Abstract This study examines how the Iranian and Israeli Ministries of Foreign Affairs employed digital diplomacy on the X platform during two conflict periods: Iran’s missile strikes against Israel (October–November 2024) and Israel’s retaliatory airstrikes (June 2025). Through a qualitative comparative design and content analysis of 487 posts, it explores how both actors used enticement and attack as dual strategies of narrative construction and foreign policy communication. Findings reveal distinct yet adaptive trajectories. Iran’s discourse evolved from ideological resistance toward legalistic sovereignty, invoking international law, cultural legitimacy, and religious identity to justify state actions. Israel’s communication shifted from delegitimizing Iran to humanitarian storytelling, employing visual symbolism, moral justification, and multilingual engagement to shape global perception. The analysis demonstrates that enticement and attack operate as complementary dimensions of strategic digital diplomacy, rather than opposing ones. Both states leveraged securitized, visually oriented, and adaptive communication to compete for legitimacy and influence. The study contributes to scholarship on digital diplomacy in conflict contexts by illustrating how Middle Eastern governments weaponized real-time digital narratives to construct legitimacy and manage international image.

Abstract The role that Saudi Arabia played in the earliest days of the conflict between the Arabs and Zionists in Palestine and later after the establishment of the State of Israel is highly contested. This article seeks to contribute to the ongoing dialogue of the Saudi role by exploring the question from the standpoint of the United States. An examination of the American documentary evidence demonstrates that Ibn Saud and Saudi Arabia were viewed as significant advocates for the Palestinian cause by successive Presidential Administrations in the 1940s and 1950s. The Americans at this time did not view the Saudis as partners to the establishment of a potential Jewish state. Instead, they viewed the Saudis as staunch supporters of the Palestinian cause who could potentially prove to be obstacles to American policy in the region. This included the eventual US position to support the partition of Palestine and recognition of the State of Israel.

Abstract This paper examines the transformation of Yemeni nationalism from its peak following the country’s unification in 1990 to its gradual disintegration in the ensuing decades. It explores the interplay of factors contributing to the erosion of a once robust national identity, highlighting the significant shift post-1994, the rise of the Southern Movement in 2007, and the escalation of the Yemeni Civil War from 2015 onwards. The paper identifies three concurrent factors that have led to the decline of Yemeni nationalism: The negative shift in the material conditions of the populace, particularly the South. Second, the presence of fragmenting factors like entrenched regional identities. Third, the absence of mitigating factors such as unifying leadership or a common enemy, which could counterbalance divisive elements.

Abstract This research began with the premise that U.S. policy toward the Syrian crisis can best be explained by two approaches; first, liberal hegemony and second, offshore balancing and restraint which promotes less use of military power and direct intervention. This involves allowing regional players to play America’s part and using proxy wars instead of direct military involvement by the US. This study covers three administrations. The Obama administration initially employed a strategy of restraint by not intervening directly. However, it later adopted some elements of liberal hegemony, thus shifting to a regime change policy. Conversely, President Trump used a strategy of restraint and offshore balancing. However, President Biden insisted that the Syrian people should have self-determination, but he did not intervene militarily. Additionally, he showed some flexibility in a process of normalization with the Syrian government, reflecting a mix of both liberal hegemony, offshore balancing and restraint strategies.

Abstract With Lebanon on the edge of the outbreak of the Civil War (1975–1990), Najah Wakim, the youngest parliament deputy in the Lebanese parliament of 1972, began a long struggle to first try to prevent the war which was looming in Lebanon and then continued to work after 1975 to put an end to the unjustifiable violence and bloodshed of that period. Wakim stood against all the fighting parties, arousing their hatred and enmity, but he gained the love and respect of most of his fellow-citizens who saw in him honesty and human values for which he always fought. This is the story of Najah Wakim which still continues.

Abstract Past animosities and complex geopolitics make the Israel-Palestine conflict complex and require a multifaceted approach. As modernization theory fails to address such conflicts, we combine post-colonial theory, identity politics, critical geopolitics, with modernization theory to provide a more complete picture. A comprehensive strategy for building a strong and united Palestinian society is presented in this paper, which emphasizes democratic changes, military power rebalancing, international law, and economic independence. Education and technological progress drive societal growth, so strong governance systems are essential for political stability. We demonstrate how these methods work and what are their drawbacks by analyzing real-life examples of how social, economic, and political factors affect conflict. In the study, governments, civil society, and international organizations are a key focus for finding a long-term solution. This extensive research on conflict resolution and growth expands the conversation and offers lessons that can be applied to various conflict situations.

Abstract There is a need to emphasize the magnitude of the tragedies caused by the war on terror by drawing viewers’ attention toward terrorist groups’ terrible activities on social media sites for awareness and understanding. The present study aims to assess the perceptions of youth towards the coverage of international terrorism through social media. The random sampling technique was used to recruit 1020 participants from 22 Arab states. The study revealed that social media sites broadcast international terrorism news that has an impact on the Arab region where Islam is represented as the prime mover behind those acts of terror. The majority believed that the coverage of the Arab media, in comparison with the international media, was much more impartial. No statistical difference was observed between gender and dependency on the news on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter). The findings also showed that raising awareness of Arab youth is needed to develop their media literacy and their independent analysis of biased coverage of social media in order to prevent radicalization.

Abstract When leaders decide to engage in war in defense of interests they represent, only public opinion and mass power can change their will. But if this statement seems valid in the light of the antiwar protests and mobilizations that have marked the Western public sphere, it is thanks to the process of feminization of social values and the electoral implications of this. In the Arab region, it is a different story because ordinary people continue to express themselves positively on participating in military adventures. In order to study the probability of participation in war from the perspective of the common man’s values, this research investigates orientation to war in terms of subjects’ political culture. For this purpose, the researcher uses World Value Survey data collected in ten Arab countries, with 26,000 people surveyed. The results show the positive association between a moral code of honor and an orientation to war.

This paper explores the prisoner’s dilemma in the context of interactions between Libya’s Tripoli- and Tobruk-led actors in the period between Gaddafi’s 2011 ousting and the 2015 Libyan Political Agreement. In so doing, it reveals the extent to which Libyan decisions aligned with the game’s principal outcome-maximizing strategy to ascertain authority and a non-outcome-maximizing strategy’s conflict resolution-through-cooperation goal. In contrast to the game’s assumptions, however, the findings convey how negotiations between the two players were driven by contextual factors, predominantly: Libya’s historical makeup, internal–external links, and hydrocarbon control. This informs my contention that the complexities of the Libya case study demonstrate the limits of the prisoner’s dilemma in illuminating the dynamics of a given political phenomenon. As a result, this account presents a novel Libya-specific blueprint of the prisoner’s dilemma that highlights the limitations of this framework and concludes with a reflection on what this means for understanding this type of game.

Lebanon’s Ta’if Agreement, although implemented as a tool for conflict reconstruction, did not build a sustainable peace, nor has it created the base for democratic and economic development. Rather, it perpetuates elites’ interests at the expense of an ever-poorer population, while crystallizing fragmentation along sectarian identities, thus increasing the security dilemma. New literature on Lebanon’s power-sharing system is questioning how to build cross-sectarian cooperation and trust in Lebanon and, in doing so, is widely looking at the potential peacebuilding of civil society initiatives. The central point of the paper is that thinking about conflict transformation in Lebanon requires investigating the relation between power-sharing and civil society within a perspective of creating inclusive institutional mechanisms for the latter.