With the militarization of the Syrian uprising complete, the makeup of the violent insurrection that is raging across Syria remains a topic of scrutiny. The assemblage of competing opposition forces persists in its attempts to coalesce a viable political front to challenge the Ba’athist regime,... MORE

Two men were charged in Canada on April 23 with conspiring to commit murder and terrorism in relation to an alleged plot to derail a Canadian passenger train providing service to and from New York City. Though the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) maintained the... MORE

As the Syrian Civil War enters its second year, the Popular Committees (Lija’an Sha’abiya), local defense forces supported by the Syrian military, are taking on an increasingly important role in the country’s conflict. The Popular Committees (sometimes referred to as “Peoples’ Committees”), were reportedly organized... MORE

Yemen’s president, Abd Rabbu Mansur Hadi, has hastened the pace of political change in Yemen with a series of decrees intended to restructure the national armed forces (Yemen Post, April 11). Not only have the April 10 decrees reshaped the Yemeni military system, but Hadi’s... MORE

Bangladesh, the world’s fourth largest Muslim country, has recently experienced an intense cycle of massive protest rallies marked by violent confrontations between moderate secularists and Islamic radical forces. The spark for these religious and political confrontations has been the ongoing trials for war-crimes committed by... MORE

During the rule of the late Mu’ammar Qaddafi, Libya’s Sabha Oasis was an important regional security center, dominating Libya’s remote Fezzan region and the ancient trans-Saharan trade routes that connect sub-Saharan Africa to the Mediterranean coast. The Libyan airbase and garrison at Sabha gave Qaddafi... MORE

After an almost 30-year-long struggle, the Turkish government is currently pursuing what could be an historic agreement with the Kurdish separatist Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan (PKK). Past attempts at seeking a mutually acceptable solution have failed bitterly, thwarted by the lack of trust between the two... MORE

A video posted on YouTube in the last week of March documented the unification of two Syrian armed groups; the Katibat al-Khattab (Army of Khattab Brigades) and the Katibat Jaysh al-Muhammad (Army of Muhammad Brigades), with the Katibat al-Muhajireen (KaM - the Brigade of Migrants).... MORE

The latest contribution to the debate over the U.S. drone campaign in Pakistan came from Ben Emmerson, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and Human Rights after three days of meetings with Pakistani officials in mid-March. When the meetings were over Emmerson’s office issued... MORE

The Royal Army of Sulu (RAS) is a militant organization with an estimated 200 to 400 members that seeks to reinstitute the control of the historic Sultanate of Sulu over Malaysia’s Sabah State, in the northeastern region of the island of Borneo. RAS fighters claim... MORE