The situation in the Middle East in 2017: a complex equation with numerous variables

Abstract

For decades, the Middle East is at the center stage of international relations and a matter of great concern for policy‑makers, diplomats, scholars, journalists and numerous other people interested in regional and world stability. Nowadays, more than ever, the Middle East is in turmoil. The destabilizing issues are numerous: the horrendous situation in Syria and its awful consequences, in particular the refugees’ crisis; the instability of Iraq; the deteriorating (not to say vanishing) peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians; the delicate stability of Lebanon, that is highly affected by the Syrian war; the very shaky political landscape in Afghanistan; the complex follow-up of the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement; the war in Yemen. All those elements, and many others, are drastically affecting the Middle East, and also international peace and stability. They have consequences and after-shocks that are sometimes felt thousands of kilometers away from the Middle East. In this regard, amid this turmoil, it could be useful to try to decipher and to clarify some elements in order to understand the equation of the contemporary Middle East and the actions of the main international protagonists in the region1 . Five issues have been selected for this article: the peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the situations in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and the follow-up of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.