2019 In Review: Fundamental Change Brewing In The Middle East?

This year in the Middle East and North Africa was a year of five uprisings, four ongoing civil wars, and three key elections. There were uprisings in Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran, as well as 2 notable close elections in the region, with the reigns of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appearing to be stuttering to an end. It was also a year of key regional and international developments, with the US employing its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran and the attack on the Saudi Aramco facility amongst others. We also get into the KL Summit, hosted last week, which was attended by the leaders of Iran and Turkey, but was noticeably snubbed by Saudi Arabia, UAE and Pakistan and what it says about Malaysia's relations with countries in the Middle East.