The year 2025 was quite a strange period for the Middle East. Depending on who undertakes to describe it, it can be called the year of shuttered hopes or new aspirations, appeasement or wars, triumph and defeat. It was also a year when everything changed, just as it can be argued that nothing changed in 2025.
One thing is certain, though. While major developments unfolding in the Middle East have been sending shockwaves across the region and the world, none of them signalled the advent of something new or put an end to earlier processes. In fact, not a single process can be viewed as finished, meaning that the region ended the year as if it was stuck mid-sentence.
Mid-sentence is also an appropriate description of how 2026 started for the Middle East.
As we are writing these lines in early January, the Middle East remains in the state of permanent turmoil and the events are unfolding at such a rapid pace that it would be impossible to go beyond exploring the key emerging trends in terms of striking a new balance in regional affairs and outlining the possible avenues for future changes.
These changes are expected to revolve around four main knots, specifically, the Israeli-Iranian, Syrian, Palestinian and Yemeni knots.
