political system.