ABU MUHAMMAD NAMED NEW DAGESTANI AMIR OF CAUCASUS EMIRATE Mairbek Vatchagaev Earlier this year Abu Muhammad, who became the new head of the Caucasus Emirate in the North Caucasus in March, made his first public address where he outlined his group’s new priorities following the... MORE

MODI GOVERNMENT REVEALS NEW INITIATIVES AGAINST THE NAXALITE INSURGENCY Kathryn Basinsky While Narendra Modi, India’s new prime minister, has been in office a little over 100 days, a number of new initiatives have been announced to further the fight against the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency, which has... MORE

Preparing for the Next Stage: Islamic Jihad’s Gaza War Andrew McGregor Days after the September 24 ceasefire that ended Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, thousands of members of Islamic Jihad (IJ), who had fought alongside Hamas in the 50-day conflict, gathered with their weapons... MORE

THE HEZBOLLAH WILD CARD IN THE CONFLICT IN GAZA Andrew McGregor The ongoing Israeli military operations in Gaza have benefitted from the knowledge that Israel’s northern border with Lebanon is not being threatened by the Shi’a Hezbollah movement of Lebanon, the senior partner in the... MORE

HOUTHIS BATTLE ARMY AND TRIBAL MILITIAS FOR CONTROL OF YEMEN’S AMRAN GOVERNORATE Andrew McGregor At the conclusion of a three-day battle, experienced Houthist fighters stormed the ancient Yemeni walled city of Amran on July 8, killing some 200 people in the process and displacing at... MORE

EGYPT’S DOMESTIC SECURITY THREAT: AJNAD MISR AND THE “RETRIBUTION FOR LIFE” CAMPAIGN Andrew McGregor A Cairo-based extremist group using the name Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt) has intensified its bombing campaign in the Egyptian capital with a surprising attack on the Ittihadiya Palace in Heliopolis,... MORE

WILL ISIS SPUR NEW STRATEGIC DIRECTIONS FOR SAUDI ARABIA? Andrew McGregor In some ways, the recent triumphs of the radical Sunni Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) inside Iraq have alarmed Riyadh as much as Tehran. While the Saudis are still willing to support... MORE

IRAQI COUNTER-INSURGENCY TACTICS UNDER FIRE Andrew McGregor Ineffective military tactics may have caused more damage to relations between the Iraqi National Army (INA) and the disaffected Sunni population of northwestern Iraq than to the targeted Islamist militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria... MORE