Syria joins Turkey’s Efes 2026, one of nine nations participating for first time
Bulgaria, The Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, Egypt, Poland, Vietnam, Portugal and Syria were first-time participants.
Before Trump’s Abraham Accords optimism, a more subdued view at Middle East conference
At the IISS Manama Dialogue, senior US officials pushed for more countries to join the historic agreement, but at least Lebanese and Syrian officials suggested it won't be that easy.
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How defensive cyber responds to hockey-stick growth of AI-driven threats
Artificial intelligence is reshaping adversarial cyber operations at machine speed, requiring defenders to increase operational tempo while imposing pain and cost.
US had ‘no indications’ of surprise Israeli strike on Qatar: Official
Lt. Gen. Derek France said that the US was caught off guard by an Israeli strike on Qatar in part because sensing capabilities were focused on other targets like Iran, adding the Israeli attack “wasn’t something that we expected.”
With Assad gone and Iran hobbled, the time is ripe for a stable Middle East
Yossi Kuperwasser, a retired Israeli brigadier general and current head of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, charts what he says is a path forward in the region.
Amid Syria troop reduction, will Trump repeat Middle East withdrawal mistakes?
Cameron McMillan and Bradley Bowman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies argue in this op ed that getting out of Syria too quickly could leave the US vulnerable.
Lebanon and Syria’s plan to formalize borders a ‘positive’ step, needs follow-through: Experts
"The alternative is more instability and cross-border risk in a frontier where Lebanese and Syrian maps diverge in key ways,” analyst Aram Nerguizian told Breaking Defense.
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In contested seas, autonomy must anticipate, not just navigate
As missions stretch farther and comms grow less reliable, predictive software could become the edge that keeps missions afloat.
From rebuilding the armed forces to selling drones, how Turkey can enhance Syria’s defense
"It is highly probable that the new Syrian administration will look to import Turkish defense equipment and technology, potentially even aspiring to adopt the Turkish model for building an indigenous defense industry," one expert told Breaking Defense.
Tehran’s proxies are on the back foot. An Iran-Russia defense pact could revive them.
In this op-ed, Delaney Soliday and Shivane Anand of the Middle East Security Program at CNAS lay out what an Iran-Russia defense agreement could mean for Iran's proxies.
Middle East was defined by regional conflicts and increased indigenous production: 2024 in review
This year was dominated by the fallout of Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, which expanded into Lebanon, but elsewhere the defense industry kept chugging along.
Cutting losses? Assad, Syria, and Russia’s strategic flexibility
Russia’s failure to intervene as Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell may signal less about the Kremlin’s weakness than its cold strategic calculus.
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How drones can navigate without GPS
Absolute positioning is critical in contested and denied environments.
Russian bases and Hezbollah weapons: Key questions follow fall of Syrian regime
Experts told Breaking Defense their eyes were on key flashpoints that could affect the balance of power in the region for years to come, from the fate of Russian military bases in Syria to the potential collapse of an Iranian weapons pipeline to the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Israel seeks to defang Syria, as 350-plus strikes destroy military sites and equipment
An Israeli statement says the strikes destroyed “Scud missiles, cruise missiles, surface-to-sea, surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, UAVs, fighter jets, attack helicopters, radars, tanks, hangars, and more.”
‘Wait and see’: As Syrian regime falls, Middle East and US officials watch warily for what comes next
"It's really 'wait and see,'" Anwar Gargash, diplomatic advisor to the president of the United Arab Emirates, said at the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.
US announces coalition mission in Iraq to end by 2025, but US ‘not withdrawing’
"The United States and Iraq have decided on a two phase transition plan for operations in Iraq," a senior administration official told reporters today.