Both Iran and Russia suffer from the United States’ sanctions: the former since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the latter since its 2014 illegal annexation of Crimea. But in a recent bout of creative synergy, Crimean “deputy prime minister” and the permanent representative of Crimea to... MORE

Iraq: External Actions Against PMF Threaten Delicate Balance Brian M. Perkins Iraq remains in an extremely precarious position after declaring victory over Islamic State (IS) in December 2017, and regional tensions continue to upset the local balance of power. Iraq relies heavily on the Popular... MORE

On the evening of June 3, a gunman killed two police officers and two members of the Internal Security Forces (ISF) in Tripoli, Lebanon. The assailant, identified posthumously as Lebanese national Abdel Rahman Mabsout, opened fire and threw explosives at two security positions while riding... MORE

The war in Yemen has grown increasingly intractable over the past several months as the long-simmering rift within the anti-Houthi coalition has widened, with violence between the pro-secession Southern Transitional Council (STC) and Hadi and Islah-aligned forces erupting in Aden, Shabwa, and Abyan. The conflict... MORE

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was the guest of honor on the opening day of the MAKS 2019 aerospace show, in Zhukovsky, on the outskirts of Moscow (see EDM, September 3). On August 27, a massive security cordon kept both military and civilian visitors at... MORE

In August, Hani Bin Burayk, the Salafist cleric and militia commander from southern Yemen, called for the full mobilization of his troops in order to take control of the city of Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized government of Yemen since the Houthis pushed... MORE

Background The editor and occasional contributor to the al-Qaeda affiliated magazine The Daughter of Islam, Umm Umara al-Muhajirah, is carving out a new, female role within the terrorist movement through literature and art, since the launch of her magazine in September 2017. Umm Umara was... MORE

On August 12, delegations led by the prime ministers of the five Caspian littoral states—Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan—came together at Turkmenistan’s coastal resort of Awaza to hold the first annual Caspian Economic Forum. The heads of government from two other countries, Uzbekistan and... MORE

Russia’s Armed Forces continue to introduce and develop high-technology approaches to modern warfare, partly reflecting the ongoing modernization process and also lessons drawn from operations in Syria (see EDM, July 23). Such developments are taking places across the branches and arms of service, and they... MORE

Yemen: Long-simmering Tensions Between Southern Forces and Pro-Hadi Forces Erupt in Aden Brian M. Perkins Aside from the remote portions of Yemen’s eastern governorates, Southern Yemen has experienced the least amount of direct fighting against the Houthis since UAE-backed forces pushed the group out of... MORE