EXPERT INTERVIEW — Less than two months before the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th U.S. president, the headlines from the Middle East are dominated by the push for ceasefires in Israel’s wars against Hezbollah in Lebanon (looking more lilkely) and Gaza (looking like a distant hope). But beyond the wars and the regional diplomacy, experts note the profound changes that have upended the Middle East since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks against Israel and the wars that have followed.
As The Cipher Brief has reported, the last year has seen remarkable shifts in regional power and influence: Israel has done serious damage to Hamas and Hezbollah; a third militant group, the Yemen-based Houthis, has proved surprisingly resilient and threatening to global commerce; and Iran, the patron of all these organizations, suddenly looks surprisingly weak. Meanwhile, beyond the battlegrounds, a regional railway project and the transformative power of artificial intelligence stand ready to bring additional — and perhaps positive — change to the region.
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