Firas Maksad
@FirasMaksad
Managing Director for Middle East & North Africa @EurasiaGroup; Associate Fellow @MiddleEastInst; views my own.
Saudi - #Israel normalization is dead. Trump will proceed despite Bibi with the GCC, as he did on #Yemen ceasefire & negotiations with #Iran. Expecting big deals on president’s first foreign visit- including on issues key to US global dominance. More with the great @BeckyCNN
فراس_مقصد: تجري الاستعدادات لزيارة تاريخية لولي العهد السعودي إلى واشنطن هذا الخريف. ستمثل هذه الزيارة، الأولى منذ عام ٢٠١٨، نقطة تحول في العلاقات الأمريكية_السعودية بعد سنوات من وصفها بالعدوان والمنبوذة. ومن المتوقع أن تكون عودة قوية. #محمد_بن_سلمان
SCOOP Preparations underway for a landmark visit by the Crown Prince of #Saudi Arabia to Washington DC this Fall. The visit, a first since 2018, will mark a highpoint in US - Saudi relations years after KSA was deemed toxic & dubbed a pariah. It's set to be quite a come back.
The tales of unspeakable horror are on both sides. Don’t cheerlead for one side over the other. The children suffer most 💔
A good analysis
Will the real Ahmed Al Sharaa please stand up? Supporting #Syria’s territorial integrity is the right strategic call. But its president’s words don’t translate on the ground, as his troops commit atrocities. It forces one to question intent or, at a minimum, capability.
Will the real Ahmed Al Sharaa please stand up? Supporting #Syria’s territorial integrity is the right strategic call. But its president’s words don’t translate on the ground, as his troops commit atrocities. It forces one to question intent or, at a minimum, capability.
Slight shift in#US public position on #Syria @marcorubio @USAMBTurkiye
Long before #Israel, posturing as defender of minorities beyond borders was #Iran’s schtik for projecting power. How ironic. #Syria’s failure to assure its minorities is leaving the door wide open to more foreign meddling. This responsibility is on the state, first & foremost.
The speech of Syrian President Ahmed al-Shara was a display of support for the jihadists attackers (in al-Shara’s words: “The Bedouin tribes as a symbol of noble values and principles”) and blaming the victims (the attacked Druze minority). Al-Shara spiced all this with…
The Druze of #Syria owe #Israel a debt of gratitude, although Bibi’s intentions are hardly humanitarian. Hard fact. Raw & unchecked Israeli power will now force the region to recalculate. For many Israel, not a diminished #Iran, will be the threat to guard against w/ @jimsciutto
If you’re out there making the case for one over the other, you’re contributing to the massacre in #Syria. Follow genuine dispassionate voices, not cheerleaders. @azelin
All sides of this fight from the Bedouin to the Druze to the Syrian government to the Israeli government have all committed war crimes the past few days. No one is innocent. And it’s not a contest. It’s all bad.
Allow me to rephrase: Will Damascus back tribal fighters in a dangerous war of attrition against #Israel backed Druze? Or will it cut its losses, intervene to hold them back & stave off another #Syria civil war? That the question. Signs not encouraging. Cool heads must prevail.
Astounding. After going to war to prevent #Syria’s gov’t from entering #Suwayda, both #Israel & #Druze leader Hikmat al-Hijri are requesting Interior Ministry forces be deployed from #Damascus to help establish order & end hostilities. That comes from 3 well-placed sources.