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Latest Articles about Middle East
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Hobson’s Choice: China’s Second Worst Option on Iran
In late February, a high-level Israeli delegation visited China in an attempt to convince Beijing to go along with sanctions against Iran. Headed by Lieutenant General (ret.) Moshe Ya'alon, vice prime minister and minister for strategic affairs and former chief of general staff of Israel's... MORE
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Kurdish Counterterrorism Group Works to Prevent Terrorism in Kurdistan and Iraq
With an intelligence and military wing of over 1,000 people, the Sulaymaniyah-based Counter Terrorism Group (CTG) collects intelligence and carries out operations to prevent terrorists in Iraq from destabilizing the Kurdistan region in cooperation with U.S. forces. Lahur Talabani, the nephew of the Iraqi president,... MORE
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An Assessment of the Anatomy of al-Qaeda in Yemen: Ideological and Social Factors
Yemen has become one of the most important strongholds and safe havens for al-Qaeda. The impact of Yemen’s Salafi-Jihadist movement is no longer limited to that nation and its national security alone. The threat posed by Yemen’s militant Salafists has spread to neighboring countries such... MORE
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Kata’ib Hezbollah and the Intricate Web of Iranian Military Involvement in Iraq
It is no secret that Iran’s influence runs deep in Iraq. Most Iraqi politicians with close ties to Iran, however, are wary of tarnishing their nationalist credentials by admitting that they prefer to cooperate with Iran rather than the United States, in part because of... MORE
From Yemen to Detroit: The Expanding Influence of AQAP’s Sa’id al-Shihri
In the Saudi state television broadcast of a recorded conversation which took place on August 27, 2009 between Saudi Prince Muhammad bin Nayef and Abdullah Hassan Tali al-Assiri—moments before al-Assiri attempted to assassinate the prince via suicide bomb—Bin Nayef made mention of a woman and... MORE
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No Place Like Home: Iraq’s Refugee Crisis Threatens the Future of Iraq
The massive upheaval of Iraq’s population that has occurred since 2006 threatens the long-term stability of the country, regardless of short-term gains achieved through the political process or military surges. Symptomatic of a destabilized Iraq, displaced populations are themselves a source of future destabilization. Many... MORE
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Key to Iraqi Stability Lies in Resolution of the Conflicting Interests of Kurds and Arabs
In his February 2, 2010 “Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community,” U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair predicts that Iraq will continue making progress, although “this forecast is dependent on the next government’s effective management of Arab-Kurd tensions, continued progress in... MORE
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Who Speaks for the Shi’a of Iraq?
Iraq’s Shi’a Arabs, the demographic majority with an estimated 60-70% of the population, wield the most political influence in Iraq. But the Shi’a of Iraq are a diverse group, with major regional differences between the Shi’a of Basra and the deep South and the Shi’a... MORE
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The People of Righteousness: Iraq’s Shi’a Insurgents Issue Demands for Hostages
The second man in the Iraqi Shi’a insurgent group Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (The People of Righteousness – AAH), Shaykh Akram al-Ka’abi recently gave his first interview to the mainstream pan-Arab media. Al-Ka’abi talked to the London-based magazine al-Majalla, where he revealed that the AAH held... MORE
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The Insurgent Rationale in Iraq
The string of high-profile bombings that followed the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraqi cities on June 30, 2009 exposed not only Iraqi security shortcomings, but also the continued effectiveness of the insurgents to carry out demanding operations. These types of operations suggest the... MORE