The Islamic Military Alliance (IMAFT) that was given support by Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia on May 21st, is not only a direct security threat to the European Union, as explained in my previous text, but also a disruption of regional balance. This is very evident in the current crisis around Qatar where Saudi Arabia […]
Saudi Arabia and Iran project influence using their interpretations of Islam and the politicization of sectarian identities as instruments of foreign policy.
It is crucial to plan beyond the short-term military strategy and work to create a new environment in which ISIS or its successor cannot re-emerge.
Toxic polemics disseminated mainly by those loyal to Saudi Arabia and Iran made a full-blown Sunni-Shia civil war across the Muslim world a matter of time.
Current governments of Syria, Iraq and Kurdistan should rule over their ethnic populations while Sunni areas should be occupied by foreign Sunni powers.
Taking back Mosul would be a key victory for the Iraqi Army and coalition forces and a disastrous defeat for the Islamic State.
ISIS’s increased activity abroad is a sign of weakness rather than strength: the group has lost around 20% of its territory in Syria and over 40% in Iraq since its peak expansion in August 2014.
Saudi Arabia’s decision to suspend $4 billion in military aid to Lebanon is the latest example of a meddlesome foreign power attempting to undermine Lebanese sovereignty to advance its own political agenda.
For many of us, February 14 is celebrated as St. Valentine’s Day, an occasion marked by lovers expressing their love for each other by presenting flowers, candy or greeting cards. For Bahrainis, the day is marked quite differently, as it represents the third anniversary of the uprising on their tiny Gulf archipelago of 1.7 million people. […]
By Manuel Langendorf In the absence of other alternatives, Islamists were elected by default. Political Islam is among the most controversially discussed issues in the Middle East and North Africa. While modern Islamist political thought traces its origin back to a rejection of European encroachment into the Muslim world – as the work of Jamal al-Din […]
The Syrian rebels, or opposition, or the Syrian National Coalition (the name this motley assembly of Sunnis, Salafists, jihadists, and foreign insurgents) agreed to take on in Doha as a prerequisite for U.S. support (money PLUS guns), successfully launched a surface to air missile (SAM) about ten days ago, bringing down a Syrian government aircraft. […]
Early Wednesday morning, nearly seventy people were killed and more than 100 wounded in a flurry of road-side bombings targeted against Shi’a pilgrims. A redoubtable Sunni insurgency launched the coordinated wave of attacks as tens of thousands of their countrymen participated in a religious festival marking the anniversary of the death of the eighth century […]
Pakistan’s prospects careen from bad to worse, but there is still some possibility that it might one day evolve in a more liberal and moderate direction Events over the last few weeks have amply demonstrated the growing decrepitude of the Pakistani state, providing fresh justification for its perennial ranking at the top of the world’s […]
Given the latest news of the strategic suicide bombing in Lahore, it’s important that we think hard about what we are fighting for in Pakistan. We need to ask: What is the U.S. fighting for in Pakistan? What is Pakistan fighting for? An answer to either question is not readily available. Perhaps neither question is […]