OPERATION HURRICANE EXODUS: MEND THREATENS CHEVRON PRODUCTION IN NIGERIA Andrew McGregor Nigerian militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta have recently threatened American oil operations in that region as part of a larger campaign to bring Nigerian oil production to a halt by 2015. According to... MORE

JIHADIS CHALLENGE THE ROLE OF THE ARAB ARMIES Andrew McGregor With one Arab army locked in battle against rebels (including Sunni Islamists) in Syria and another apparently set on cleansing the Egyptian political scene of its Islamist presence, a prominent jihadist scholar has questioned the... MORE

MILITARY OPERATIONS AGAINST SALAFIST INSURGENTS IN THE SINAI DRAW ATTENTION TO THE ROLE OF TOP BIN LADEN AIDE  Nicholas A. Heras  The Egyptian military has recently re-engaged in a counter-insurgency campaign against militant Salafist organizations that have been operating in the Sinai Peninsula since the... MORE

MILITARY OFFENSIVE LAUNCHED IN THE CONGO PRESSURES M23 LEADER SULTANI MAKENGA  Nicholas A. Heras  A new military operation launched by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) military is applying significant pressure on the Congolese, majority ethnic Tutsi militant organization Mouvement 23 du Mars (M23... MORE

UGANDAN REBEL MOVEMENT REEMERGES ALONG THE OIL-BEARING UGANDAN/CONGOLESE BORDER Andrew McGregor The once moribund Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan rebel movement now operating out of remote bases in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has returned to life... MORE

HEZBOLLAH DEVISES STRATEGY TO DEAL WITH SYRIAN FALLOUT  Andrew McGregor  Despite condemnation for their military role in Syria from Sunni elements in Lebanon and abroad, the leader of the Shiite Hezbollah movement maintains that the movement is on the right path and its role in... MORE

LEADERSHIP DISPUTE ERUPTS IN SYRIAN-BACKED MILITIA DEFENDING SHIITE SHRINE  Nicholas A. Heras  Abu Ajeeb (a.k.a. Abu Ajeel) is the nom de guerre of the Syrian military commander and secretary general of the Shiite armed group known as the Abu al-Fadhal al-Abbas Brigade to Defend the... MORE

POLITICAL AND SECTARIAN POLARIZATION MAY SPARK A NEW PHASE OF THE EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION Andrew McGregor One year into the presidency of Muslim Brother Muhammad al-Mursi, Egypt finds itself consumed by economic deterioration, severe energy shortages, labor unrest, domestic insecurity, sectarian divisions and rumors of imminent... MORE

MUSLIM BROTHERS’ SPIRITUAL LEADER YUSUF AL-QARADAWI CONDEMNS HEZBOLLAH Andrew McGregor There are few more prominent preachers in the Islamic world than Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian Islamic scholar now based in Qatar, where he hosts a religious issues program on al-Jazeera with a viewership of... MORE