Saudi Arabia’s attitude to human rights is particularly ambivalent. On the one hand, Riyadh shows signs of increasing openness. On the other, the authorities regularly demonstrate brutal behaviour, as illustrated by the murder in October 2018 of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In May 2019, he revealed to the press that he has been the target of death threats from Saudi Arabia, which he sees as a way of trying to shut him up, in the light of the investigations he has been leading on the Kingdom and its de facto leader MBS.

The Sudanese revolution fell victim to disagreements in the Arabian Gulf region, especially those between the Saudi-Emirati-Egyptian alliance on the one hand and the Turkish-Qatari alliance on the other. Protesters in Sudan believe that the Saudi-Emirati-Egyptian alliance is trying to hijack the revolution, prevent the transfer of power to civilians and support the military council to ensure its loyalty to the alliance against Qatar and Turkey and keep Sudanese troops supporting the Saudi-led coalition in the war in Yemen.

For now, Iran has continued to abide by the terms of the nuclear deal, despite the US withdrawal. However, this may be coming to an end: Rouhani declared earlier this month that Iran would walk back some of the deal’s obligations.

The Arab League has failed to play a meaningful role in any of the major crises that have beset the Arab world in recent decades, its sole contribution being to legitimize foreign intervention, which has incontestably made existing crises catastrophically worse.

French President Emanuel Macron has played a double game by declaring support for the GNA while aiding Haftar behind closed doors. Although Paris has never formally admitted to backing the general, it has provided political cover, weapons, training, intelligence and special forces assistance.

But to replace Iran’s exports to Iraq, the US and its allies need to have Iraq’s ruling elites on board, which is highly unlikely given that many of them are backed by Tehran; and provide real alternatives for Iraq’s need for Iran’s electricity and gas, which is also highly unlikely in the next two years at least. Therefore, it seems that the US anti-Iran policy in Iraq is facing a deadlock.

The complexity of the war is the main obstacle to the peace process. What started as the failure of a political transition supposed to bring stability following an Arab Spring uprising turned into a civil war in which the Houthi rebels, Zaidi Shia minority and other rebels including Sunnis attempted to seize power.

The campaign aims to establish Turkey as a leader of the Muslim world in competition with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and, to a lesser degree, Morocco. As part of the campaign, Turkey has positioned itself as a cheerleader for Muslim causes such as Jerusalem and the Rohingya at a moment that Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Muslim nations are taking a step back.

State-backed religious clerics have defended the guardianship system, arguing that it is rooted in a Koranic verse. But Saudi Islamic feminists and other religious scholars criticize the interpretation, claiming that nowhere in sharia, Islamic law that is partially derived from the Koran, is guardianship codified.