In Yemen’s troubled governorate of Marib, the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh generally has maintained a hands-off policy toward the region’s autonomous tribes. For decades, tribal infighting plagued Marib to a degree that Saleh himself had little reason to worry about these heavily armed... MORE

After the fall of Tripoli to fighters loyal to Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC), the Syrian-based al-Rai TV station became the prime source of speeches of the toppled regime’s messages. Al-Rai aired audio messages and interviews with the ousted Libyan leader Colonel Mu’ammar al-Qaddafi and... MORE

Seeking to roll back the influence of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Arab world, the recent “Iran Initiative” of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah is a major development in Middle Eastern power politics that will have a significant impact on the security of the... MORE

As part of the growing political process that opened up after the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, there are now fourteen Islamist parties in Egypt, a dramatic change from less than a year ago, when all such parties were banned. These religious parties mushroomed... MORE

Since it began last February, the youth-led peaceful revolutionary movement in Yemen demanding an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime has provided a political alternative to the Yemeni people which has marginalized the rhetoric of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). At the same... MORE

Influenced by the upheaval that has stricken many Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa, the people of southwest Iran’s Khuzestan Province have tried to start their own protest movement.  Khuzestan is inhabited by a majority of Arabs and is home to more... MORE

Turkey’s decision to host a NATO early warning radar in the US-led missile defense program continues to reverberate, especially for its relations with Iran. High ranking Iranian officials repeatedly criticize not only Turkey’s cooperation with the United States on the missile shield, but also Ankara’s... MORE

Introduction  After the Anglo-American invasion that toppled the regime of the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his Arab Ba’ath Socialist Party, thousands of junior and senior members of the party fled the country. From their exile in Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen and elsewhere, some... MORE

Iranian military forces began a large-scale and ongoing offensive in the northwestern part of the country in early July. The target of the operation is the militant Kurdish group Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistane (PJAK - Party of Free Life of Iranian Kurdistan), a group... MORE

Iran’s ties to Syria go beyond the geo-politics of the "Axis of Resistance." This is evident in the remote, volatile, and oil-rich al-Jazirah region of northeastern Syria, where there has been a noticeable increase in Iranian investment in religious and cultural centers over the last... MORE