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Middle East Security Issues and Solutions

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 International Security seminar series

Middle East Security Issues and Solutions

Faisal Khalifah Al Farsi

4 April 2018

Muscat

1
 Table of Contents

Introduction ……………………………………………………………… 3

I) Historical Background ………………………………………………….... 4

1) Middle East …………………………………………….. 4

2) Middle East History…………………………………….. 4

3) Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) ……………………………… 4-6

II) Current Situation …………………………………………………………...... 6

1) Syrian Issue ………………………………………………... 6

2) Yemen Issue ……………………………………………..… 7

3) Tensions between KSA and Iran……………………………………. 9

4) Qatar Crisis ……………………………………………….. 10

III) Future and Solution Alternatives ……………………………………….. 11

Conclusion ………………………………………………………………... 12

Bibliography ……………………………………………………………… 14

2
Introduction

During the past decade, the Middle East region considered as one of the most tense
areas in the world. This tense started after many issues and conflicts took place in the
Middle East: The Arab-Israel conflict, Iraq-Iran war, Gulf war, and many other
conflicts. Nowadays and because of these issues, ME region looking like a theatrical
series directed by Great Powers and acting by the region’s countries, and the victims
are the people! The Middle East, especially the Arab countries, has enormous natural
resources which has made it a conflict station for these Great Powers countries. Oil,
the source that has made the Middle East a “graveyard” of conflicts and civil wars.
Where the Great Powers rely on new policies of distracting countries and people in
internal conflicts between them, and then start to acquire these huge quantities of oil,
which I consider it, I mean the oil, as a “curse” on the Middle East in general and the
Arab countries in particular. There are other main roots for ME wars and conflicts
beside the oil showed in this figure:1

This paper will discuss in general the Middle east security issues. First I will talk
about the Middle East and its history. Then I will talk about the conflicts and why
these conflicts became the source of tense in the region. In addition to show historical
background about Iraq-Iran war. Moreover, this paper will talk about the current
statues of many issues in the region: Yemen and Syrian issues, the tension between
Iran and KSA and how this tension will affect other countries in the region, and Qatar
Crisis and its consequences. Then, providing some rational alternative solutions for
these issues.

1
Yenigun, C. “Conflict Resolution for the Middle East: Sectarian Rapprochement,” January 2016, 15-
20. Accessed March 2018.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315783370_Conflict_Resolution_for_the_Middle_East_Se
ctarian_Rapprochement

3
 I) Historical background

A. Middle east

The Middle East is one of the most important regions in the world in terms of natural
resources and the huge oil reserves and because of the geographical location. The
Middle East extends from Morocco in the west to Iran in the east. The area contains
vast deserts, modern cities, mountain ranges and important natural resources,
including water, natural gas and oil. The region includes 19 countries: Algeria, Egypt,
Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Yemen, Sudan,
and Gulf countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia,
Oman. The region has become the focus of many other countries, especially the US,
UK, and Russia. Throughout history, this region has been very influential for countries
in other regions, where people in the Middle East have made major contributions to
the history, culture, art, folklore, religion and music. In addition, the three major
monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, were created by the prophets
and their followers in these lands.2

B. History of the Middle East

In its beginnings, the Middle East was called the “Cradle of civilization.” People in
this part of the world discovered agriculture and its methods that helped them to
collect food. Before the beginning of the Christian era, the Middle East witnessed
flourishing and fall of many Kingdoms of Empires: The Egyptians, the Babylonians,
the Creoles, the Assyrians, and the Persians among them. These civilizations have
contributed to invent and practice law’ codes, writing systems and the science
development. in the 300's B.C., Alexander the Great invaded the ME with an army
combined of Macedonians and Greeks. in 400's B.C., the Romans Empire started its
invasion in the region. after collapsing the Roman Empire in the West, the Byzantine
Empire, centered in Constantinople, endured for another more than thousand years.
Meanwhile, the Arabs, joined the Islam religion by the prophet Mohammad.3

C. Iran-Iraq War

The Iran-Iraq War is one of the most unforgettable wars in the history. The war lasted
for eight years to become the longest military conflict of the 20th century. It was a war
between the armed forces of Iran and Iraq, which led to massive casualties and
innocent human hands about 1 million people and financial losses about 1.19 trillion
2
Milton-Edwards, B. (2018). Contemporary politics in the Middle East. Cambridge: Polity Press.

P: 4-9
3
Kublin, H. “Middle East Background.” (n.d). Accessed March 2018.
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/background-middle-east/

4
US dollars. After the changing of political events in both Iraq and Iran in 1979, the
Islamic Republic of Iran was announced. Then Al Khomeini took place as the
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution. This position is considered as the highest
position in the Iranian political system. In the same year, Saddam Hussein became
President of the Republic of Iraq.. and after these events, the war began!

The dispute between Iraq and Iran dates back many centuries where there were many
disputes and disagreements between them. One of the most important reason for the
dispute is the issue of sovereignty over the Ahwaz region, the area of high amounts of
oil. In 1969, the Deputy Prime Minister in Iraq declared that Ahwaz Arabistan was
part of Iraq after the Baath party came to power in Iraq. Iraqi radio started publishing
statements urging the Ahwaz Arab people to wage a revolution against the Shah
regime in Iran. In addition to this dispute, there were other disputes such as the
dispute of full sovereignty over the Shatt al-Arab where it was under full Iraqi
sovereignty before 1975. This dispute considered as one of other main reasons for
disputes between Iraq and Iran. After signing the Algiers Agreement in 1975, the two
countries shared sovereignty over the Shatt al-Arab. This Agreement led to the
assistance of the Shah in Iran the Kurdish rebels in Iraq, in exchange for Iraq's waiver
of some of its rights in the Shatt al- Arab. Also this Agreement was in the interest of
Iraq; where it benefited from the suspension of Iranian aid to the Kurdish rebellion led
by Mustafa Barzani and the Iraqi regime succeeded in eliminating the Kurdish
revolution.

Iraqi-Iranian diplomatic relations began to deteriorate in 1980. On September 17,

1980, Saddam Hussein relinquished the 1975 Algiers Agreement. After that, Iraq
recovered half of the Shatt al-Arab, which he relinquished to Iran through this
Agreement. Consequently, this led to the entire Shatt al-Arab being considered as a
part of Iraqi territorial waters. After the military skirmishes between the two
countries, Iran bombed the border areas in the area of Manzriya and the border
between the Governor of Wasit and the Governor of Diyala. The Iraqi government
responded to these strikes by sending Iraqi air fighters targeting Iranian military
airports in a number of major Iranian cities. The Iraqi president declared his demands
of this war:

 End of the Iranian occupation of the islands of Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb and
Abu Musa in the Gulf at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.
 Recognizing Iraqi sovereignty over Iraqi soil and its rivers and sea waters.
 Stopping Iran from interfering in the internal affairs of Iraq.

This led to intervene the Iraqi army in the Iranian territory without any organizing at
the beginning. After that, Iranian forces began to organize and there were about
100,000 Iranians volunteered to go to the front lines. The Iraqi army began to realize
that the Iranian army was not as weak as expected. In 1982, the Iranian army managed

5
to re-establish control of all areas under the control of the Iraqi army, prompting the
Iraqi government to present a cease-fire initiative in 1982.

As the end of the war approached, idleness began to appear on the performance of the
Iraqi and Iranian armies as a result of the long depletion of the war ammunition and
manpower of the two armies. A dark phase began in the history of the war, when
Iranian cities were bombed indiscriminately by Scud missiles by the Iraqi army, where
many innocent civilians were killed. Then, Iran start to bomb the Iraqi capital
Baghdad with long-range Scud missiles, and the two countries used chemical weapons
in the war until declaring a condemning by the United Nations for using chemical
weapons in 1983. Iranian government did not enjoy international support, unlike Iraq,
which enjoyed considerable external backing. All these factors led Iran to accept the
UN-truce proposed which described by Khomeini as a "poison cup". Iran was
rejecting any decision from the Security Council unless it recognizes that Iraq is the
cause of aggression against Iran and the award of the necessary compensation to Iran,
which may amount to 200 billion dollars. However, three years after the end of the
war and one month after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1991, Iraq agreed to abide by
the 1975 agreement with Iran and returned the countries to zero.4

II) Current Situation in the Middle East:

A. Syrian Issue

After the eruption of the Tunisian revolution and the so-called "Arab Spring", the
fever of that revolution moved to Syria. Protests erupted on March 15, 2011, which
the main objective was to demand to the reduction of repression, corruption and the
suppression of liberties. The incident began after 27 children were arrested and
tortured by the Syrian government for writing anti-the Syrian regime. Those children
were affected by the revolutions that have erupted in the Arab nation, in particular the
Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. After the beginning of the Syrian revolution,
peaceful protests turned into a tragic civil war because of the policy of the Syrian
government, which has practiced a policy of repression against protesters. In return,
the ranks of the extremists have been strengthened by the release of their prisoners and
allowing them to practice organizing and activities5. There are many parts
participating in this destructive war like Russia, Iran, Turkey, and the US. On the
other hand, there is a complex knot of local and sectarian conflicts among armed
opposition groups such as ISIS, the al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, and
government forces. According to United States Institute of Peace (USIP), The war has
killed about 400,000 people, and propelled millions of population to escape to East
4
(n.d). “First Gulf war (Iraq war).” March 2015. Accessed March 2018.
https://www.almrsal.com/post/213044

6
and Western Europe which they are facing a stability threatens in these countries .
According to the International Red Cross, 80% of refugees wished to return to their
country if they find appropriate environment.6

Recent analyses show significant progress for the Syrian army and its allies in areas
controlled by Al Nusra Front and its alliances that refused to engage in a political
solution or path name called Astana. In my point of view if Syrian army keeps the
same efforts as it is now, we will see in the mid of 2018 the Syrian political solution
and end the crisis. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that the current situation in
his country is much better than it was from a military perspective, as terrorist groups
retreated, especially ISIS and the "Nusra Front". In an interview with the Indian
channel "Weion TV", published by the official Syrian news agency, Assad added that
this improvement does not reflect the complete picture because it is not just limited to
military conflict, but there are different things like the ideology they are trying to
spread in our region, which poses the most serious challenge we can face. 7 But on the
other side, Ali Al Zaatari, the United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in
Syria, said the situation in the country has worsened since the United Nations call on
February 6th for the cessation of hostilities. He added that Syria is experiencing one of
the worst periods of fighting since the conflict began, reportedly killed and injured
hundreds of civilians, and widespread displacements and the destruction of civilian
infrastructure including hospitals.8

B. Yemen Issue

Since long time ago, Yemen was divided based on tribal, sectarianism, and regional
divisions. The issue started in 2014 when Al Houthies invaded the Capital Sana’a and
ousted president Abdu-Rabbu Mansour. Consequently, Hadi fled to the southern part
of the country and when Al Houthies advanced to Adan, the biggest city in the south,
Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia and asked for its assistance to fight Al Hothie.9 On 25
March 2015 and after President Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia established a
military coalition to counter Houthi’s progress in Yemen called “Al Hazm Storm”
with the support of Western countries, all the GCC countries except Oman. With
other supporting from Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan and Senegal. This move
considered as the starting point of the current war in Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition
was largely dependent on air strikes on indiscriminate civilian targets, sea barriers, and

6
(n.d). “The Current Situation in Syria.”, United States Institute of Peace. April 2017. Accessed March
2018. https://www.usip.org/publications/2017/04/current-situation-syria
7
CNN. “Syria situation improved dramatically.” March 2017. Accessed March 2018.
https://arabic.cnn.com/middle-east/2017/06/03/assad-war-effect-family
8
UN News. “The deteriorating situation in Syria.” October 2018. Accessed March 2018.
https://news.un.org/ar/story/2018/02/1002191
9
Kreitner, R. “War Crimes in Yemen.” The Nation. October 2016. Accessed March 2018.
http://ezproxysrv.squ.edu.om:2218/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=8ad62c9a-e77e-4875-
b6c1-38e939d5bb02%40pdc-v-sessmgr01

7
the removal of ground forces to areas which have strategic importance in Yemen such
as airports and seaports. The Houthis also took part in fierce fighting on the ground,
placing landmines in many areas and firing indiscriminate rockets at populated areas.
Both groups, the coalition and Houthis, are responsible for the extensive human rights
violations in Yemen10. There are many reasons that the Saudis imposed to explain
why they were involved in military campaigns in Yemen against Houthi. Where some
said that Saudi Arabia was afraid of al-Huthi's control over Yemen and that the
country would be under Iranian control, thus strengthening Iranian influence in the
region. According to others, they see Saudi intervention in Yemen as a prelude to
protecting its southern border from the Huthi rebellion.11

War between the conflicted parties has caused a major violation of the laws of war and
the human rights, where Saudi-led coalition has used internationally banned cluster
munitions in the war. Furthermore, both sides did not respect the foundation of the
human rights, where after the first ballistic missile arriving to Saudi Arabia by the
Huthis, Saudi Arabia imposed to close the airspace and close all land and sea routes
leading to Yemen in areas controlled by the coalition forces to prevent arriving the
assistances of missiles and military equipment to the Huthi militias from Iran.
Consequently, The UN Security Council called the coalition to keep the sea and
airports open in order to deliver humanitarian aid to the people threatened by the
world's largest famine in decades. According to Washington post, the number of
civilians killed exceeded 10,000 as of 2017, and more than 8 million in danger of
famine and 1 million infected with cholera disease — the worst outbreak of that illness
in modern history.12 These numbers of deaths cannot be ignored, where both, Houthis
and coalition, are responsible of dying all these Childs, women and civilians.

Now the situation has become completely different comparing with previous time,
Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman showed in his statement when he said that the
war in Yemen was is close to complete after achieving its goals of restoring legitimacy
in facing Houthi rebels. According to Egyptian media, the Saudi Crown Prince said
during a meeting with a group of media that the Saudi-led coalition is close to ending
work in Yemen and he said "There are just few Houthis in Yemen who are fighting
against us."13 Many analysts have proved that these statements are not correct and
have come against the reality which includes shameful scenes of the coalition forces.
Researchers and analysts said the coalition forces did not achieve their targets set
before the attack in Yemen and considered it as a senseless war to achieve the interests
of the great powers and their personal interests. According to the Washington Post,

10
Kreitnerm Ibid.
11
Sharp, J. “Yemen: Civil War and Regional Intervention.”, congressional Research Service. February
2018, 3-7. Accessed March 2018. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/R43960.pdf
12
Washington Post. “Opinion | Can Congress push the Saudi prince toward an exit from Yemen?.”
March 2018. Accessed March 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/can-
congress-push-the-saudi-prince-toward-an-exit-from-yemen/2018/03/24/d17e8a36-2df5-11e8-b0b0-
f706877db618_story.html?utm_term=.b3de730d500e

8
the battles in Aden revealed the fragility and weakness of this alliance and highlighted
different agendas from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.14 After three
years from the war, Mohammed Bin Salman started to convince that he filled himself
and other countries that have aligned with him in a big impasses. According to a
western source visited Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman was at the height of
anger over the performance of the Saudi armed forces in the war in Yemen, and he
said, "One of the most important achievements of this war is that it revealed to us that
we do not have an efficient army to live up with the aspirations of the Kingdom and its
future plans to become a major regional military force facing the serious challenges
faced by.” Consequently, he made drastic changes in the military service where he
sacked the chief of staff and made changes in the command of the air and ground
armed forces. After recognizing the failure of this coalition, those involved in this war
are trying to come out in any way after killing of hundred thousands of innocent
civilians, women, children and the elderly. In fact, Muhammad Ben Salman has been
really looking for a way out of the war. According to “Independent”, the Saudi Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman admitted to former US officials that he wants to come
out of the brutal war that entered its fourth year in Yemen.15

C. Tensions between KSA and Iran

For a long time Iran and Saudi Arabia are regional rivals in the Middle East, where
each are seeking to control the region from several areas. There is actual proxy war
between the two countries in both Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Bahrain. Mohammed
Bin Salman has fears against Iran to become the dominance in the region. From my
perspective, Mohamed Bin Salman depends a lot on Donald Trump's position against
Iran, which both hold strong positions against Iran which prompting Mohamed Bin
Salman to issue strong statements and exasperating to the Iranian side.

Mohamed Bin Salman said in one of his statements that there is no scores for
understanding with the Iranian regime which is based on extremist ideology. As the
Iranian regime's main objective is to control the Muslims in the Arab world. “I will not
wait until battle become in Saudi Arabia, but we will work on that battlefield in Iran.”
Mohamed Bin Salman said in a statement that the international community must
impose further sanctions against Iran. He added at recent remarks by the Wall Street
Journal: "sanctions will create more pressure on system ", adding: "we have to succeed
to avoid military conflict. If we don't succeed in trying to do, it is likely to witness a

14
Raghavan, S. “Yemen’s war is so out of control, allies are turning on one another.” February 2018.
Accessed March 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/yemens-war-is-so-out-of-control-
that-allies-are-turning-on-one-another/2018/02/03/50d26426-05fe-11e8-aa61-
f3391373867e_story.html?utm_term=.8314631aff05
15
McKernan, B. (2017). “The Saudi prince who started the Yemen war ‘wants to end it’.”, The
Independent. August 2017. Accessed March 2018.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-crown-prince-yemen-war-
end-leaked-emails-mohammed-bin-salman-defence-minister-a7893131.html

9
war with Iran within 10 or 15 years." Furthermore, The Arab coalition led by Saudi
Arabia issued a statement saying that the involvement of Tehran in providing ballistic
missile to Houthis targeting Riyadh consider as a "direct military aggression by the
Iranian regime, may amount to as an act of war against the Kingdom."16

There were an Iranian reactions of these statements. An Iranian official described

Mohammed Bin Salman’ statements as a childish. The Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif
said in his Tweet on Twitter that " The wise man can understand that betting on the
wrong choices lead to the creation of a crisis, and doing these steps is Injudicious and
can eventually lead to remorse."17 I personally considered this will be "playing with
fire" from both sides, as the region would enter into many needless conflicts. There are
major concerns from the Arab States if this war were erupted. One of these countries
is the Sultanate of Oman which carries very great worries as being the country
between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

D. Qatar Crisis

At dawn on June 5th, 2017, Gulf’ people waked up with News of severing diplomatic
relations with Qatar. Where both Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and
Yemen in addition to Maldives and Egypt cut diplomatic relations with Qatar and put
Qatar under naval, ground and aerial siege. The news of this action spread to all the
newspapers and media channels in the world. Where it led to a very serious diplomatic
crisis in the Gulf. Saudi Arabia said that the event came because Qatar supporting to
the Islamic extremist groups in addition to support the terrorism. Qatar officials
responded after these countries’ claims and announced that their claim are unfounded.
Then Qatar announced that she welcomes negotiations or conversations with the
provincial States in order t find a solution for the crisis. In 2017, efforts failed to find
a solution to the worst crisis in the history of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC),
and it is difficult to predict what will happen this year because, as we have seen in
2017, did not follow a lot of major developments in the case of the standard rules of
international diplomacy. In fact, all this happened due to the decision making process
in some GCC is not institutionalized, but relies primarily on attitudes and unstable
personal ambitions of a handful of leaders. Now, Mohamed Bin Salman tries to
pretend indifference to the Gulf crisis. Where he said in one of his interviews that he
do not care about this crisis and there is someone less than Minister’s rank is
responsible for the crisis’ file. Mohamed Bin Salman denied then, emphatically, that
the provincial States are putting Qatar under pressure, noting that several countries are
seeking to resolve the crisis but without pressure. He mentioned that four States,

16
CNN. “Iran responded to the Saudi Crown Prince.” March 2018. Accessed March 2018.
https://arabic.cnn.com/world/2018/03/31/iran-response-mohammad-bin-salman-remarks-war-10-
15-years
17
Aljazeera. “Iran threatens Saudi Arabia blow if attacked.” November 2017. Accessed March 2018.
http://www.aljazeera.net/news/international/2017/11/10/%D

10
(KSA, UAE, Bahrain, Egypt) are dealing with the crisis in the same way the United
States handled with Cuba, namely to leave Qatar as it is now to undo the destructive
policies of the region. Where quick reply announced by Qataris officials that Qatar is
no longer need any material from the siege States , and even if this siege continues for
more than 20 years, the country will not be affected by any consequences the
blockade".18

III) Future and Solution Alternatives

The future of the Middle East is linked to the kind of minds that will appear in future
periods. Also linked to the ability of changing the attitudes and behaviour of the
parties of the conflicts, each according to its goals. Getting out from the Syrian and
Yemen war become very soon as a result of president’s perceiving their failed
resolutions. Mohamed Bin Salman is the close example, where now he is looking with
Great Powers for appropriate and honourable way for him and his country to get out of
the war. He announced that he has achieved his main goals in Yemen, but the reality
is the opposite. It is the same case with the terrorist groups in Syria. According to the
UN Envoy to Syria, De Mistura, the war in Syria is close to end after the approaching
of defeating ISIS. But he added that there would be other dependencies unless Assad
finds solutions for political settlement in the country. On the other hand, the situation
between Saudi Arabia and Iran is unstable. As each state seeks to exert control over
the area in one way or another. Tensions between the two countries will still
increasing until finding a solution to prevent this problem. Arab States’ concerns are
increasing after Mohammed Bin Salman described the war will be destructive if it
happened. Especially the nearby States of Iran and Saudi Arabia, such as Oman and
UAE and others. But in my opinion, this war will not happen in the next short period
of time, but it will take many years to start like those wars. From my perspective,
there are no fears of Qatar Crisis due to the lack of clear demands by the provincial
States. Beside the perceiving by the provincial States that Qatar did not affected by the
economic siege, but she work to strengthen economic ties with Oman and Kuwait
beside signing agreements to create vital projects in Sudan. In my opinion, this crisis
will end in the same way as when it started, without providing any logical reason.
There is a statement announced by Mohamed Bin Salman affirms that relations with
Qatar will be back as it was. In fact, Mohamed Bin Salman reveals to us that all his
decisions which he took it are failed and because of that everyone in the region hopes
to not take up his war against Iran.

What is happening now in the Middle East in case of security issue is not a
consequence of a day or two, but it is a result of hundreds of years ago. Therefore,
resolving these issues requires considerable effort and time by all parties in the region.
There are major reasons for these issues, the most prominent and the most serious

18
(n.d). “Secrets of Qatar crisis.” March 2018. Accessed March 2018. https://sptnkne.ws/gTSD

11
reason is Sectarianism. Sectarianism is a very serious and fatal disease if it plagues
people. Sectarianism is regarded as the main cause of wars in the ME. According to
Dr. Cuneyt in his article “Conflict Resolution for the Middle East: Sectarian
Rapprochement”19, finding a solution to the conflicts in the Middle East must go back
to the roots of those conflicts, which most of them belongs to the rigid sectarianism.
Stating that there are six different steps to deal with this problem, the first one of them
is “Fatwa”. “Fatwa” is any religious decision issued by “Mufti” (Islamic scholar who
is an expounder of Islamic law).” This scholar get his Fatwas from Holy Qur’an and
Al Sunna. This idea is based on that Muftis of any religion (Sunni, Shiite) must issue
Fatwas to order people to stop the war and supporting his Fatwa by Qur’an and Sunna.
For example, “sedition is worse than committing murder”.(Holy Qur’an) Thus, and
because all people are following their Muftis, will be effective solution to stop the
violence and conflicts in the region. In my perspective, guess that all Muftis of both
Sunni and Shiite are asking their people to live in a peace with the other sects’ people,
and explain to them that all of us are brothers and we are in the life for the same
reason, which is to populate the world and devotion Allah. How the situation will be?
The middle east especially Arab Countries will not face any violence, conflicts, and
wars. As I find that there is a great need for a dialogues between the conflicting parts
to form a super power in the region. And here I mean Iran and Saudi Arabia, so just
we imagine that the alliance is including both Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are the
most two powerful countries in the region, how powerful this alliance will be?
Especially against the terrorism which consider as the main threat to the region
nowadays.

Conclusion

The Middle East is one of the most important regions in the world in case of natural
resources. Which because of that, the region became a battlefield to the Great Powers
to take whatever they want. The situation in the region became very sad after the
events we have live and saw it.

All of all, I’ve discussed in my paper in general about the Middle East security issues.
Where at first I talked about the history of the Middle East and how this history helped
to emerge a great region Middle East. Then I talked about the conflicts took place in
the region and why these conflicts became the source of tense. In addition to show
historical overview about Iraq-Iran war. Moreover, this talked about the current
statues of many issues in the region: Yemen and Syrian issues, the tension between
Iran and KSA and how this tension will affect other countries in the region, and Qatar
Crisis and its consequences. Then, I provided some rational alternative solutions for
these issues.

19
Yenigun, C. ibid, 15-20. Accessed March 2018.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315783370_Conflict_Resolution_for_the_Middle_East_Se
ctarian_Rapprochement

12
 Tribulation wars and conflicts abounded, where brothers are fighting each other, and
they cut their relations with each other after the Arabs and the Islamic nation was all
on one hand! And why all this? At this time money became more important than the
fraternal relations that was once the biggest blessing from Allah.

The Middle East is going through a period of being the worst ever in its history, as
well as the Islamic nation. Where there is a Sectarian wars broke out in many countries
of the region such as Syria, Yemen, Iraq and others. As we read in this research, the
ME became a “Toy” in the hands of Great Powers with assisting from the Arab
leaders, unfortunately. But, the Middle East will return back as it was. Many solutions
if they have been applied, ME will get rid of its conflicts which I talked mainly about
“Fatwa” and “Importance of dialogues in order to establish powerful alliance in the
Middle East.” Where Fatwa will be one of the effective solutions due to the high
respective of people to their religious instructions. Despite all this, we can say that
Middle East has a bright future, and we were, and still, working hard to find that
brightness.

13
References

Aljazeera. “Iran threatens Saudi Arabia blow if attacked.” November 2017. Accessed
March 2018. http://www.aljazeera.net/news/international/2017/11/10/%D

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