his book, Axis of Resistance: towards an independent Middle East, follows the author’s 2016 book The Dirty War on Syria. It examines the end of the war on Syria and the wider elements of the regional conflict, in particular the prospects for a democratic Palestine, the character of the Resistance and the role of Iran. It draws attention to these broad leitmotifs underpinning each particular history that are key to understanding both the parts and the whole: A single, essentially colonial impetus drives each particular US aggression from Libya to Afghanistan. These hybrid wars utilize propaganda offensives, economic siege warfare, terrorist proxies, direct invasions and military occupations followed by repression via client states. The aim is to keep resistance forces fragmented. Just as each aggression forms part of a broader Washington strategy, similarly the integration of the resistance in particular remains critical to its success. The Resistance has a common character but no idealized personality or ideology. However the common features are a demand for popular self-determination and for accountable social structures that serve broad social interests. "Western policy has been worse than a crime it’s been a blunder.Tim Anderson’s epic study shows what a crime, what a blunder it has been.And how ugly the monster which now stalks the land. My land, your land, the whole of humanity. It is a must read.” GEORGE GALLOWAY, British politician “Axis of Resistance will take its place alongside the few books worth reading on how and by whom the flickering lights of the imperial twilight of ‘the West’ in the Middle East were finally extinguished.” DR. JEREMY SALT, Middle East historian, former professor Melbourne Universit

From the conflict between the United States and the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria to the recent Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, events in today's Middle East reflect the emergence of what has come to be known as an Iran-led "axis of resistance." A geopolitical network of state- and nonstate actors seeking to promote a new regional order, the "axis" primarily includes the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Syria, and multiple Iran-supported Shiite militias in Iraq. Drawing on qualitative in-depth research in Hebrew and Arabic, and on exclusive interviews with senior Israeli officials, Axis of Resistance offers the first comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the "axis" and its application of a distinct strategic approach to asymmetrical conflicts—that of “resistance.” Author Daniel Sobelman shows that the various "resistance" forces in the region have pursued an analogous asymmetrical deterrent strategy whose origins trace back to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in southern Lebanon, whereby the weaker actor attempts to subject the stronger state to limiting "rules of the game."

A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 “[A] sweeping and authoritative history" (The New York Times Book Review), Black Wave is an unprecedented and ambitious examination of how the modern Middle East unraveled and why it started with the pivotal year of 1979. Kim Ghattas seamlessly weaves together history, geopolitics, and culture to deliver a gripping read of the largely unexplored story of the rivalry between between Saudi Arabia and Iran, born from the sparks of the 1979 Iranian revolution and fueled by American policy. With vivid story-telling, extensive historical research and on-the-ground reporting, Ghattas dispels accepted truths about a region she calls home. She explores how Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, once allies and twin pillars of US strategy in the region, became mortal enemies after 1979. She shows how they used and distorted religion in a competition that went well beyond geopolitics. Feeding intolerance, suppressing cultural expression, and encouraging sectarian violence from Egypt to Pakistan, the war for cultural supremacy led to Iran’s fatwa against author Salman Rushdie, the assassination of countless intellectuals, the birth of groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the September 11th terrorist attacks, and the rise of ISIS. Ghattas introduces us to a riveting cast of characters whose lives were upended by the geopolitical drama over four decades: from the Pakistani television anchor who defied her country’s dictator, to the Egyptian novelist thrown in jail for indecent writings all the way to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. Black Wave is both an intimate and sweeping history of the region and will significantly alter perceptions of the Middle East.

An “almost absurdly colorful” history of the WWII battle for the Levant: “In places . . . the material is like Casablanca meets The English Patient” (The Wall Street Journal). In the spring of 1941, the Allied forces had one last hope: that the Axis would run through its fuel supply. In Blood, Oil and the Axis, historian John Broich tells the vital story of Iraq and the Levant during this most pivotal time of the war. Four Iraqi generals staged a pro-German coup in Iraq, they established military cooperation between the Axis and the Middle East. The Allies responded with an improvised and unlikely coalition: Palestinian and Jordanian Arabs, Australians, American and British soldiers, Free French Foreign Legionnaires, and Jewish Palestinians. All shared a common desire to quash the formation of an Axis state in the region. Taking readers from a bombed-out Fallujah, to Baghdad, to Damascus, this definitive chronicle features numerous memorable figures, including Jack Hasey, a young American who fought with the Free French Foreign Legion; Freya Stark, a famous travel-writer-turned-government-agent; and even Roald Dahl, a young Royal Air Force recruit and future author of beloved children’s books.

Iran has emerged from decades of isolation and struggle to become a leading, if not the pre-eminent, regional power. Iran projects its influence throughout the Middle East and parts of Central Asia. Moreover, Iranian diplomacy is active on the world stage, with long-term projects in Africa and South America. The landmark nuclear deal of July 2015 was a major triumph and saw the Islamic Republic successfully negotiate with several world powers to reach a mutually acceptable agreement. Crucially, whilst the nuclear deal restricts Iran's nuclear programmed for at least a decade, it doesn't irreversibly dismantle any part of it. With internal Iranian politics stabilizing around a centrist administration led by President Rouhani, the country is set to continue on a path of regional strategic growth. But with clear signs that the Trump administration is determined to contain Iran's regional influence, what is the risk of a military confrontation? This book argues that Iran has developed sufficient diplomatic strength and credible military capability to deter a full-scale US military assault. But absent a dramatic lowering of tensions, there remains a risk of limited clashes, with far-reaching consequences for regional security.

‘An excellent contribution to our knowledge of Iran and Soleimani.’ Kim Ghattas, author of Black Wave When the US assassinated Qassem Soleimani, he was one of the most powerful men in Iran. Known as ‘the shadow commander’, he enacted the wishes of the country’s Supreme Leader across the Middle East, establishing the Islamic Republic as a major force in the region. But all this was a long way from where he began – on the margins of a nation whose ruler was seen as a friend of the West. Through Soleimani, Arash Azizi examines how Iran came to be where it is today. Providing a rare insight into a country whose actions are often discussed but seldom understood, he reveals the global ambitions underlying Iran’s proxy wars, geopolitics and nuclear programme.

A perceptive and provocative history of Henry Kissinger's diplomatic negotiations in the Middle East that illuminates the unique challenges and barriers Kissinger and his successors have faced in their attempts to broker peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. “A wealth of lessons for today, not only about the challenges in that region but also about the art of diplomacy . . . the drama, dazzling maneuvers, and grand strategic vision.”—Walter Isaacson, author of The Code Breaker More than twenty years have elapsed since the United States last brokered a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. In that time, three presidents have tried and failed. Martin Indyk—a former United States ambassador to Israel and special envoy for the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in 2013—has experienced these political frustrations and disappointments firsthand. Now, in an attempt to understand the arc of American diplomatic influence in the Middle East, he returns to the origins of American-led peace efforts and to the man who created the Middle East peace process—Henry Kissinger. Based on newly available documents from American and Israeli archives, extensive interviews with Kissinger, and Indyk's own interactions with some of the main players, the author takes readers inside the negotiations. Here is a roster of larger-than-life characters—Anwar Sadat, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Hafez al-Assad, and Kissinger himself. Indyk's account is both that of a historian poring over the records of these events, as well as an inside player seeking to glean lessons for Middle East peacemaking. He makes clear that understanding Kissinger's design for Middle East peacemaking is key to comprehending how to—and how not to—make peace.

Understanding the foreign policy agenda and behavior of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a critical challenge for the world. But where do the principal Iranian regime actors come from in terms of political background, experiences and interests? Which types of ambitions or policy conflicts have dominated and shaped foreign policy debates since 1979? This book explains the internal policy process in Tehran by following two regime personalities, Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who before his death in January 2017 held some of the most powerful political positions in Iran. No two men have been more influential in dictating the regime's decision-making processes since 1979. Yet little is known about how their competing worldviews and interests, their key moments of dispute – both personal or policy-based – or their personal ambitions have informed the trajectory of Iranian politics. The book analyzes Khamenei and Rafsanjani's own words and writings - and accounts of them given by others - to reveal how the domestic policy contest has shaped Tehran's actions on the regional and international stage. Comprising primary and secondary Iranian sources - including untapped memoirs, newspaper reports, and Iranian electronic media and personal interviews - the book highlights the principal rivalries over the lifespan of the Islamic Republic and offers new insights into the present and future of Iranian foreign policy.

This book analyzes the historical quest of the Islamic Republic of Iran to export its revolution to the Muslim countries in the Middle East and beyond. The authors argue that Iran exported its revolution by using proxies such as Hezbollah, the Iraqi Shite militias, and the Houthis. The study unravels the casual chain behind less-known cases of Iranian sponsorship of al Qaeda (Central) and al Qaida in Iraq. It combines rigorous theory with detailed empirical analysis which can add to the current debate about ways to roll back Iran’s revolutionary export.

A landmark history of one hundred years of war waged against the Palestinians from the foremost US historian of the Middle East, told through pivotal events and family history In 1899, Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, mayor of Jerusalem, alarmed by the Zionist call to create a Jewish national home in Palestine, wrote a letter aimed at Theodore Herzl: the country had an indigenous people who would not easily accept their own displacement. He warned of the perils ahead, ending his note, “in the name of God, let Palestine be left alone.” Thus Rashid Khalidi, al-Khalidi’s great-great-nephew, begins this sweeping history, the first general account of the conflict told from an explicitly Palestinian perspective. Drawing on a wealth of untapped archival materials and the reports of generations of family members—mayors, judges, scholars, diplomats, and journalists—The Hundred Years' War on Palestine upends accepted interpretations of the conflict, which tend, at best, to describe a tragic clash between two peoples with claims to the same territory. Instead, Khalidi traces a hundred years of colonial war on the Palestinians, waged first by the Zionist movement and then Israel, but backed by Britain and the United States, the great powers of the age. He highlights the key episodes in this colonial campaign, from the 1917 Balfour Declaration to the destruction of Palestine in 1948, from Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon to the endless and futile peace process. Original, authoritative, and important, The Hundred Years' War on Palestine is not a chronicle of victimization, nor does it whitewash the mistakes of Palestinian leaders or deny the emergence of national movements on both sides. In reevaluating the forces arrayed against the Palestinians, it offers an illuminating new view of a conflict that continues to this day.