Iran has been ratcheting up the rhetoric while Haaretz warns of the consequences of Iran’s ambitions in Syria. It all started back in February, when an Iranian drone and an Israeli F-16 were shot down at the Syria-Israel border. More incidents and additional quarrels over the Iran Nuclear Deal could lead to more grievous confrontations between the parties involved. […]
Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, is slated to win elections on March 28. His only contender, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, is someone who has not only called himself a “big supporter” of Sisi, but has also worked as member, until he announced candidacy in the last minutes of a final deadline, on the president’s re-election campaign […]
The latest data from our Risk Pulse collaboration show significant increases in potential instability and unrest in Egypt. Joseph Colonna explains how conditions are ripe for another wave of protest, with presidential elections due on 26-28 March. It’s not uncommon to hear Egyptians saying that the revolution failed – that it was hijacked by opportunists, while […]
Backed by Russia’s President Putin and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the Assad regime has recently made a bloodbath of Eastern Ghouta in Syria. During the past week, in the attacks on the rebel-held enclave near Damascus, upwards of 500 were killed, among them more than 120 children. On February 24, the UN Security Council finally managed […]
While the world’s attention remains focused on the nuclear brinkmanship and missile launches on the Korean peninsula, the Middle Eastern arms race, pitting Saudi Arabia and its ally the United Arab Emirates against Iran has been slowly heating up and could soon reach a boiling point. The spending boom among the gulf states, the Saudis […]
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi has been hailed in many western circles as the unifier of Iraq but in reality, he is merely another sectarian leader, who murders and threatens his own people in order to hold a failed state together utilizing brute force. To the contrary, Kurdistan’s Prime Minister Nichervan Barzani is […]
Volcanic schism dominates the landscape in the Islamic world. Sectarian civil wars rage in Syria, Iraq, and Libya. Yemen is the worst humanitarian disaster in the world as a result of a ruthless war campaign spearheaded by Saudi Arabia—a nation that, ironically, carries the Islamic declaration of faith on its flag and is the site […]
When Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt instituted a blockade against Qatar this summer, many in Qatar and the broader international community feared it would greatly disrupt Qatari society by breaking supply chains, limiting access to food and other resources, and preventing free travel across the region. However, Qatar has defied the […]
The sudden resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Sa’ad al-Hariri on October 4, 2017 from Riyadh appears to have taken by surprise just about everyone in the Middle East. The significance of Hariri’s announcement taking place not in his own capital but rather in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was lost on virtually no one. As speculation that […]
As heavy fighting in the city of Hama reminds us of the seemingly endless misery in Syria, a hopeful breakthrough has been overlooked in the media.
Sherkoh Abbas argues that the Kurdish Referendum for Independence is a golden opportunity for the U.S. to counter Iranian influence in the Middle East.
In 2015, Saudi Arabia announced the formation of the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism. Will the alliance succeed in pooling its defense efforts?
While the diplomatic tension between Saudi Arabia and Qatar existed since the Arab Spring, the break up caught foreign policy experts by surprise.
Following the terror attacks in Iran that killed at least 16 people, some Middle Eastern dissidents believe what happened was an inside job perpetrated by the Iranian regime.
In an exclusive interview, Syrian Kurdish leader Sherkoh Abbas explained a novel idea for promoting peace between Israel and the Arab world.