Extremist groups will attempt to take advantage of the turmoil created by COVID-19—and it’s not the first time.
Political Scientist Lisa Anderson explores how the local players in the Libyan conflict affect the decision-making of states, both in North Africa and beyond.
What lies ahead for the Arabs, Kurds, and Turks after Ankara’s assault on northern Syria?
While maintaining the status quo for the time being might seem the easiest option, it is also the worst possible one
Reconstruction in Iraq cannot be achieved without universal reconciliation, economic and education reform, and equitable application of the rule of law
How Raqqa Youth Survived ISIS
The Syrian Al-Assad regime’s survival owes a lot to its foreign patrons, as well as U.S. incompetence.
Defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria will offer Baghdad a fresh state-building opportunity to correct the mistakes following the ouster of the Saddam Hussein regime in 2003. As Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds pursue their own interests, a serious effort toward communal understanding is the key to progress.
The end of the strongman era in Iraq has led to the rise of paramilitaries representing sects and ethnicities. Popular Mobilization Units have become part of the state’s official security structure. Although the PMUs have been instrumental in the fight against ISIS, their more powerful militias pose a stark challenge to the country’s future stability.
The contradictions of U.S. foreign policy could lead to renewed tensions with Gulf leaders.
America wades deeper into the quagmire of Syria’s civil war.
This is a bitter legacy for the past three American administrations and for all their international partners in inhuman, uncaring policies that have wrecked the lives and futures of hundreds of millions of people.
The Islamic State group is losing territory in Iraq and Syria, but it may have staying power in one of its three permutations: ISIS is simultaneously a movement for Sunni Muslim empowerment, a global jihadist movement, and an apocalyptic cult.
Unless and until the Arab world’s political and socioeconomic dimensions are addressed and significantly improved, the Islamic State group or other movements like it, or even worse than it, will continue to emerge from Arab societies.
Despite the small but important military victory in Ramadi, Iraqi forces still face significant challenges fighting the Islamic State in Anbar and reining in Shia militias in Diyala and Basra.
President Barack Obama had to deal with a dysfunctional state system and fraying civil societies, as well as blowback from George W. Bush’s invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet his own actions and inactions throughout two terms of office contributed significantly to the great unraveling of the Middle East.
Despite apparent progress toward a power-sharing agreement, Libya’s governing bodies still face problems of neutrality and representation that will hamper their ability to govern effectively.
This week’s most intriguing sign of things to come was the official announcement that Saudi Arabia is willing to provide ground forces to fight “Islamic State” (ISIS) in Syria.
