Why the Middle East is witnessing a rare moment of regional de-escalation

For a long time, the Middle East region has been one of the most volatile regions in the world. Instability, conflicts, rivalry, and struggles among its key regional heavyweights have been the norm - to the extent that one could not remember the last time when all these players agreed on something.

Now, a series of diplomacy tracks - from Saudi-Iranian talks hosted in Baghdad to UAE-Israel normalisation and Turkish re-engagement - has produced the closest thing to a regional calm in a decade.

Analysts caution that the de-escalation remains fragile, held together more by exhaustion and self-interest than by any grand bargain, but for once the direction of travel is away from conflict.