the region into inevitable conflicts.

The power vacuum that arose in parts of the region following the Arab Spring and the competition that this created can be considered catalysts for these transformations and the Syrian and Libyan civil wars becoming this regional rivalry’s playing field.

The Syrian crisis aggravates the worrying situation, with Russia and Iran in the eastern Mediterranean alongside global actors competing to shape Syria’s future. In particular, Iran’s policies for getting access to the eastern Mediterranean have made the Mediterranean a critical foreign policy theater for Gulf states Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In addition, the situation in the eastern Mediterranean turned into a national security threat for European countries, mainly France and Italy, due to the Libyan crisis, the refugee crisis and the ever-increasingactivities of terrorist organizations in the region.

While the Western Pacific is attracting more attention right now, Russia’s and Iran’s reach towards the eastern Mediterranean following the Syrian civil war has caused the region to rise up in the ranks among the U.S.’s foreign policies.

An additional force driving these changes stems from the redefinition of the ‘great-power rivalry’ in the U.S.’s national security and defense strategies towards the Russian, Iranian and Chinese axis.

The eastern Mediterranean became a priority region for the West’s security for the first time after a long period in history due to the power vacuum left by diminished U.S. presence being filled by Russia and China and especially the Russian Federation’s air defense and navy forces.

The discovery of natural gas resources in the eastern Mediterranean, which