מזרחן, פרשן ומומחה בסוריה, עיראק, קבוצות אסלאמיות רדיקליות וכורדיסטן
ד"ר ג'ונתן ספייר הוא אחד המומחים המערביים\הישראליים המעטים אשר סיירו בצורה מקיפה בסוריה, עיראק וכורדיסטן תוך כדי הקונפליקטים בשנים האחרונות במדינות אלה. מחברם של הספרים Days of the Fall: A Reporter’s Journey in the Syria and Iraq Wars (Routledge, 2017) ו-The Transforming Fire: the Rise of the Israel-Islamist Conflict (Continuum, 2010). הוא ספייר כותב באופן קבוע בכתב העת היוקרתי Jane's Intelligence Review וכן מפרסם מאמרים בכתבי עת הכוללים את Middle East Quarterly, Foreign Policy וכן פרשנויות בעיתונים Times (הלונדוני)Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Haaretz, Atlantic, Australian, National Post, Globe and Mail, Jerusalem Report, Jerusalem Post. כמו כן הוא מופיע כמומחה לענייני המזה"ת בערוצי טלוויזיה שונים כגון CNN, al-Jazeera, Fox, BBC, Sky ואחרים. בעל תואר דוקטור ביחסים בינלאומיים מ-London School of Economics ותואר שני במזרחנות מ-School of Oriental and African Studies בלונדון. משמש גם כעמית מחקר ב-Middle East Forum בארה"ב.
Events in Sudan and Libya suggest that the core dynamic in the Arab world has not changed: authoritarian military regimes and political Islam remain the key players, popular sovereignty remains a distant aspiration
Regional rivals clash via proxies in Tripoli fight.
Experts Divided Over US Decision on Golan Heights.
Dr. Jonathan Spyer: Israel's de facto control of the Golan is not in doubt, and there is no likelihood in the foreseeable future of any serious attempt by any force to change this situation.
The fight to depose Assad is over. The battle over his regime’s boundaries has no end in sight.
Armed opposition groups emerging from the Kurdish, Baloch and Ahvazi Arab minorities have stepped-up attacks on regime assets in Iran. Tehran is responding by acting against these opponents, in Pakistan and Iraq and further afield. But these insurgencies are not capable by themselves of calling the regime’s viability into question, because of their relatively narrow bases of support.
No new beginnings in sight for ravaged Syria.
Netanyahu tells Putin Israel will continue to strike against Iran in Syria.
Dr. Jonathan Spyer: Israel needs Russia to remain on the ground, as an arbiter between Turks, Assad and Iran.
The Iraqi Shi'ite militias form a single, numerous and increasingly able component of the military and paramilitary assets available to Iran in its efforts. They substantially increase the scope for Iranian disruption in the region, and may significantly increase Iranian capabilities in the event of a war on Israel’s northern front
One way Iran’s efforts are taking place are below the official Syrian state structures – in the arming and sponsoring of Iran-controlled paramilitary formations on Syria soil.
Trump’s hurried exit from Syria, under pressure from a Turkish threat, will be interpreted by all sides as a strategic defeat, an abandonment and a debacle.
Syrian regime closes accounts with West and Israel-linked rebels, as Iran builds and expands its presence in the area.
The killing of prominent Arab tribal leader Sheikh Bashir Faisal al-Huwaidi has serious implications for the US and Kurdish administered part of Syria, in which Raqqa is located. That administration of Syria has many enemies and remains fragile.
