Latest Articles about Middle East
BRIEFS
ISRAEL TO ASSIST KENYA IN BATTLE AGAINST AL-SHABAAB Kenyan reports say Israeli personnel will help secure potential targets in Kenya from terrorist attacks. The Israeli security experts are expected to start work in the next few weeks. According to Israeli ambassador Gil Haskel: “Israel is... MORE
Al-Qaeda and Algiers Struggle to Cope with the Implications of the Arab Spring
Al-Qaeda’s media arm released a video from Dr. Ayman al-Zawhiri in October that focused mainly on American “defeats,” but also offered the al-Qaeda leader’s views on Algeria. Al-Zawahiri called upon the people of Algeria to rise up against their government, which he claimed was guilty,... MORE
Turkey Anxiously Weighs Cost of Escalation with Syria
After a long thaw, Turkish-Syrian relations reached new heights in 2009 as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad initiated a new phase in bilateral relations. In September of that year, visa restrictions were lifted and cross-border trade flourished. High-level... MORE
A New Rapprochement Between Moscow and Tehran
The US reset policy has already become an object of political contention between Democrats and Republicans. The Obama Administration never ceases to point to it as a success, not least because of the progress that has occurred with Russia in regard to restraining Iranian proliferation,... MORE
Turkey’s Involvement In Syria Raises the Stakes For Its Government
Turkey has accelerated its contact with the Syrian opposition, while maintaining its criticism of the regime’s ongoing violent crackdown on the uprising. This development is in parallel to the growing involvement of the Arab League in the Syrian uprising. A recent deal agreed between the... MORE
Unrest in Syria Shaping a New Strategic Triangle of Hezbollah, Iran and Egypt
The final outcome of the unrest that continues to shake the broader Middle East remains in the balance. The grassroots protests that ushered in the fall of despots in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya and continue to rile ruling power structures in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, and... MORE
Turkey Afraid Syria Will Target Its Kurdish Achilles’ Heel
Syria ended its support for the Kurdish rebels of the Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan (PKK) in 1998 and expelled PKK-leader Abdullah Ocalan, a move that ultimately led to his arrest in Kenya the next year. Now Turkey fears that Syria could use the PKK again against... MORE
Russia Rejects WTO-Iran Linkage
Last week, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, in charge of relations with the US, arms control, ballistic missile defense (BMD) and proliferation, told Jamestown that US-Russian relations are not bad. Ryabkov expressed satisfaction that President Barack Obama fulfilled his promise to help Moscow overcome... MORE
BRIEFS
AL-SHABAAB COUNTEROFFENSIVE IN MOGADISHU THREATENS AFRICAN UNION’S MILITARY GAINS The cautious consolidation of its control over Mogadishu by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) encountered a pair of serious setbacks in late October as al-Shabaab Islamists ambushed a Burundian patrol on October 20 and... MORE
Hot Issue — Crackdown in Iraq: Former Ba’athists Still Pose Lingering Security Challenge
Executive Summary Hundreds of people have been arrested all around Iraq in an operation launched by the security forces against members of the banned Ba’ath party. The crackdown came a few days after U.S. President Barack Obama announced that U. S. forces will pull out... MORE