Russia in the Middle East: - National Security Challenges for the United States and Israel in the Biden Era

S.-Russian tensions on the global level and conflict as a distinct possibility, Russia’s role in the Middle East could turn into a strategic challenge and urgent concern to both Israel and the United States in sensitive arenas such as Syria and Iran and in the cyber and technological domains. [...] S.-Israel Relations and Specific Areas for Cooperation Given the geopolitics of a changing Middle East, the United States and Israel must reaffirm the importance of the bilateral relationship, maintain the close coordination to which they both are accustomed, and work through their potential differences concerning the roles of Russia, Turkey, and China in the Middle East. [...] In pursuit of spheres of influence in States, commerce and trade still tie the United States the Middle East, the eastern Mediterranean, and the to the region, as do the region’s salience to Asia’s econ- Caucasus, Turkey is precariously balanced against omies and the U. [...] That said, the strategic posture of the United States Turkey’s strategic vacillation and its growing involvement has been in flux from the Obama administration to the in conflict zones in Libya and Syria have the potential to Trump administration and from the Trump administration dovetail with great power conflict in the Middle East— to the Biden administration. [...] Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union the ground, intervention in Syria emerged as the crucial were both active external powers in the Middle East, next step for Russia, Russia’s gateway for a return to enmeshed in rivalries with the Ottoman Empire, the the Middle East in 2015.