Yousef Al-Dayni

Major historical turning points constitute tremendous opportunities, despite how they may be misunderstood if we fail to read the broader context and the context behind the chaos of daily events. There is no doubt that this unprecedented crisis in the history of the Middle East, between the United…

Hezbollah faces a historical dilemma it cannot overcome. Armed organizations that built their identity on the ruins of the authority of the state constantly need to identify a foreign adversary to maintain domestic legitimacy. The weaknesses and vacuums of states allow such groups to fill the gap,…

The Strait of Hormuz, which geography textbooks once described as the world’s artery, has become its most volatile maritime flashpoint today. It is where war, economics, politics - and, inevitably, definitions of legality - collide. The actions of the regime in Tehran in and around the strait have…

The war between Iran and Israel, and behind it the United States, is another armed conflict in the Middle East. At its core, this crisis reflects a series of straits the region is traversing: straits of geography, the straits of ideology, and the straits of international law. If the Strait of…

Saudi Vision 2030 is not an executive program that can be reduced to particular projects or deadlines, nor achievements assessed through the logic inaugurations, closures, and delays. Profoundly, this Vision is an intellectual–cultural project that has rearranged the relationship of Saudi…

The recent shifts in the Yemeni scene have led us to a revealing moment that cannot be read as a fleeting divergence in tactics among those involved, especially those that do not share a border with Yemen. Indeed, it must be read transparently: as a structural clash between two conceptions of…

The international order does not undergo major shifts when there is an equilibrium. Usually, they unfold when things are in flux and there is a vacuum to fill, as the previous rules erode with no alternatives emerging to replace them and when hegemons lose either the will or ability to oversee this…

As 2025 draws to a close, new dimensions to the rise of Saudi Arabia are emerging. Riyadh’s approach to its relations with the great powers is now a matter of repositioning, rendering projections of full alignment behind any single actor untenable. A new mindset has crystallized since the Kingdom…

Today, Tehran faces two dead ends: UN sanctions have been reinstated and its domestic legitimacy has been eroding. Instead of redefining its relationship with its citizens through genuine economic and political reform, the authorities have turned to symbolic gestures and discourse, digging deep…

For decades, the same basic question has haunted the Middle East: what is the greatest obstacle to the consolidation of stability and sovereignty? To me, the answer is clear. The “statization of militias:” non-state armed groups and revolutionary movements’ transformation from temporary entities…