Rob Pinfold

Jan 7, 2025 | rusi.org | Rob Pinfold

Bashar al-Assad’s flight from Syria marks the end of an era, but the country’s fragmented future is now being shaped by competing foreign and internal powers. Before sunrise on 8 December 2024, Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane and left the country he had ruled with an iron fist for so long. Curiously, he opted for the longer flight to Moscow rather than the much shorter hop to neighbour and long-term ally Iran. For many, Assad’s destination was inconsequential.

Jun 25, 2024 | fathomjournal.org | Rob Pinfold |Hanin Ghaddar |Azriel Bermant |Yaakov Lappin

Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on Wednesday, July 17, setting off alarms in the coastal city of Nahariya and surrounding communities. It was one of a series of daily attacks carried out by Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed terrorist group has launched more than 5,000 attacks on Israel since 7 October, using rockets, missiles and drones. The attacks occur along Israel’s northern border, but they have become more deadly in recent weeks.

Feb 16, 2024 | warontherocks.com | Rob Pinfold

In a stormy cabinet debate after the Six Day War, Israel’s prime minister, Levi Eshkol, rejected hardline demands to apply direct civil rule over the newly captured West Bank, declaring: “I don’t want more land and I don’t want more Arabs.” This terse assertion pre-empted decades of Israeli policy. In its subsequent long history of occupation, Israel has almost always avoided directly practicing civilian governance over local Arab populations.

Jan 25, 2024 | fathomjournal.org | Yossi Kuperwasser |Ahron Bregman |Rob Pinfold |Michael Milshtein

On 25/1/24, Fathom Deputy Editors Calev Ben-Dor and Jack Omer-Jackaman interviewed Michael Milshtein, a leading expert on the Palestinian arena. They discussed the failures which led to 7 October – which Milshtein characterises as a failure of understanding as much as intelligence – and the current state of Israel’s war in Gaza. Milshtein is the Head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel-Aviv University.

Jan 23, 2024 | rusi.org | Rob Pinfold

Rob Geist Pinfold6 Minute ReadIsraeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s recently outlined plan for a post-war Gaza may appear to constitute a positive vision for the day after the fighting concludes, but it has little chance of being implemented and is fundamentally flawed. On 4 January, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant publicised his ‘day after Hamas’ scenario for the Gaza Strip.