Rex Brynen - A Time of Turbulence, Tumult and Transformation in the Middle East

In Bed with the Elephant

Rex Brynen - a renowned scholar over three decades and one of the most astute and informed observers of the Middle East.

The Summer of 2025 will be remembered as a time of transformation in the Middle East.

On June 13, 2025, Israel launched a surprise attack on military and nuclear facilities in Iran. Israel claimed the so-called pre-emptive strikes were meant to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb. In the ensuing 12-day war. Israeli strikes killed over 900 Iranians. Iran’s retaliatory attacks killed 28 Israelis.

On June 22, the US joined Israel’s campaign and bombed Iranian nuclear plants. The next day US President Trump announced that Israel and Iran had come to an agreement on a ceasefire which took effect on June 24th.

In addition to the 12 Day War the chaotic political situation in Syria, and the ongoing genocide in the Gaza are altering the political landscape in the region.

Since mid-July in the Southern Syrian city of Suweyda clashes between Druze groups and Bedouin tribes have displaced 175,000 people and caused over 1000 deaths. On July 16 Israel bombed the Syrian Defences ministry in central Damascus along with other military sites in the capital and targets in Southern Syria claiming to protect minority Druze communities and sending a warning message to Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa.

In the occupied Palestinian Territories of Gaza every day seems to bring more stories of horror and devastation. Since October 7 2023 when an Hamas led attack killed 1200 Israelis including over 600 civilians and 39 children, Israel has killed 60,000 Palestinians including over 18,000 children according to the UN, displaced millions and leveled much of Gaza. The UN reports that Israeli forces have killed 1000 desperate Palestinians seeking aid since May 2025.

For the first time two Israeli human rights organizations B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel have officially declared that Israel is committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. This follows an earlier determination in December 2024 by the respected international human rights organizations like Amnesty International that Israel was committing genocide in real time. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (or IPC), a global hunger monitoring system, states in a new report that the “worst-case scenario of famine” is unfolding in Gaza. The IPC has confirmed that at least 122 Palestinians including 83 children have died of starvation. Even US president Donald Trump whose government, continues to provide Israel with both moral and material support in the form of billions of dollars worth of weapons, is acknowledging that starvation is occurring in Gaza.