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In this online event, Crisis Group experts discuss the regional repercussions of the Gaza war.

This week on War & Peace, Olga Oliker and Elissa Jobson talk with Camille Lons, visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, about the EU's response to the crisis in the Red Sea and plans for an EU-led naval mission.

In this online event, Crisis Group’s experts and external speakers discussed the extent to which hydrocarbons have shaped conflict dynamics in the Eastern Mediterranean and the prospects for effective gas diplomacy, in particular.

Major gas finds in the eastern Mediterranean seabed over the last ten years have fuelled ambitions to link the region’s energy markets and, in turn, bring its countries in conflict to the negotiating table. These great expectations have proven outsized, but smaller-scale objectives are achievable.

For years, Gulf powers have mulled the notion of regional dialogue to calm existing crises and head off new ones. Today, with several active Middle Eastern conflicts, all sensitive to rising U.S.-Iran tensions, it is an idea whose time has come.

While GCC policymakers have responded swiftly to the threat of COVID-19 domestically, some Gulf states deftly used the crisis to advance their foreign policy objectives with states with which they have had adversarial relationships. Only time will tell whether these new diplomatic opportunities will lay groundwork for concerted regional efforts.

Why the Middle East Is More Combustible Than Ever

The Horn of Africa faces myriad crises. Beyond the potentially devastating impact of COVID-19 on politics and the economy, the region is grappling with deeply troubled transitions, cross-border jihadism and remains a playground for great power competition. In this first episode of Crisis Group's new podcast series The Horn, Alan Boswell is joined by Elizabeth Dickinson, Crisis Group's Senior Analyst for the Arabian Peninsula to discuss the risks of Red Sea rivalries and also the opportunities.