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Israel responded with alarm to both the U.S. choice to raise sanctions on Syria and President Trump's meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa. Because the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, Israel has been wary of the former jihadist now in control in Damascus.
It has also deployed soldiers in southern Syria, occupying an increasing area beyond the demilitarized zone separating the 2 countries. Going forward, Israel will remain careful of the Sharaa federal government and will likely continue to apply military pressure on Syria, consisting of an expanded occupation of southern Syria and occasional air strikes.
Yet, Israel's openness to the Trump administration's efforts to broker a nonaggression pact between Israel and Syria stays an open question. Instead, Syria might end up being a locus of regional power competition between Israel and Turkey as both seek to apply their influence over Syria's trajectory. Because the fall of Assad in December 2024, Saudi Arabia has lobbied hard for the United States to raise Syria sanctions, mentioning them as an essential barrier to the country's reconstruction.
For MBS, the U.S. choice stood as an important triumph emerging from Trump's journey. Going forward, Saudi Arabia will likely motivate the United States to continue along its course towards normalization with Syria. It might push for the repeal of the Caesar sanctions, which must be carried out by Congress. Riyadh may also press the United States to check Israel, must it continue with aggressive military action in Syria.
Leveraging Market Research to Effectively Drive Strategic GrowthDespite expanding domestic and global criticism of Israel's technique, the prime minister has not wavered in his broadening occupation of Gaza in the absence of any U.S. pressure. The prime minister appears to bask in U.S. support, with no tip of a shift in policy. Going forward, Netanyahu can be anticipated to continue along the same trajectory in Gaza, especially given that a remarkable shift in U.S.
On the contrary, as the worldwide protest against Israel's actions in Gaza grows and with an increasing number of U.S. allies moving to state a Palestinian state, Israel is likely to entrench its position even more, strengthened by the possibility of ongoing U.S. assistance. The Trump administration announced its choice to deny visas to the Palestinian Authority management ahead of the UN General Assembly, relatively in response to mounting calls for stating a Palestinian state.
Riyadh right away turned down Trump's proposal and restated its rejection to stabilize relations with Israel in the lack of substantial development toward the development of a Palestinian state. The kingdom has also highly criticized Israel for the absence of sufficient help flowing into Gaza. Following the August 22 famine declaration, Saudi Arabia, while not calling out the United States, faulted the Israeli occupation as the cause of the "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza.

Its leading role in pushing for a two-state option at the 80th UN General Assembly stands as its most prominent effort in this regard. The kingdom will likely continue its behind-the-scenes lobbying of the United States to pressure Israel to relent on these needs, holding out on any development towards normalization with Israel in the absence of motion on these concerns.
Its engagement in the Middle East is forming the contours of the emerging regional orderwhether by default or style. Specifically, its decisions on Iran, Syria, and Gaza all touch on core challenges in the region and hold the potential to move each in a favorable instructions. Yet, peril and deepening conflict base on the other side of each chance.
As international trade patterns straighten, a brand-new financial investment passage is taking shape, linking capital from the Gulf to Latin America. Sovereign wealth funds, conglomerates, and family offices from the Gulf Cooperation Council ("") are investing billions across Latin America's energy, agriculture, fintech, and facilities sectors. Trade between Mexico and GCC states rose more than 33% between 2021 and 2022, while non-oil trade with the UAE has almost folded the previous years.
3 Service belief shows this momentum64% of Latin American executives plan to expand engagement with the Gulf, especially in agriculture, renewable resource, and digital services. 4 Highlighting this momentum, Saudi Arabia recently opened its very first Chamber of Commerce workplace in Miami, additional indicating the growing links in between Gulf capital and the Americas.
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