On the Middle East with Amberin Zaman – Details, episodes & analysis

The wave of sectarian violence that gripped Syria last week has marred the image of the country's new Islamist president, Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Could the government have done more to prevent it? French academic Fabrice Balanche says it absolutely could have.

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Israel's expansionist policy in Syria's Golan Heights and its support for the Druze and Kurdish minorities are justified by Israeli officials on the grounds that they are protecting natural allies and countering Turkish influence. Yet Syria expert Joshua Landis says Israel's actions are having the opposite effect, making Syria's new Islamist leaders more dependent on Turkey for their protection.

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Jim Jeffrey, the director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center and former Syria Envoy under the first Trump administration, says in his new term Trump could pull US forces out of Syria.

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Elizabeth Hagedorn, Al-Monitor State Department Correspondent, and Andrew give their takes on US Iran Envoy Rob Malley’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, why the Iran nuclear deal still has a pulse, the turnaround in US-Saudi relations, and US President Joe Biden’s upcoming travel to the Middle East.

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It’s often said that the Kurds are the world’s largest nation without a state. Yet, in the Middle East they play an outsized role, helping Western powers advance their security goals sometimes at the cost of their relations with their own allies such as Turkey. Giran Ozcan explains why the United States needs to think of the Kurds as a standalone policy issue in its own right.

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Mirza Dinnayi, 2019 Aurora Prize Laureate for Awakening Humanity & Founder of House of Coexistence in Sinjar, explains how and why Sinjar has become a regional dispute involving Turkey, Syria and Iran, as well as Iraq; the culture, history and geography of the Yazidi community; the impact of the ISIS genocidal campaign; why Yazidis seek some autonomy within Iraq; and more!  

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Al-Monitor columnist Daoud Kuttab discusses the background to the confrontations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and what comes next, whether Hamas is gaining in the West Bank, Palestinian perceptions of the Israeli Arab Raam Party, and more!

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Steve Clemons, Founding Editor At Large of Semafor, discusses why the Russia-Ukraine war has not boosted Biden’s ‘Trump-level’ popularity; reasons for American fatigue with global security commitments; the missing ‘realists’ and anti-war Democrats in Congress; why some Middle East elites may perceive an ‘America on crutches;’ the challenges of managing US-Saudi ties; the barriers to a US-Iran nuclear deal; why bipartisanship in the Senate still has a pulse; an update on the new global media company Semafor; and much more.

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Turkey was at the forefront of an international campaign to name and shame the perpetrators of the 2018 murder in Istanbul of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Ankara has just dropped a case to try 26 Saudi officials who allegedly took their orders from Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohamed bin Salman. The consensus is thatAnkara did so to fix relations with Saudi Arabia and the powerful crown prince who it once sought to pull down.  

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Al-Monitor columnist Kadri Gursel discusses the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on Turkey’s economy and domestic politics; why Turkey is well-positioned as mediator between Kyiv and Moscow; why the purchase of the S-400 was ‘a consequence of distress’ and ‘doomed to fail;’ Turkey’s policies toward Syria and the Kurds; whether Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman can bury the hatchet; why the 2023 elections will be a ‘remarkable example’’ for Turkey’s democratic transition; and more!

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