Why has the Gulf region grabbed global attention recently?
CGTN
One could be forgiven for thinking that we're watching the same news cycle as this time last year. On November 27, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the Iranian nuclear scientist, was killed when his car was hit by a remote-controlled weapon in Tehran. Israel has been suspected of being behind the attack. Then on December 2, the news emerged that U.S. President Donald Trump's adviser and son-in-law Jared Kusher was in Qatar for talks to resolve the three-year-old crisis between his hosts and Saudi Arabia.
The two cases have grabbed attention, partly because they have happened just as change is anticipated to be coming to the region next month when Trump is replaced by Joe Biden. Indeed, the two stories constitute part of a wider narrative about how American interests and actions will change in the Middle East from one presidency to the next.
