The journal Foreign Policy has a long article surveying conditions in several Middle East countries currently in conflict to varying degrees - Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Egypt. I have read it so you don't have to make the effort.
If the region is a particular interest of yours, it isn't a bad article. It does a decent job of surveying the problems confronting the various suffering countries.
On the other hand, the article title and subtitle pretty much tell the whole story.
The End of Hope in the Middle EastThe region has always had problems—but it’s now almost past the point of recovery.
Tahseen Bashir, an Egyptian diplomat, memorably referred to most collectivities in the region as "tribes with flags." COTTonLINE's view of the Middle East: Culturally, the people there are predisposed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. It's a predilection they've demonstrated repeatedly since the colonial era ended in the late 1940s.
