Jonathan Spyer

Jonathan Spyer is a writer, analyst and journalist focusing on the Levant and Middle East strategic affairs. He is a research fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies (JISS), a fellow at the Middle East Forum and a freelance security analyst and correspondent at IHS Janes.

Spyer is the Executive Director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis (MECRA). He is the author of Days of the Fall: A Reporter's Journey in the Syria and Iraq Wars (Routledge, 2017) - an account of his field reporting in Syria and Iraq, and The Transforming Fire: the Rise of the Israel-Islamist Conflict, (Continuum, 2010).

Spyer's work is published in many journals, and he consults and advises for a wide variety of bodies in the governmental, NGO and private sectors.


 TURKEY’S PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Istanbul, earlier this week.

Neo-Ottoman power: Erdogan positions Turkey as Israel's main Middle East challenge

 A GENERAL view of Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. A Pakistani general described Kashmir as Pakistan’s ‘jugular vein,’ saying that Islamabad would ‘not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle.’

How Islamist militant groups in Pakistan's foreign policy affected the Kashmir conflict

 In this handout image provided by Houthi Media Center, fuel vans burn in the wake of US airstrikes targeting the Ras Isa port complex on April 18, in Hodeidah province, Yemen.

Escalate or concede defeat? US faces dilemma over Houthis in Yemen


Cutting off Hamas: 'Post' visits IDF's 'Morag Corridor' in Gaza

'Morag' is intended to drive a wedge between the Rafah and Khan Yunis brigades of Hamas, and then to destroy these formations.

 IDF soldiers operate in the Morag Corridor, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Collision course: Are Israel and Turkey headed for confrontation?

BEHIND THE LINES: With Turkey's backing of Hamas and disputes in Syria, the future of Jerusalem-Ankara ties look dim.

 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa (L) shake hands as they hold a joint press conference after their meeting at Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkiye on February 4, 2025.

In its attacks on Houthis, the United States is missing the Russian connection

BEHIND THE LINES: The US administration appears to fail to notice the broader alliance taking shape behind these forces, and the interconnectedness of the current assault on the West.

 A US FIGHTER plane takes off from the deck of an aircraft carrier said to be for a sortie against the Yemen’s Houthis at an unidentified location, from a handout video released on March 18.

PKK ceasefire declaration: What it means for Turkey, Syria and the Kurds

If Ocalan's declaration does not by itself signal the conclusion of the PKK-Ankara war, what is it nevertheless likely to herald? And does the declaration have broader regional implications?

 A demonstrator holds a picture of jailed Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan during a rally in Diyarbakir, Turkey, February 27, 2025

Is Israel preparing to strike Iran's nuclear sites?

Behind the Lines | With Iran's proxies weakened and its air defenses damaged, the time is ripe for Israel to act against Tehran's nuclear program.

 AN ANNUAL military parade in Tehran last year displays the Jihad missile system.

AANES ambassador to 'Post': 'Syria’s security needs Israel involved' - interview

Syrian Kurdish leader Ilham Ahmed says Israel must be part of the solution for Middle East security as tensions rise between the SDF and Islamist rulers in Damascus.

 AANES Kurdish fighters in Syria.

The last Jews of Damascus: A journey through memory and ruins

Behing the Lines | Inside Syria's ancient capital, a lone Jewish guardian watches over abandoned properties while Islamist rulers patrol the rubble of historic synagogues.

 THE ELFRANGE SYNAGOGUE in Damascus.

Assessing Turkish intentions after Assad's regime fall

BEHIND THE LINES - Ankara appears set on a two-sided strategy to unify Syria under the rule of its Sunni Islamist client

 A MEMBER of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stands along a street after rebels seized the capital and ousted Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Hasakah, earlier this month.

Winners and losers: Who will benefit in Assad regime's fall?

BEHIND THE LINES: Few in Syria, among those close to the former regime, take seriously the moderate and considered image currently being presented by HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani.

 PEOPLE HOLD the Syrian opposition flag as they celebrate, after rebels ousted Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Jableh, in the Latakia governorate, on Monday.

Behind Iraq's concern at Gideon Sa'ar's UNSC letter - analysis

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar sent a letter to the president of the UN Security Council, in which he called for immediate action regarding the activities of pro-Iranian militias in Iraq.

 FOREIGN MINISTER Gideon Sa’ar speaks at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem earlier this month.