Latest Articles about Middle East
Islamic State Develops New Strategies to Destabilize the KRG
In recent months, the Islamic State militant group has started using ethnic Kurdish militants in operations against the security forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq and in its propaganda materials. Some Kurdish Islamic State militants have taken part in videoed killings. For... MORE
To Topple the Throne: Islamic State Sets Its Sights on Saudi Arabia
The meteoric rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which has since styled itself the Islamic State in an affirmation of its broader aspirations of dominion over a self-declared caliphate beyond the territories where it exercises control, has aggravated the Middle East’s already... MORE
FSB Director Says Islamic State fighters Include 1,700 Russian Citizens
As elements of the Islamic State (IS) infiltrate the territory of the North Caucasus, the looming question is whether the caliphate will have an actual impact on the situation in the region. As of now, it can be said with certainty that little has changed... MORE
Islamic State Loots Archaeological Sites for Cash
By late 2013, more than 90 percent of Syria’s cultural sites lay in regions affected by fighting and civil unrest, leaving them open to plunder. In addition, regions of Iraq now under the control of the Islamic State militant group and its allies include roughly... MORE
‘Fight Them Until There Is No Fitnah’: The Islamic State’s War With al-Qaeda
Recent events have raised fresh questions over the relationship between the Islamic State militant group and al-Qaeda. For instance, militants from the Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the group’s Yemen-based franchise, are reported to have coordinated the multiple jihadist attacks in... MORE
Russia Stirs the Pot in the Middle East
While attention in the Middle East has focused mainly on the Islamic State or on Israel’s relationship with the United States, Russia has been busy trying to advance its own position in the region, chiefly at the US’s expense. Over the course of January and... MORE
Sweden Grapples with Rising Extremism
Placid constitutional monarchy Sweden used to be perceived as largely immune from Islamist terrorism; even Osama bin Laden, in a videotaped speech in November 2004, said: “Before I begin, I say to you that security is an indispensable pillar of human life and that free... MORE
China-Iran Military Relations at a Crossroads
Formal military relations between China and Iran made a series of strides in 2013 and 2014. These included high-level leadership visits and unprecedented port calls involving the two countries’ navies. This article seeks to place those developments into context and offers a discussion on their... MORE
Iran-Armenia Railway Project and Russian Geopolitics
During a press conference in Yerevan on January 27, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif said that various opportunities for bilateral economic cooperation could potentially be beneficial, and Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) could represent one such opportunity. He noted... MORE
Iran’s Man in Iraq – A Post-Mortem Analysis of the Career of IRGC Brigadier General Hamid Taqavi
On December 28, 2014, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) announced the death of Brigadier General Hamid Taqavi in Samarra, Iraq. The Islamic State has since accepted responsibility for the killing of Taqavi (AFP, December 29, 2014). Taqavi was killed while on an advisory mission... MORE