Tribalism remains a primary form of communal identity among Arab Sunnis across Syria, regardless of whether they live in rural or urban areas. As a powerful source of socio-political mobilization, Syrian Arab tribalism has shaped the conflict since the first demonstrations against the al-Assad government... MORE

With the change in the political guard in Pakistan following the May 11 general election, apprehensions have grown in India regarding the strategy of the newly-crowned government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to fight Kashmir-centric militant groups, especially the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and its various incarnations.... MORE

The recent operations carried out by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and allied Ansar al-Shari’a militants seem to confirm that South Yemen has finally become the battleground on which both groups are testing the Yemeni Army’s ability to contain the insurgents’ ambitions. While AQAP... MORE

The question of Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian civil war has become more intense following the recent capture of the strategic, central-western Syrian border city of al-Qusayr in Homs governorate to Syrian military and Hezbollah forces. After al-Qusayr fell, mass media reports emerged that Hezbollah... MORE

Over the last month, Tunisia has seen an escalation of the violence and tensions between security forces and the Islamist movements that emerged after the fall of President Zine al-Abdin bin Ali in January, 2011. Attention focused primarily on the violent May 19 clashes in... MORE

Over the past two years, Somalia’s fragile security has improved slightly following the retreat of the al-Qaeda-associated insurgent group al-Shabaab from the Somali capital of Mogadishu and other urban areas of south and central Somalia. Because of the pressure coming from the African Union Mission... MORE

There are signs that the scattered remnants of the Islamist coalition that occupied northern Mali for nine months are beginning to use their financial resources and pre-planned alternative bases to regroup in the Sahel/Sahara region in order to carry out new operations against their targets... MORE

Syria’s Turkmen community is becoming increasingly involved in the country’s opposition movement. The mostly Sunni Turkmen of Syria represent a significant ethnic minority community that is located throughout the country, particularly in diverse and highly strategic areas that are currently the sites of significant conflict.... MORE

The rise of Santoso (a.k.a Abu Warda, a.k.a. Abu Yahya) as Indonesia’s most wanted militant is forcing the country’s elite counterterrorist unit, Densus 88, to focus on his Sulawesi-based network – Mujahidin Indonesian Timur (MIT) (Jakarta Globe, November 5, 2012). Since 2012, MIT has targeted... MORE

Operation Serval, the French-led military intervention in Northern Mali brought major changes to the strategic landscape and geopolitical trends in the region, curbing, or at least slowing, the increasing presence and local control that jihadist groups have pursued in the region since 2003. The intervention... MORE