This is the name given to two neighboring regions located in western Asia and northeastern Africa. The Middle East includes Egypt, Sudan, Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Cyprus, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the Palestinian Territories, and Turkey, one part of whose territory lies in Europe, and the other in Asia. The bulk of Egypt's territory is located in Africa, but the Sinai Peninsula, which belongs to Egypt, is already Asia. Asia is separated from Africa by the Suez Canal. This is the largest shipping canal in the world. The countries of the Middle East, together with Iran and Afghanistan, are called the Middle East.
Endless deserts - sometimes rocky, sometimes sandy - occupy most of the Near and Middle East. The sun burns mercilessly, rain is rare and only occurs in winter. There is not enough water. People settle on the banks of rivers: the Nile in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq. In deserts, where there are wells with fresh water, green islands appear, which are called oases. There, under the date palms, there are small villages. Bedouins, nomadic herders, roam the vast expanses of deserts with their camels. They often visit oases, where they exchange camel hair and meat with local peasants for dates, corn, beans and other products.
In recent years, nomadic pastoralists have increasingly switched to a sedentary lifestyle. Some settlements are located on mountain slopes and in intermountain basins. More rain falls on mountain slopes. In winter they form turbulent mountain rivers. Such rivers are called wadis. In summer the wadis dry out. By watering the land abundantly, farmers in the Near and Middle East grow corn, wheat, barley, sorghum, cotton, dates, lemons and oranges, as well as many other agricultural products. The long-staple cotton harvested in Egypt is considered the finest in the world. The finest and most beautiful cotton fabrics are made from it. Mocha coffee, which is grown in the Yemen Arab Republic, is highly prized. The best varieties of oranges and lemons are cultivated in oases. Roses are also grown in oases, from whose petals oil for perfumery is made. The Taif oasis in Saudi Arabia is famous for the best varieties of roses.
The greatest wealth of the Near and Middle East is oil and gas. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, and Iraq are especially rich in them. The production and sale of oil enriched these countries and gave them the opportunity to build new cities, seaports, modern factories and factories.
There are many large and very large cities in the Near and Middle East. In the capital of Egypt, Cairo, the population is almost the same as in Moscow. Millions of people live in the Iranian capital Tehran, the Iraqi capital Baghdad and Turkey's largest port city Istanbul. In Egypt and Turkey, almost half the population lives in cities. There are many citizens in other countries of the Near and Middle East. But most of their inhabitants are peasants. As a rule, they live poorly. The main food is various porridges made from corn, millet, beans, oat and wheat cakes, dates, and sour milk. In most villages, people are forced to drink untreated water. Poor nutrition, poor-quality water, and expensive medical care lead to the widespread spread of various diseases and reduce life expectancy. Usually people live there for an average of about fifty years. Many children cannot attend school. In the village, from the age of six or seven, they work together with their parents in the fields. In cities, child labor is used in weaving factories and carpet workshops. Children are hired as servants by wealthy families. Often, children of poor people are forced to work to pay off their parents' debts. Only in those countries in the Near and Middle East that have become rich through the sale of oil and gas, the majority of children attend free schools and can even receive free higher education. In these countries, the population also receives free treatment.
Our country provided great assistance to the countries of the Near and Middle East. Plants and factories were built there to produce various machines, cars, cars, and sea vessels. We helped Egypt build a high dam on the Nile and the largest hydroelectric power station in Africa. For Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Syria and other countries, our country has trained many qualified workers, engineers, teachers and doctors. Cooperation between the countries of the Near and Middle East and with other countries of the world is developing. Oil and gas from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, and Iraq are bought by Japan, Italy, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Great Britain, and the USA. Many countries around the world buy Egyptian cotton, Turkish tobacco, Yemeni coffee, cotton fabrics, linen and clothing, washing powder and other goods from the Near and Middle East. In turn, they sell cars and food products that they lack to these countries.
The Near and Middle East is a vast region at the junction of Asia, Africa and Europe, whose borders sometimes include Afghanistan in the east, Sudan in the south and North African states in the west. The Russian-language term “Near and Middle East” is a calque of both the English (Middle East) and French (Proche-Orient) names of the region. In accordance with the established tradition, the Middle East is usually called South-West Asia, that is, the territories that were previously part of the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East includes the western approaches to India - Iran and Afghanistan. The process of shaping the modern political map of the region began with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which resulted in the formation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, as well as a number of territories (Palestine, Iraq, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon), governed by the mandate of the League of Nations by Great Britain and France and gaining independence in the 1930s–1940s The second wave of the formation of new states in the Middle East took place in the 1960–1970s, when former British protectorates on the Arabian Peninsula gained sovereignty.
Gaining independence by the states of the Middle East after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire
The process of formation of the political map of the Middle East throughout the 20th and part of the 21st centuries. included not only the emergence of new sovereign states, but also changes in their form of government. In most states in the region, the system of power had developed by the time they gained independence, but there were a number of exceptions to this rule, when the monarchy was replaced by a republic as a result of a revolution or coup d'etat (Egypt - 1953, Iraq - 1958, Iran - 1979). In general, Arab republics with the exception of Lebanon are characterized by the presence of stable authoritarian one-party regimes led by charismatic leaders who usually combine the functions of state and party leaders: Saddam Hussein in Iraq (1979–2003), Hosni Mubarak in Egypt (1981–2011). The most significant example of such a “monarchical republic” is Syria, where in 2000 Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father Hafez al-Assad, who was re-elected four times from 1971 to 2000, as president. As for monarchies, regional specificity lies in the fact that the special role here belongs not so much to the monarch as to the entire ruling family: in some Arab monarchies, the ruling clans have held power for centuries (in Bahrain - since 1782, in Qatar - since 1822). During the Cold War, Arab “revolutionary democracies” in both the Middle East and North Africa relied on the USSR for foreign and domestic political development, while the monarchical states of Israel and Turkey supported the United States. In the early 1990s. The split into pro- and anti-Western states has practically lost its significance, however, to this day there remain two anti-Western regimes in the region - Syria and Iran, and the emergence of new ones is not excluded due to the possibility of Islamization of secular states (such as, for example, Egypt).
Forms of government of the states of the Near and Middle East
The Middle East has become the cradle of three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but currently the specificity of the region lies in its confessional homogeneity: Islam is professed by the vast majority of the population of all countries with the exception of Israel. Originating on the territory of modern Saudi Arabia at the beginning of the 7th century, Islam became the foundation of Arab statehood, so it is not surprising that of all regions of the world, it is the Near and Middle East that demonstrates the greatest degree of interdependence of religion and politics. It is here that the entire spectrum of possible relations between the Church and the state is presented: in the Near and Middle East, secular Syria and Turkey coexist with the theocracies of Saudi Arabia and Iran; in a number of Arab countries and Israel, while maintaining the secular nature of government, religion is not formally separated from the state. The political situation within a particular country is often determined by relations between religious groups, primarily between representatives of the two leading movements in Islam - Sunnis and Shiites. Shiites make up the majority of the population in only three states of the Near and Middle East - Iran (80%), Iraq (60%) and Bahrain (about 60%); however, in a number of countries (Lebanon, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc.) there are large Shia communities. The coexistence of the Shiite and Sunni populations within the same state is often fraught with internal political contradictions - an example in this case is the situation in Lebanon, where about 40% of the population are Christians of various faiths (mainly Maronites), and 60% are Muslims. According to the National Pact of 1943, the country's president must be a Christian Maronite, the prime minister must be a Sunni, and the speaker of parliament must be a Shiite. This distribution of power became outdated by the mid-1970s. due to the rapid growth of the Shiite population. In 1975–1991 Lebanon was in a state of civil war between Christians and Muslims, with the former supported by Israel and the latter by Syria, which, taking advantage of the situation, sent its troops into Lebanon and actually took control of the foreign and domestic policies of the state. The 1989 Taif Accords limited the power of the Maronite president in favor of a Sunni-led government, but internal political stability in Lebanon was achieved only for a relatively short time. Since 2005, there has been an ongoing crisis in Lebanon caused by the withdrawal of Syrian troops and the activation of the pro-Syrian Shiite minority led by the anti-Israeli group Hezbollah.
Islam is the main, but not the only ideology guiding the political development of the states of the Near and Middle East. One of the leading currents of socio-political thought in the region can be called the Arab version of secular nationalism - pan-Arabism, which emerged at the end of the 19th century. and by the 1940s. which was a fusion of nationalist and socialist ideas. The main promoter of pan-Arabism is considered to be the Arab Socialist Renaissance Party (“Baath” - revival, Arabic), created in Syria in 1947 and in power there since 1963, and also ruling in Iraq in 1968-2003; Regional branches of the party still operate in many countries in the Middle East. The activities of “Baath” are aimed at creating a socialist “united Arab homeland”, and its slogan remains “Unity. Freedom. Socialism". Arab nationalism, as the basis of state building in the region, however, could not withstand historical competition with Islam: the crushing defeat of the Arabs (primarily Syria and Egypt) in the Six-Day War of 1967 was, in fact, the defeat of secular ideology itself and led to the so-called “Islamic revival”, which continues in the region to this day.
As for the economic specifics of the region, it is determined, first of all, by its unique oil content: approximately 56% of world oil production occurs here. The leading oil producers are Saudi Arabia (about 20% of explored oil is located on its territory), Iran, Iraq and Kuwait. States classified as oil exporters (Arabian monarchies) are characterized by a low level of economic diversification, high GDP and per capita income (Qatar ranks 1st in the world in this indicator). Oil, however, is not only a blessing, but also a conflict-forming factor in the region: firstly, the presence of such rich resources throughout the 20th – 21st centuries. made the Near and Middle East an object of expansion by great powers (Great Britain, France, Russia, and later the USA); secondly, oil reserves are distributed extremely unevenly among the states of the region.
The most striking calling card of the Near and Middle East is the increased conflict in the region. We can identify a number of factors of a political, religious, ethnic, and geographical nature that complicate both interstate relations and the internal political situation in individual countries.
Factors of conflict in the Near and Middle East
1. The colonial past of the region (after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the independence of the mandated territories and protectorates, a lot of territorial claims remained unresolved, the problem of statehood of the Kurds and the creation of an Arab state in Palestine).
2. The political “youth” of the states of the region (in the Near and Middle East, the process of identifying a regional leader among too many ambitious regimes is actively underway. At different periods, both theocratic (Saudi Arabia, Iran) and secular (Syria) have claimed and are claiming this status , Egypt, Turkey) states).
3. Active intervention of great powers in regional processes (the Middle East was split into two camps during the Cold War, and after its end, the position regarding US policy became the watershed in the region).
4. The religious diversity of the region with the dominant role of Sunni Islam.
5. Low availability of water resources (the problem of water distribution of transboundary rivers creates additional tension in relations between Syria and Israel (Jordan River), Syria and Turkey (Tigris and Euphrates Rivers)).
6. Demographic situation in the region (the region is characterized by a high proportion of children (20–40% in various states) and youth in the age structure of the population, which ultimately leads to a lack of demand for a significant number of young people who become ideal material for recruitment into terrorist organizations ).
Southeast Asia is a major global economic center, known to most for its popular tourist destinations. This vast region is very diverse in terms of ethnic composition, culture and religion. All this over time affected the general way of life and arouses great interest among tourists from all over the world.
The countries of Southeast Asia are a generalized definition that refers to a number of states concentrated south of China, east of India and north of Australia. Despite this, a map of Southeast Asia usually includes 11 states.
Since the middle of the last century and now, this part of the world has been actively developing and playing a huge role in the global economy. The population of Southeast Asia is about 600 million people, the most populous country is Indonesia, and the most populous island is Java.
The length of the region from north to south is 3.2 thousand kilometers, and from west to east - 5.6. The countries of Southeast Asia are the following:
Sometimes this list includes some other territories controlled by states that are part of Asia, but in general their location is not among the countries of the southeast. Most often these are islands and territories controlled by China, India, Australia and Oceania, these include:
- (China).
- (China).
- (Australia).
- (China).
- Nicobar Islands (India).
- islands (India).
- Ryukyu Islands (Japan).
According to various sources, about 40% of the world's population lives in the countries of Southeast Asia; many have united in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Thus, in 2019, almost half of the world’s GDP is produced here. The economic characteristics of recent years have been marked by high development in the region in many areas.
Tourism sector
The end of the war between the United States and Vietnam had a positive effect on the popularization of resorts in the late 60s. They are still actively developing today, especially since citizens of our country can go to most of these countries under a simplified visa regime, and many do not require a visa at all. The countries of Southeast Asia, due to their tropical climate, are suitable for beach holidays all year round.
Still, in certain parts of this giant peninsula the climate is different at different times of the year, so it would be useful to study the maps in advance. In the middle and second half of winter, it is better to go to India, to an island or to Vietnam, since at this time of year there is no constant rainfall inherent in a tropical climate. Other suitable destinations include Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
- southern China;
- Indonesia;
- Malaysia;
- Pacific Islands.
The most popular destinations among our tourists are Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Peoples and cultures
The racial and ethnic composition of Southeast Asia is very heterogeneous. This also applies to religion: the eastern part of the archipelago is mostly inhabited by followers of Buddhism, and there are also Confucians - due to the large number of Chinese immigrants from the southern provinces of the PRC, there are about 20 million of them here. These countries include Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and a number of other states. It is also not uncommon to meet Hindus and Christians. In the western part of Southeast Asia, Islam is predominantly practiced; this religion ranks first in terms of the number of followers.
The ethnic composition of the region is represented by the following peoples:
And in this list there is only a small part of all ethnic groups and subgroups; there are also representatives of the peoples of Europe. By and large, the culture of the southeast is a cross between Indian and Chinese cultures.
The Spaniards and Portuguese, who colonized the islands in these places, had a great influence on the population. Arab culture also played a huge role; about 240 million people profess Islam here. Over the centuries, common traditions have developed here; almost everywhere in all these countries, people eat using Chinese chopsticks and are very fond of tea.
Yet there are amazing cultural features that will interest any foreigner. One of the most superstitious peoples in the archipelago are the Vietnamese. For example, it is customary for them to hang mirrors on the outside of the entrance: if a dragon comes, it will immediately run away, afraid of its own reflection. There is also a bad omen to meet a woman in the morning when leaving the house. Or it is considered bad manners to lay out cutlery on a table for one person. It is also not customary to touch a person’s shoulder or head, as they believe that good spirits are nearby, and touching them can scare them away.
Demography
In the countries of Southeast Asia, the birth rate has decreased in recent years, however, this part of the world ranks second in terms of population reproduction.
The inhabitants here are distributed very heterogeneously, the most densely populated place is the island of Java: the density per 1 square kilometer is 930 people. All are settled on the Indochina Peninsula, which occupies the eastern part of Southeast Asia, and on the western Malay Archipelago, consisting of many large and small islands. The population preferably lives in the deltas of numerous rivers, the high mountain areas are less populated, and the forest areas are practically deserted.
The majority of all people live outside cities, the rest settle in developed centers, most often the capitals of states, the lion's share of the economy of which is replenished by the tourist flow.
Thus, almost all of these cities have a population of over 1 million, yet most of the population lives outside them and is engaged in agriculture.
Economy
Looking at the map, the countries of Southeast Asia can be roughly divided into 2 camps. The first includes the following:
- Laos;
- Cambodia;
- Vietnam.
In the post-war period, these countries chose the socialist path of development, when, in fact, territorial division began in order to strengthen national sovereignty. Back in the 1980s, these countries had practically no manufacturing industry; the local population was mainly engaged in agricultural work. According to UN statistics of those years, these states had a low level of development, per capita income usually did not exceed $500 per year.
The second camp includes the following countries:
- Indonesia;
- Malaysia;
- Singapore;
- Philippines;
- Thailand;
- Brunei.
Countries from this list united into the Association of Southeast Asia (ASEAN) and followed the path of a market economy. As a result, the socialist camp achieved less success, although initially all these countries had almost equal chances. Income per person per year ranged from 500 to 3 thousand dollars.
The most developed countries in ASEAN today are Brunei and Singapore, with a per capita income of about 20 thousand dollars. Such indicators were achieved due to the fact that Singapore has a well-developed industry, and Brunei acts as an exporter of petroleum products. Several factors helped the developing ASEAN:
- Export.
- Industry.
- Foreign investments.
- Creating corporations with a flexible, viable system.
- Reforms.
ASEAN countries began to develop successfully due to the presence of a large amount of natural resources, and they are constantly exporting their goods. Also in the countries of Southeast Asia, components for various household appliances, electronics and other equipment are made. Thailand also exports cars.
In countries following the path of socialism, the restructuring of the system began to take place at the end of the 1980s and produced visible results in just a few years. Vietnam began refining oil, extracting natural gas, iron ore and more. Foreign capital poured into this country from Singapore and a number of European countries. Thailand invested in Laos, and at the end of the twentieth century, both states were also able to join ASEAN.
The Middle East covers the territory of western Asia and northeastern Africa. The process of forming the modern political map of the region began after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. It was then that the Turkish Republic was formed in 1923, as well as a number of well-known territories - Palestine, Iraq, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon. At first these territories were governed by Great Britain and France under the mandate of the League of Nations. Only in the 1930s and 1940s did they gain independence. The second wave of the formation of new states in the Middle East took place in the 1960s and 1970s, when former British protectorates on the Arabian Peninsula gained sovereignty.
The Middle East is now so fragmented by contradictions, disputes and wars that it is very difficult to find a single description for the region. Most people associate it with deserts and Arabs.
But it was the Middle East that became the cradle of three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. However, Islam is now practiced by the vast majority of the population of all countries, with the exception of Israel. And Islam, or rather its movements, is the cause of wars in a number of cases.
The main population of the region: Arabs, Persians, Armenians, Turks, Kurds, Azerbaijanis, Jews, Georgians and Assyrians. The main route from Europe and Africa to Asia runs through the Middle East. Or it no longer fits, or rather it is blocked. During the Cold War, the Middle East became a theater of ideological struggle between the United States and the USSR. And although the USSR no longer exists, the struggle continues.
The climate is mostly arid, with only a few large rivers used for irrigation.
Middle East today
Today the region is politically unstable. Confrontation of forces, wars, terrorist attacks are pressing problems for the countries of the Middle East. Everyone is hearing about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the consequences of the war in Iraq, the war in Syria, and the unstable situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
See for yourself the list of countries in the region below. No one has thought of going to some of them for a long time; to some (Turkey and Egypt), people from Russia and the CIS countries only recently flew in droves on vacation. Now they don’t fly, only those who are especially desperate get there via Belarus or the like, because there are no flights from Russia.
Middle Eastern countries include:
- Egypt,
- Sudan,
- Israel,
- Jordan,
- Iraq,
- Syria,
- Lebanon,
- United Arab Emirates,
- Oman,
- Palestinian territories,
- Saudi Arabia,
- Yemen,
- Kuwait,
- Qatar,
- Bahrain,
- Cyprus,
- Türkiye.
The Middle East is known for its ancient history and as the region where Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism emerged. Now the region is attracting attention as the most turbulent. It is with him that most of the news is connected at the moment.
The most ancient states on the planet existed in the Middle East, but the current state of the region is of particular interest.
What is happening in Yemen, the agreement on Iran's nuclear program, Saudi Arabia's actions in the oil market - all this forms the news flow and greatly influences the global economy.
Middle Eastern countries
The Middle East now includes Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Georgia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Cyprus, Lebanon, Palestinian National Authority, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Politically, the Middle East has rarely been stable, but instability is now extremely high.
Arabic dialects in the Middle East
This map shows the enormous extent of the different dialects of Arabic and the great linguistic diversity.
This situation takes us back to the caliphates of the 6th and 7th centuries, which spread the Arabic language from the Arabian Peninsula to Africa and the Middle East. But over the past 1,300 years, individual dialects have become very distant from each other.
And where the distribution of the dialect does not coincide with state borders, that is, with the boundaries of communities, various problems may arise.
Shiites and Sunnis
The history of Islam's division between Sunnis and Shiites began with the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632. Some Muslims argued that power should pass to Ali, who was Muhammad's son-in-law. As a result, the struggle for power was lost by Ali's supporters in the civil war, who were precisely called Shiites.
Nevertheless, a separate branch of Islam has emerged, which now includes about 10-15% of Muslims around the world. However, only in Iran and Iraq do they constitute a majority.
Today the religious confrontation has turned into a political one. Shiite political forces led by Iran and Sunni political forces led by Saudi Arabia are fighting for influence in the region.
This is a campaign against the Cold War within the region, but often it develops into real military clashes.
Ethnic groups of the Middle East
The most important color on the map of Middle Eastern ethnic groups is yellow: Arabs, who form the majority in almost all Middle Eastern countries, including North African countries.
The exceptions are Israel, where Jews predominate (pink), Iran, where the population is Persian (orange), Turkey (green) and Afghanistan, where ethnic diversity is generally high.
Another important color on this card is red. Ethnic Kurds do not have their own country, but are strongly represented in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
Oil and gas in the Middle East
The Middle East produces about a third of the planet's oil and about 10% of its gas. The region accounts for about a third of all natural gas reserves, but it is more difficult to transport.
Most of the extracted energy resources are exported.
The region's economies are heavily dependent on oil supplies, and this wealth has also led to many conflicts in the last few decades.
The map shows the main hydrocarbon reserves and transportation routes. Energy resources are largely concentrated in three countries that have historically competed with each other: Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
The most interesting thing is that the confrontation has been actively supported by the United States since the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.
The importance of the Suez Canal for world trade
The facility that forever changed world trade is located in the Middle East.
After Egypt opened the canal in 1868 after 10 years of work, the 100-mile man-made route firmly connected Europe and Asia. The importance of the canal to the world was so obvious and great that after the British conquered Egypt in 1880, the world's leading powers signed a treaty that remains in effect to this day, declaring that the canal would forever be open to trade and warships of any country.
Today, about 8% of all global trade flows occur through the Suez Canal.
Oil, trade and military in the Strait of Hormuz
The world economy also depends heavily on the narrow strait between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. In 1980, US President Jimmy Carter issued the “Carter Doctrine,” which required the US to use military force to protect its access to Persian Gulf oil.
After this, the Strait of Hormuz became the most militarized stretch of water on the entire planet.
The US deployed large naval forces to protect exports during the Iran-Iraq War and later during the Gulf War. Now forces remain there to prevent Iran from blocking the canal.
Apparently, as long as the world remains dependent on oil and the Middle East remains unsettled, the armed forces will remain in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's nuclear program and a possible Israeli attack plan
Iran's nuclear program has raised many questions from other states, but Israel's reaction was one of the strongest, since these countries have far from friendly relations.
The Iranian authorities are trying to convince the whole world that the program is exclusively peaceful. However, UN sanctions led to the fact that Iran's economy faced great difficulties, since it was impossible to export oil.
At the same time, Israel fears that Iran could develop nuclear weapons and use them against it, and Iran may be concerned that it will always be under the threat of an Israeli strike if it does not possess weapons.
The threat of the "Islamic State"
The Islamic State threat still remains strong. The situation in Libya is rapidly deteriorating, despite Egypt's bombing of positions of militants of the Islamic State terrorist organization. Every day they manage to expand their spheres of influence in the country.
Libya may soon be completely under the control of IS militants. There is a threat to Saudi Arabia, since the leaders of the Islamic State have already stated that it is part of the “holy caliphate” that needs to be liberated from the “wicked.”
There is a serious possibility of a cessation of supplies from Libya altogether, as well as problems with transportation. In early February, US President Barack Obama sent an appeal to the US Congress asking for permission to use military force against IS for a period of three years.
Yemen - a new point of risk
The Shia Zaidi rebels, whose paramilitary wing the Houthis captured Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, in February 2015, forcing Yemen's Saudi-loyal President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee, are beginning to expand their spheres of influence.
Their success may push the Shiites from Saudi Arabia to start an armed struggle with the country's authorities.
The civil war Yemen is slipping into could become a new episode of confrontation between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, which is the richest country in the region and also has the largest oil reserves in the world.
At the same time, most of the kingdom’s proven reserves are located in the southern regions of the country, populated mainly by Shiites and located in close proximity to the border with Yemen, the total length of which is about 1.8 thousand km.
