Latest Articles about Middle East
Al-Awda Party and the Ba’athist Dream of Return in Iraq
Iraq’s al-Awda party first emerged in the weeks following the demise of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist regime in 2003. Al-Awda means “the return” in Arabic, in this case the “return” of the Ba’athists. In those days, pro-Ba’athist graffiti appeared in some areas in Iraq, with slogans... MORE
Rocket Attacks from Lebanon Threaten Dangerous Escalation of Gaza War
Israel’s invasion of Gaza and the ensuing humanitarian catastrophe has raised concerns about the potential for a dangerous escalation in regional hostilities. On January 8, three Katyusha rockets fired from southern Lebanon struck Nahariya, a city located in northern Israel, approximately 8 km from the... MORE
A Mujahideen Bleed-Through from Iraq? Part Four – The Case of Palestine and Israel
As discussed earlier in this series of articles, the entry of Sunni mujahideen from Iraq into Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon has been a fairly visible process and tracking it – at least in outline form – is an achievable task. Likewise, the goal of the... MORE
Kadyrov Performs the Hajj Pilgrimage
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Muzdalifah, near Mecca, in Saudi Arabia on December 9. Ziyad Sabsabi, the Russian Federation Council member representing Chechnya, also took part in the meeting and told Interfax that Kadyrov and Abbas “unanimously noted... MORE
U.S. Missiles Target Suspect in Transatlantic Airliner Plot
Late in the evening of November 21, a U.S. operated Predator drone struck a house in North Waziristan owned by local warlord Khaliq Noor. Among those allegedly killed were British-Pakistani militant Rashid Rauf and senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Zubair al-Masri (Dawn [Karachi], November 22; BBC,... MORE
Iraq’s Shias Split over the Impending U.S.-Iraq Status-of-Forces Agreement
Major divisions have begun to emerge in the Shia political bloc following the Iraqi cabinet’s approval of a proposed security agreement between Baghdad and Washington that would authorize American forces to remain in the country until the end of 2011 (Voices of Iraq, November 18;... MORE
Erdogan Visits India: Bilateral Trade and Turkish-Israeli-Indian Energy Cooperation on the Agenda
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited India from November 21 to 24, against a background of growing economic ties between the two nations. Erdogan was the first Turkish prime minister to visit India since Bulent Ecevit’s visit in 2000. Erdogan met Indian President Pratibha... MORE
Kurdish Islamist Groups in Northern Iraq
A spokesman of the Kurdish arm of al-Qaeda in Iraq recently announced the group’s intention to eliminate Iraq’s Kurdish leadership: “To the two Kurdish puppets, Jalal Talabani and Masoud Barzani, I swear by God that we have no mercy or sympathy towards the traitors who... MORE
Turkey and Iran Sign Accord on Natural Gas Cooperation
Ankara and Tehran signed an accord strengthening agreements on developing Iran’s gas fields and transporting Iranian gas to Europe. With the agreement, Turkey secures the operation rights for three offshore gas fields in Iran's South Pars region, off the southern gulf port of Assaluyeh. Under... MORE
A Mujahideen Bleed-Through from Iraq? Part Three – The Case of Jordan
Since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Jordan has been a nation living in an uneasy relationship with the Sunni Islamist movement. With a population more than fifty-percent Palestinian, Jordan became an ever-more useful place for Palestinian radicals to hang their hats while preparing plans to destroy... MORE