___

• Peter E. Paraschos, “Geopolitical Risk in the Middle East and North Africa: Shatter Belts and Great Power Rivalry”, Japan SPOTLIGHT, March-April 2017, p. 18.
• Saun Bernard Cohen, Geopolitics: the Geography of International Relations, Maryland, Rowman and Littlefield, 2009, p. 362.
• Paraschos, “Geopolitical Risk in the Middle East and North Africa: Shatter Belts and Great Power Rivalry”, pp. 9-20. 4 Cohen
• Geopolitics: the Geography of International Relations, p. 355.
• Geoffrey Kemp and Robert Harkavy, “Strategic Geography and the Changing Middle East: Strategic Access to Middle East Resources: Lesson from History”, https://acc. teachmideast.org/texts.php?module_id=4&reading_id=202&sequence=2# (last visited 21 December 2017). 6 Ibid.
• Paul R. Hensel and Paul F. Diehl, “Testing Empirical Propositions about Shatterbelts, 1945-1976”, Political Geography , Vol. 13, No. 1 (January 1994), pp. 33-51. 8 Ibid. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid.
• Saul Bernard Cohen quoted in Hensel and Paul F. Diehl, “Testing Empirical Propositions about Shatterbelts, 1945-1976”, www.paulhensel.org/Research/pgq94.pdf (last visited 7 July 2017).
• Saul Bernard Cohen, Geopolitics: the Geography of International Relations, p.355. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid.
• “Full Text of China’s Arab Policy Paper”, Xinhua, 14 January 2016, http://www.china. org.cn/world/2016-01/14/content_37573547.htm (last visited 15 June 2017). 16 Ibid.
• Saul Bernard Cohen, Geopolitics of the World System, Maryland, Rowman and Littlefield, 2003, p. 328.
• Ibid, p. 328. 20 Ibid. 22 Ibid, p. 330.
• The term coined by George Kennan, “The Sources of Soviet Conflict”, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 25, No. 4, (July 1947), pp. 566-582
• Cohen, Geopolitics of the World System, p. 333. 25 Ibid.
• Peter L. Hahn, “Securing the Middle East: The Eisenhower Doctrine of 1957”, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 36, No.1 (March 2006), p. 38.
• Emile Hokayem and Becca Wasser, “Gulf States in an Era of American Retrenchment”, Adelphi Series, No. 447-448 (2014), p. 137.
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• Barry R. Schneider, “Nuclear Proliferation and Counter-Proliferation: Policy Issues and Debates”, Mershon International Studies Review, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Oct 1994), p. 226.
• Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Joshua D. Goodman, “The Attack on Syria’s Al Kibar Nuclear Facility”, http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2009/02/28/the-attack-on- syrias-al-kibar-nuclear-facility/ (last visited 10 December 2017).
• “WMD Free Middle East Proposal at a Glance”, Arms Control Association, https:// www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/mewmdfz (last visited 20 June 2017)
• Dina Esfandiary, “In the Middle East, Get Rid of Chemical Weapons First”, Arms Control Today, Vol.44, No.1 (January – February 2014), p. 27.
• Daniel Byman and Sara Bjerg Moller, “The United States and the Middle East: Interests, Risks and Costs” in Bengamin Valentino and Jeremy Suri (eds.), Sustainable Security; Rethinking American National Security Strategy, Oxford University Press, 2016, pp.267- 269.
• Jeremy M. Sharp, “US Foreign Aid to Israel”, Congressional Research Service, 12 March 2012, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf (last visited 10 August 2017).
• Michele Dunne and Frederic Wehrey, “US-Arab Counterterrorism Cooperation in a Region Ripe for Extremism”, Policy Outlook, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, (October 2014), http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/DunneWehrey_ USArabCounterterrorism_Oct2014.pdf (last visited 10 December 2017). 37 Ibid.
• Hokayem and Wasser, “Gulf States in an Era of American Retrenchment”, Adelphi Series 54,No. 447-448 (2014), ( , p. 146. 39 Ibid., p. 145. 40 Ibid., p. 143.
• Samuel Charap, “Is Russia an Outside Power in the Gulf ”, Adelphi Series 54, No. 447- 448 (2014),, (2014), p. 187. 42 Ibid., p. 188.
• Ronald Dannreuther, “Russia and the Middle East: A Cold War Paradigm” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 64, No. 3 (2012), p. 547. 45 Ibid, p. 549.
• Charap, “Is Russia an Outside Power in the Gulf ”, p.192. 47 48 Ibid. 49 Ibid., 190. 50 Ibid. 51 Ibid., 192.
• Ronald Dannreuther, “Russia and the Middle East: A Cold War Paradigm”, p. 551.
• Ronald Dannreuther, “Russia and the Arab Spring Supporting the Counter Revolution’, Journal of European Integration, Vol, 37,No.1, (2015), p. 89.
• Dannreuther, “Russia and the Middle East: A Cold War Paradigm”, p. 553. 55 Ibid. 56 Ibid. 57 Ibid, 554.
• Stephen Blank and Edward Levitzky, “Geostrategic Aims of the Russian Arms Trade in East Asia and Middle East” Defence Studies, Vol.15,No.1, (2015), 71. 59 Ibid., 82. 60 Ibid., 83.
• Dannreuther, “Russia and the Arab Spring Supporting the Counter Revolution”, p. 84.
• Kristina Kausch, “Competitive Multipolarity in the Middle East”, International Spectator, Vol. 50, No. 3 (2015), p. 5.
• Andrew Scobell and Alireza Nader, “China in the Middle East – The Wary Dragon”, Santa Monica, Rand, 2016, pp. 7-8. 64 Ibid., p. 10.
• Paraschos, “Geopolitical Risk in the Middle East and North Africa: Shatter Belts and Great Power Rivalry”, p. 20. 66 Ibid. 67 Ibid.
• Scobell and Nader, “China in the Middle East – The Wary Dragon”, p. 13. 69 Ibid, 14.
• Ben Blanchard, “China Sends Troops to Open First Overseas Military Base in Djibouti”, Reuters, 12 July 2017, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-djibouti- idUSKBN19X049 (last visited 19 July 2017). 71 Ibid.
• Emile Simpson, “This is How Great Power Wars Get Started”, Foreign Policy, June 21, 2017, www.foreignpolicy.com/2017/06/21/this-is-how-great-power-wars-get-started/ (last visited 15 June 2017). 73 Ibid. 74 Ibid.
• Scobell and Nader, “China in the Middle East – The Wary Dragon”, p. 16.
• Dannreuther, “Russia and the Arab Spring Supporting the Counter Revolution”, p. 84.
• Raymond Hinnebusch, and Anoushiravan Ehteshami, The Foreign Policies of Middle East States, Boulder/London, Lynne Rienner, 2002, p. 144.
• Jeffrey Martini, Erin York, and William Young, Syria as an Arena of Strategic Competition, Santa Monica, Rand, 2013. 79 Ibid. 80 Ibid. 81 Ibid.
• Stephen Blank and Edward Levitzky, “Geostrategic Aims of the Russian Arms Trade in East Asia and Middle East”, p. 84. 83 Ibid.
• Jiri Valenta and Leni Friedman Valenta, “Why Putin Wants Syria”, Middle East Quarterly, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Spring 2016), p. 5.
• Ben Quinn, “Russia’s Military Action in Syria – Timeline”, Guardian, 14 March 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/14/russias-military-action-in-syria- timeline (last visited 19 July 2017). 87 Ibid.
• Chester Crocker, “Syria’s Crisis of Transition”, National Interest, March/April 2013, p. 19.
• “US Launches Cruise Missiles on Syrian Airbase”, Al Jazeera, 7 April 2017, http:// www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/04/us-missiles-syria-170407013424492.html (last visited 19 July 2017).
• Dmitri Trenin, “Putin’s Plan for Syria: How Russia Wants to End the War”, Foreign Affairs, 13 December 2017, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/syria/2017-12-13/ putins-plan-syria#/new_tab (last visited 10 April 2018).
• “Syrian Government Ground Forces Attack Ghouta Despite Russia Truce Plan”, Reuters, 28 February 2018. 94 Ibid.
• Kausch, “Competitive Multipolarity in the Middle East”, pp. 10-11. 96 Ibid, 7.
• Geraint Alun Hughes, “Syria and the Perils of Proxy War”, Small Wars and Insurgencies, Vol. 25, No. 3 (2014), p. 530.
• Payam Mohseni and Hussein Kalout, “Iran’s Axis of Resistance Rises”, Foreign Affairs, 24 January 2017, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/iran/2017-01-24/irans-axis- resistance-rises (last visited 12 March 2018).
• “The Sunni-Shia Divide”, https://www.cfr.org/interactives/sunni-shia-divide# /sunni- shia-divide (last visited 20 December 2017).
• Emma Graham-Harrison, “Iraq Announces ‘Victory’ Over Islamic State in Mosul”, Guardian, 9 July 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/09/iraq- announces-victory-over-islamic-state-mosul (last visited19 July 2017). 101 Ibid.
• “Asia and the Middle East Lead Rising Trend in Arms Import, US Imports Grow Significantly, Says SIPRI”, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 12 March 2018, https://www.sipri.org/news/press-release/2018/asia-and-middle-east-lead- rising-trend-arms-imports-us-exports-grow-significantly-says-sipri (last visited 12 March 2018).
• “About IMCTC” https://imctc.org/English/About (last visited 12 March 2018).
• “Riyadh Summit Discusses Ways of Rooting Out Terrorism’, Aljazeera, 31 May 2017.
• “The Arab-Islamic-American Summit: A New Partnership to Confront the Terrorists and Iranian Threats”, International Institute for Iranian Studies, 28 May 2017, https:// arabiangcis.org/english/monitoring-and-translation/reports/the-arab-islamic- american-summit-a-new-partnership-to-confront-the-terrorists-and-iranian-threats / (last visited 4 January 2018).
• “Iran and Iraq Sign Accord to Boost Military Cooperation”, Reuters, 23 July 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-iraq-military/iran-and-iraq-sign-accord-to- boost-military-cooperation-idUSKBN1A80HJ
• Paraschos, “Geopolitical Risk in the Middle East and North Africa: Shatter Belts and Great Power Rivalry”, p. 19.