From the War on Gaza to Change in Syria:
Shifting Dynamics in the Middle East

Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani is one of the most influential media figures in the Arab region. He held various positions and responsibilities in the Ministry of Culture and Information of the State of Qatar in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before the country’s young leadership decided to abolish the Ministry of Information and adopt a more open media approach to the world.

Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani was entrusted with the task of founding and launching Al Jazeera Channel in November 1996 and was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al Jazeera Satellite Channel that same year. Ten years later, Al Jazeera English was launched, and the organisation’s name became Al Jazeera Media Network.

Today, Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani leads a network that includes several television channels and various digital centres and services. He also heads the Qatar Media Corporation.

Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Qatar University (1987).

Mr. Alvin Botes holds a Bachelor’s degree in Technology (Business Administration), a Postgraduate Diploma in Public and Development Management, and a National Diploma in Management, all obtained from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He is currently reading towards his Master’s in Management at the University of the Witwatersrand.

He served as a Member of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature from 2009 to 2018, including roles as MEC for Social Development (2009–2013) and MEC for COGHSTA (2013–2018). In February 2018, he became a Member of the National Assembly, contributing to committees on Basic Education, Water and Sanitation, and Sports and Recreation.

A member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee since 2017, he was appointed Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation by President Ramaphosa in 2019, and re-appointed in June 2024.

Dr. Mostefa Souag is currently Acting Director General of Al Jazeera Media Network. Prior to this, he had held various positions within the network, where he was Managing Director of Al Jazeera News Channel (Arabic), Director of News of Al Jazeera News Channel (Arabic), Advisor to His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al-Thani, Chairman of the Board for Al Jazeera Media Network. He also served as Director of Al Jazeera Center for Studies and was also based in the London as a bureau chief.

Before joining Al Jazeera Media Network he worked at the BBC World Service and also MBC. Dr. Souag has a PhD in literary studies, was professor of Literary Theory at the University of Algiers (Algeria) till 1993, when he left teaching to journalism/media.

Al Khalil holds a PhD in political science with a specialization in political geography, and a master’s degree in political science with a focus on constitutional law. He completed his undergraduate studies with a bachelor’s degree in public law, specializing in international relations, and earned a diploma in public legal studies from the University of Nouakchott.

Al Khalil’s journalistic career began in Mauritania in 1989 and continued in Qatar from 1997. Initially, he worked as a journalist and later assumed the role of Head of the Political Section at Al-Sharq. He then joined Al Jazeera Media Network as part of the team responsible for establishing its website in mid-May 2000. Over the years, he progressed within the network, serving as Managing Editor in June 2001, then as Deputy Editor-in-Chief, and eventually as Editor-in-Chief in early June 2010. In January 2018, he was appointed Director of Al Jazeera Centre for Studies.

Besides his extensive journalistic background, Al Khalil boasts academic, training and consultancy experience in the fields of journalism and political science. His expertise encompasses online journalism, editorial work, and the establishment and management of media institutions. Additionally, he offers training and consultancy services in international relations and political geography, particularly on the Arab world and West Africa. He has conducted numerous courses at Al Jazeera Media Institute since its inception.

He held several ministerial positions in the Gaza Strip, including Health, Youth and Sports, Interior, Media, and Prisoners Affairs. He also served as an advisor to the Prime Minister on International Affairs.
He has played a key role in Hamas, chairing the International Relations Council and being a member of the political leadership of the movement in Gaza since 2021. Additionally, he has been active in the union and health sectors, holding various positions in medical and academic institutions.

He has served as the managing editor and editor-in-chief for several weekly publications and strategic analysis journals. He has extensive experience in journalism and political analysis. He currently works with 180 Post, a strategic analysis platform associated with the Lebanese newspaper, As-Safir, contributing in-depth analyses on Lebanese and regional political issues.

In addition to his editorial work, he frequently appears as a political analyst on various local, Arab and international radio stations and television channels, offering insights on the political developments in Lebanon and the region.

He is the Chairman of the Advisory Board for the Palestinian Doctors Assembly in Europe (PalMed Europe), which includes nine branches and represents over a thousand doctors. He served as the Assembly’s president from 2019 to 2024.

He was instrumental in establishing the UK branch of the Assembly, where he served as its president in 2011, and was a founding member of the Assembly’s academy in Europe in 2022, where he holds a position on the board.

He regularly participates in medical conferences and seminars addressing health needs in Palestine. He also works as a consultant and volunteer for medical relief missions, the latest being in Gaza in March 2024. He played a key role in coordinating the kidney transplant program in Gaza (2012–2016) and was a founding member of the Hayat Emergency and Disaster Training Centre (2016–2022).

He has served as the Director of Masarat since 2011 and is one of its founders. He has worked in journalism and political analysis, having written for Al-Ayyam and As-Safir, and has held the position of editor-in-chief for several publications. He also served as the Director General of the Palestinian Media, Research and Studies Centre, Badael, between 2005 and 2011, and as the General Manager of the Printing & Publication Department at the Ministry of Information from 1995 to 2005.

He participated in the Commission of Dialogue held in Cairo in 2009 and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Yasser Arafat Foundation and its award committee. He has published hundreds of articles and research papers and has participated in numerous Arab and international conferences.

He is the Founder and Director of Jusoor Centre for Studies, an independent research centre specialising in studies and analyses related to Syria and the region. He has extensive experience in the Syrian opposition political scene, having served as an advisor to the Prime Minister of the Syrian Interim Government and held various administrative and political positions since 2005.

He is known for his pro-political change stance in Syria and regularly participates in international conferences and analytical programmes, offering in-depth insights into political and strategic developments in the Middle East.

He holds a PhD in International Law. He began his professional career as a lawyer in Damascus in 1993 before joining the Syrian diplomatic service. He held diplomatic positions in the Syrian embassies in Tehran, London and Yerevan.

Since 2012, he has moved into academia and research, holding teaching positions at Qatar University and the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, alongside his work in legal consulting, law practice, arbitration and legal training. He previously headed the legal office at the High Negotiations Committee of Syria and participated in numerous conferences, seminars and academic programmes related to law, politics and international relations.

He has published numerous peer-reviewed studies and articles on international law, politics and international relations, and has authored several books in his field.

He holds a degree in Sharia law and Islamic studies, along with postgraduate studies in the fundamentals of religion and Christian-Muslim relations.

He has been active in institutional and community work, founding the Islamic Faith Scouts and serving as its General Commissioner until 2013. He also contributed to the establishment of several international initiatives, including the Global Coalition to Support Jerusalem and Palestine and the Kuala Lumpur Forum.

He held several leadership positions within al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya in Lebanon, serving as head of the political office from 2010 to 2015 and as Secretary-General of the group from 2016 to the end of 2022. He is currently the Secretary-General of the Forum for Justice and Democracy, an international gathering of political parties with an Islamic reference.

Dr. Ismail Numan Telci is also a faculty member in the Department of International Relations and a lecturer at the Middle East Institute (ORMER) at Sakarya University, Turkey. He previously taught at the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul.

Between 2016 and 2019, he worked as a researcher at the SETA Foundation, focusing on Gulf affairs. From 2019 to 2024, he served as Vice President of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (ORSAM), where he established the Department of Gulf Studies and North Africa. His research interests include International Security, Conflict Resolution, Gulf States’ Foreign Policies, and Security in Africa. His analyses and commentary have been featured in international media outlets, including TRT World, Al Jazeera, BBC, Deutsche Welle, Le Monde, and Middle East Eye.

He holds a PhD in Geopolitics and International Relations and has extensive experience in the diplomatic service of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He served as the Iranian Ambassador to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and as the head of the Middle East and North Africa Department at the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He has also held the position of chargé d’affaires in Kuwait, Jordan and Lebanon, and currently serves as the Director of Middle East and North Africa Studies at the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition to his diplomatic work, he teaches at universities, focusing on geopolitics and international relations in the region.

He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and International Relations from Marmara University (2012). He has been a visiting researcher at Lancaster University and Virginia Tech, and is currently a faculty member at the Social Sciences University of Ankara.

His research focuses on geopolitical assessments, military analysis, intelligence studies and strategic foresight. He has conducted extensive field research in Syria, Libya and Iraq, providing in-depth analyses of regional conflicts and military strategies. Beyond academia, he actively contributes to think tanks and works to bridge academic research with policy analysis.

 His research interests include crises in the Levant region, especially the Syrian issue; the Arab-Israeli struggle; Sunni and Shiite trends; and Jihadist groups and their intellectual and jurisprudential rhetoricand political orientations. He has made many contributions and conducted much research including, “Hezbollah’s narrative of the Syrian war and the sectarian issue”, “The rhetoric, role and future of Jihadi ‘scholars’” and “Daesh’s Ideological Origins”.

He served as the movement’s representative in Iran, and later in Lebanon. In 2009, he assumed responsibility for Hamas’s international relations. He played a key role in Palestinian dialogue and contributed to efforts aimed at uniting the national front and rebuilding Gaza. During Tufan al-Aqsa, he was one of the leaders who regularly provided media briefings on military and political developments, offering updates on ceasefire negotiations and prisoner exchanges through press conferences from Beirut.

He holds the position of Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Lubab, AJCS’s peer-reviewed quarterly periodical, and specialises in regional issues. He also contributes as a political analyst at Al Jazeera Channel, in addition to being a researcher and writer on intellectual, strategic and media issues.

Since 2004, he has served as the Director General of Al-Zaytouna Center for Studies and Consultations. He is also the former Head of the Department of History and Civilization at the International Islamic University of Malaysia.

Specialising in Palestinian studies from historical, political and strategic perspectives, he has authored 17 books on Palestinian affairs. He has also co-edited 19 other books with fellow researchers and contributed 25 studies published as chapters in academic works. Additionally, he has published numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies.

With extensive experience in scientific editing, he has overseen the editing of 106 volumes and books. He has also been the scientific editor for key Palestinian information sources and studies between 2005 and 2025, including the Palestinian Strategic Report volumes, Palestinian Documents and Palestinian Diaries.

He holds a degree in media studies and began his professional career in 1982 as a correspondent in the Bekaa region. He progressed in the journalism field to become an editor and political analyst. He has worked with various media outlets, including An-Nahar, Ad-Diyar, Al Joumhouria, L’Orient–Le Jour and Radio Voice of Lebanon.

He served as the news and political programmes director at OTV and is considered one of Lebanon’s leading political commentators, providing daily analyses of Lebanese and Arab political developments across various Lebanese television channels, in addition to making appearances on prominent Arab and international networks.

Mohamed Oujar is a distinguished figure in law, human rights, and international diplomacy, with extensive experience in governmental and international affairs. He served as Minister of Justice of the Kingdom of Morocco (2017-2019) and as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Morocco to the United Nations in Geneva (2014-2017). During his tenure, he held key positions, including President of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, Coordinator of the African Group at the World Trade Organization (2017), and Vice President and Rapporteur of the International Organization for Migration (2015). Additionally, he was a prominent member of the Advisory Council on Human Rights (1998-2004) and a member of the Higher Authority for Audiovisual Communication.

In the political sphere, he was elected as a Member of the Moroccan Parliament representing Rabat (2002-2007) and served as Minister of Human Rights in the governments of Abderrahmane Youssoufi (1998-2002) and Driss Jettou (2002-2004). He is a founding member of the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights and an active member of several Arab and international civil society organizations. Oujar holds a Law Degree from Mohammed I University in Oujda and has completed specialized training programs in journalism and media in the United States, France, and Portugal.

He holds a PhD in International Public Law with honours from France. He has extensive experience in the legal field, working as a licensed lawyer before all courts in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and as a legal advisor to several corporate groups. He is also an internationally recognised arbitrator with several arbitration centres.

In addition to his professional work, he is an adjunct professor, with significant involvement in legal and political frameworks. He was an independent member of the Syrian opposition and revolutionary delegation at the 2016 Geneva peace talks and an independent member of the Constitutional Committee representing Syrian opposition forces.

He has published numerous academic studies and research in peer-reviewed journals, as well as several articles in Arabic newspapers and online platforms.

Fadel Abdul Ghany is the founder and director of the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) since its establishment in June 2011. He holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in International Law from De Montfort University in the United Kingdom and was awarded the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights in 2023 in recognition of his efforts in defending human rights. Over the years, he has contributed to hundreds of reports and investigations documenting severe human rights violations in Syria, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture, forced displacement, as well as the use of prohibited weapons and the looting of humanitarian aid.

Under his leadership, SNHR has become a key source of human rights data for United Nations entities, such as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, as well as for international organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Abdul Ghany has participated in high-level international forums, including the UN Security Council and the Human Rights Council, and has contributed to research papers and reports in collaboration with international and governmental organizations. His work has been cited by several governments, including the United States, Germany, France, and Canada, in their statements and reports on Syria.

Mohammad Subeih Al-Sibai was born in 1952 in Homs, Syria. He graduated from the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering at Damascus University in 1975. Shortly after his graduation, he was pursued by the Syrian regime and was arrested in March 1978. He spent twenty-seven years in prison, including approximately twenty years in Tadmor Prison, while the remainder of his sentence was served in Mezzeh and Sednaya prisons.

‏In 2004, he was released from Sednaya Prison, only to discover that the military court, which had convened inside Tadmor Prison, had sentenced him to life imprisonment with hard labor—without him ever seeing his trial or his judges.

‏After his release, he got married at the age of 52 and was blessed with five children. For the past thirteen years, he has been residing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he moved after receiving threats of re-arrest.

Before joining the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation in February 2023, Taras Zhovtenko served as an Associate Professor and guest lecturer on special courses in national and international security, hybrid warfare and military policy at the National University of Ostroh Academy and the Ukrainian Catholic University. He also worked as a government employee and served as an international and information security subject matter expert with both Ukrainian and US think tanks, security and government institutions.

Zhovtenko is a member of the Public Advisory Board of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

He holds a PhD in National Security and has authored over 100 scientific publications and analytical papers in Ukrainian and international journals.

He has contributed to a number of publications such as The Blockade of Qatar: The Contexts and Repercussions of the Gulf Crisis and Salafism and Political and Organisational Diversity. Furthermore, Taguia has participated in several conferences and seminars and has given presentations at various universities and academic institutions on geopolitics and strategic issues. His research focuses on geopolitical interactions, social dynamics and security.

Mohamed Elmenshawy is a political analyst based in Washington, D.C., with expertise in American foreign policy. He has previously served as a fellow at several prestigious American think tanks, including the Middle East Institute and the World Security Institute. He has testified before the House of Representatives’ Homeland Security Subcommittee on the security situation in the Middle East and its implications for U.S. national security. He is the author of two books: America and the Egyptian Revolution: A Testimony from Washington and Trump First: How the President is Changing America and the World. His articles have been published in major outlets such as The New York Times, Foreign Policy, and The Washington Post. He was also selected as part of the UN Secretary-General’s Media Initiative on Dialogue of Civilisations and has served on the Advisory Committee of the Global Resource Management Programme at Doshisha University in Japan.

Dahdouh studied journalism at the Islamic University of Gaza and earned a master’s degree in regional studies from Al-Quds University at Abu Dis. He began his career as a correspondent for various media outlets before joining Al Jazeera’s team in the Gaza Strip in 2004. He extensively covered the Israeli wars on the Strip for Al Jazeera in 2008-2009, 2012, 2014, 2022 and 2023. Additionally, he produced episodes for several programmes on Al Jazeera, including documentaries about the tunnels in Gaza and resistance operations during the 2014 war.

Coming from a family of activists, many of whom sacrificed their lives for their homeland, Dahdouh experienced immense loss during the current war on Gaza. Fourteen members of his family, including his son, daughter, wife and other relatives, were martyred as a result of an Israeli airstrike on a shelter they sought refuge in in Nusseirat refugee camp. Despite this profound tragedy, he remained committed to reporting on the war’s daily events and the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation. Dahdouh has received numerous Arab and international awards, including the Julio Anguita Parrado International Award for Journalism in Conflict Zones by the University of Córdoba and the Union of Andalusian Journalists.

Since joining Al Jazeera Channel (Arabic) in 2005, Asef has worked in its main newsroom as a Producer, Executive Producer, Output Manager, and since 2015, the Director of News.

Before joining Al Jazeera Asef was the Chief Editor at Abu Dhabi News Channel from 2000-2005, and covered hot spots around the world, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, South Africa and the Philippines.

Asef was Head of News for the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation when it launched in 1993, and also covered Palestinian affairs for a number of regional and global stations.

He was the General Manager of Amwaj radio station in Palestine in the ‘90s, and worked as a freelance correspondent with Associated Press in Jordan and Yemen.

Asef is also a trainer at Al Jazeera Media Training Institute.

He has written three books:Radio and TV Journalism:

The Keys to Success and Secrets to Creativity (taught in several Arab journalism schools)

Writing to Picture

A Field Guide for TV Correspondents

Jamal Elshayyal is a journalist and broadcaster who has worked as a correspondent and producer for Al Jazeera English, covering major political and international events across the Middle East and Europe.

With extensive experience in field reporting and media content development, he currently serves as the Director of Content Strategy at Al Jazeera 360, focusing on digital media and content strategy.

Mahmoud Al-Sabbah is a Palestinian journalist from northern Gaza, specializing in field reporting in conflict zones. He has played a key role in documenting the daily realities of Gaza’s residents and shedding light on their struggles during periods of war and escalation.

Al-Sabbah has covered multiple wars in Gaza, including the most recent conflict, delivering real-time reports and highlighting the humanitarian and social impact of the ongoing crisis.

Shaima Dallali was raised in Britain to a Tunisian father and Sudanese mother. She studied law at the University of London, where she founded the Palestinian Society to raise awareness about the Palestinian cause. She became a prominent student leader and was elected as the first Arab Muslim woman to serve as President of the University of London Students’ Union. In 2022, she was elected President of the National Union of Students (NUS), but was removed from her position due to her pro-Palestine stance, in what was widely condemned as institutional Islamophobia.

She filed a legal case against NUS, which resulted in a settlement affirming her right to hold pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist views. Shaima continues her advocacy against Islamophobia and the suppression of Palestinian activism in British universities, working to promote justice and human rights in academic and political spaces.

Mohammad Ali Alnsour currently serves as the Chief of the Middle East and North Africa Section at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. He previously held the position of Advisor to the High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2014 to 2015.

Alnsour has held several prominent positions, including Director of the Legal Department at the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2013, Human Rights Advisor at Jordan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 2009 to 2013, and Senior Officer at the Cabinet of the Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2008 to 2009.

Mohammad Subeih Al-Sibai was born in 1952 in Homs, Syria. He graduated from the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering at Damascus University in 1975. Shortly after his graduation, he was pursued by the Syrian regime and was arrested in March 1978. He spent twenty-seven years in prison, including approximately twenty years in Tadmor Prison, while the remainder of his sentence was served in Mezzeh and Sednaya prisons.

‏In 2004, he was released from Sednaya Prison, only to discover that the military court, which had convened inside Tadmor Prison, had sentenced him to life imprisonment with hard labor—without him ever seeing his trial or his judges.

‏After his release, he got married at the age of 52 and was blessed with five children. For the past thirteen years, he has been residing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he moved after receiving threats of re-arrest.

He previously served as Head of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies and is Chairman of the Board at Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. Yazbak earned his degrees in history from the University of Haifa, the Hebrew University, and the University of Oxford. He has authored several books and published multilingual research focusing on Palestinian history, particularly the social history of Palestinians in the 1948 territories.

His expertise includes Middle Eastern politics, regional security, political Islam, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Barari has held academic positions at Yale, the University of Jordan, and the University of Nebraska, and has an extensive publication record on Middle Eastern affairs. He is fluent in Arabic, English, and Hebrew.