Iranian security forces pulled off a major coup on February 23 by capturing the enigmatic militant leader Abdelmalek Rigi (Press TV [Tehran], February 23; IRNA [Tehran], February 23).  The 31-year-old founder and leader of Jundallah (Soldiers of God), an ethnic Baloch nationalist group, is responsible... MORE

The emergence of a new Kurdish opposition movement in Iraqi Kurdistan—Gorran (meaning “Change”)—has complicated the political landscape of northern Iraq.  A break-away movement of many top PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) members founded in February 2009, Gorran won 25 of 111 seats in the Kurdish... MORE

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) consists of several divisions: the Shura Council, which is the highest authority of the organization; the Media division; the Military division; and the Shari’a committee, which includes individuals such as Ibrahim al-Rubaish, Khaled Batarfi (a.k.a. Abu Miqdad al-Kindi) and... MORE

Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the resilient leader of the Houthi rebellion in northwestern Yemen, was reported dead by a number of regional newspapers in the Arab realm as well as the Yemeni government in December 2009. However, recent reports indicate that Abdul Malik al-Houthi is alive... MORE

Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, attending the Arab League Summit in Sirte, Libya, expressed support for a proposal for a regional dialogue forum, which among other issues will seek to engage Iran.On March 27, the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, proposed a... MORE

Iraqi Kurds possess at present not only their most powerful regional government since the creation of Iraq following World War I, but they also play prominent roles in the Iraqi central government in Baghdad, including the posts of president (Jalal al-Talabani), deputy prime minister (Barham... MORE

Although the final count will not be available until the end of March, the preliminary results from Iraq’s parliamentary election show a strong victory for the State of Law list (SLA), led by the current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the Iraqiyya Coalition, led by... MORE

In late February, a high-level Israeli delegation visited China in an attempt to convince Beijing to go along with sanctions against Iran. Headed by Lieutenant General (ret.) Moshe Ya'alon, vice prime minister and minister for strategic affairs and former chief of general staff of Israel's... MORE

With an intelligence and military wing of over 1,000 people, the Sulaymaniyah-based Counter Terrorism Group (CTG) collects intelligence and carries out operations to prevent terrorists in Iraq from destabilizing the Kurdistan region in cooperation with U.S. forces. Lahur Talabani, the nephew of the Iraqi president,... MORE

Yemen has become one of the most important strongholds and safe havens for al-Qaeda.  The impact of Yemen’s Salafi-Jihadist movement is no longer limited to that nation and its national security alone. The threat posed by Yemen’s militant Salafists has spread to neighboring countries such... MORE