On February 17, three British teenagers left their East London homes and boarded a plane for Turkey. Soon afterwards, they crossed into Syria, where they are believed to have joined the Islamic State militant group (al-Jazeera, February 21). This event has put female radicalization in... MORE

While al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) continues to make inroads in south Yemen in the midst of a worsening civil war and the Saudi-led military campaign in support of beleaguered President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the group suffered another blow with the death of... MORE

In a televised speech, Egyptian Interior Ministry spokesperson Major Gen Hani Abdel Latif announced on April 5 that the jihadist leader of Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt), Hamam Mohamed Ahmad Ali Attiya (a.k.a. Majid al-Din al-Masri), was shot to death during an exchange of fire... MORE

Emotions ran high in the Chechen community once again with the news that two school children from Pankisi, Georgia, went to Syria to fight, presumably alongside the Islamic State organization (see EDM, April 16). Earlier in April, 16-year-old Muslim Kushtanashvili and 18-year-old Ramzan Bagakashvili went... MORE

While diplomatic developments between Iran and the United States over Iran’s nuclear program and Iran’s actions in countries such as Syria and Yemen have drawn the most attention in recent weeks, a series of attacks in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Balochistan province underline that a range of... MORE

The Islamic State’s sudden capture of much of northern Iraq, including the country’s third largest city of Mosul, and the resulting collapse of the Iraqi Army, in June 2014, was a turning point for Shi’a militias in the country. Formerly sidelined, these groups have now... MORE

On April 2, two high school boys from Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, populated by Muslim Chechens (known as Kists in Georgia), disappeared and later contacted their parents, notifying them that they were in Turkey. It is widely believed that the teenagers are heading for Syria, in... MORE

Russia watchers can hardly fail to notice that Moscow often reacts to events in the North Caucasus after a significant time lag. Several amirs of the Caucasus Emirate pledged allegiance to the so-called Islamic State back in November–December 2014. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), however,... MORE

This week (April 13), President Vladimir Putin signed an ukaz (presidential decree) to allow the export of S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. Putin’s decision overruled a previous ukaz signed by then-president Dmitry Medvedev, on September 22, 2010, which incorporated into Russian law United Nations Security... MORE

Russia’s position on the fighting in Yemen needs to be understood in terms of its overall approach to the Middle East. And Moscow’s approach to the region has become more confident and strident, as Washington’s has become ever more confused and disjointed. Vitaly Naumkin, a... MORE