In this “Special Report on The Syrian Uprising: A Focus on Parties and Leadership” we examine the roles of key religious, military, and political actors in the Syrian uprising. This 2012 Quarterly Special Report features five brand-new articles commissioned by The Jamestown Foundation and one... MORE

NEW AQ LEADER IN PAKISTAN TAKES COMMAND AS ATTACKS ON NATO CONVOYS CONTINUE On July 18, 2012, a bomb exploded in a fuel tanker after which insurgents opened fire on a convoy NATO supply trucks in Samangan, northern Afghanistan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEV-FMBBUPg). In total, 22 vehicles loaded... MORE

Iranian-Azerbaijani relations, which were recovering from a recent blow (see EDM, April 23), have begun to worsen again. An apparent spy war has erupted between the two countries, leading to unprecedented statements from both sides. The latest deterioration in relations began when Azerbaijani poets Farid... MORE

The Syrian conflict is emerging as an extremely attractive recruiting ground for jihadi groups - in February, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the emir of al-Qaida, called upon “every Muslim and every honorable and free person in Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon to go to aid his brothers... MORE

On July 9, speaking to Russian reporters at an air show near London, Vyacheslav Dzirkaln, a deputy director of Russia’s Federal Military-Technical Cooperation Service (FSVTS), which supervises the arms trade, announced that Moscow will not be signing new arms trade contracts with Syria or “sending... MORE

IS RUSSIA SENDING A DETACHMENT OF THE BLACK SEA FLEET TO SYRIA? Despite a recent flurry of contradictory reports, it appears that a detachment composed of ships from the Russian Black Sea Fleet and possibly the Baltic Fleet is preparing for deployment to the Russian... MORE

Since its emergence in March 2011, analysts and experts have tried to pin down the real shape of Ansar al-Shari’a, the militant Islamist group that established seven Islamic Emirates in southern Yemen after its emergence in March, 2011. [1] While many observers maintain that the... MORE

Turkey-Syria relations have entered a new stage after Syrian forces shot down a Turkish F-4 fighter jet on June 22 in international waters over the Mediterranean Sea. Syria claimed that the Turkish jet violated Syrian airspace, but Turkey protested that its aircraft was in Syrian... MORE

In the spring of 2011, everything seemed to be going right for Hezbollah (“the Party of God”) in Lebanon. Five years after the war with Israel, its forces in the south of the country were not only reorganized, but also reinforced. In Beirut, the new... MORE

In the new Middle East, formerly suppressed political parties, movements, and ideas are increasingly shaping a political and ideological discourse that departs from previous paradigms.  An equally important trend that is receiving less attention, however, is the mobilization of counterrevolutionary and reactionary forces opposed to... MORE