Latest Articles about Middle East
In the Shadow of al-Zarqawi: A Profile of the Saudi Militant Saleh al-Qara’wi
The late leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi, who was killed on June 7, 2006 in a U.S. missile strike, always had ambitions to create a Salafi-jihadi movement in the Levant region. [1] Zarqawi worked to achieve his goal since the establishment of... MORE
Iranian Naval Exercises Display Advancements in IRGC Armed Capabilities
On April 22, the Iranian armed forces began an annual series of military exercises over the course of three days in the strategic Strait of Hormuz region (The Great Prophet 5) (IRNA, April 23; Press TV, April 23; Mehr, April 23; Keyhan, April 23). Named... MORE
Commander of Iraq’s Hizbullah Brigades Insists on Resistance to U.S. Occupation
While most of Iraq’s armed Shi’a resistance has entered the political process, some independent Shi’a resistance groups remain in the field, determined to expel the American occupation by force of arms. Leading among these is the Kata’ib Hizbullah (Brigades of the Party of God), who... MORE
Al-Qaeda in Iraq Resurfaces with New Strategy and Specific Operations
The reported death of the elusive leader of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, and his al-Qaeda colleague, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, in a combined attack by U.S. and Iraqi government forces on April 20 raises important questions regarding the future of the... MORE
Syria in China’s New Silk Road Strategy
While the international community is fixated on Iran’s nuclear program, China has been steadily expanding its political, economic and strategic ties with Syria. Since Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited China in 2004 on the heels of the 2003 U.S. intervention in Iraq, there have been... MORE
Moscow Opens the Prospect of an Iranian Arms Embargo
After the signing of the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-3) in the Czech capital Prague with President, Barack Obama, last week, Dmitry Medvedev arrived in Washington for the two-day Nuclear Security Summit in a buoyant mood. Speaking in an often humorous tone at the... MORE
Mass Arrests of al-Qaeda Suspects in Saudi Arabia Illustrate Security Threat from Yemen
The Interior Ministry of Saudi Arabia released a statement announcing the arrest of 113 persons “constituting a network and two cells” tied to al-Qaeda on March 24. The network was comprised of 101 individuals, including 47 Saudi nationals, 51 Yemenis, a Somali, a Bangladeshi and... MORE
Political Theater or Counterterrorism? Assessing Iran’s Capture of Jundallah Leader Abdelmalek Rigi
Iranian security forces pulled off a major coup on February 23 by capturing the enigmatic militant leader Abdelmalek Rigi (Press TV [Tehran], February 23; IRNA [Tehran], February 23). The 31-year-old founder and leader of Jundallah (Soldiers of God), an ethnic Baloch nationalist group, is responsible... MORE
The Gorran Movement – A Change in the Iraqi Kurdish Political Landscape
The emergence of a new Kurdish opposition movement in Iraqi Kurdistan—Gorran (meaning “Change”)—has complicated the political landscape of northern Iraq. A break-away movement of many top PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) members founded in February 2009, Gorran won 25 of 111 seats in the Kurdish... MORE
Adel al-Abbab: Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s Religious Ideologue
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) consists of several divisions: the Shura Council, which is the highest authority of the organization; the Media division; the Military division; and the Shari’a committee, which includes individuals such as Ibrahim al-Rubaish, Khaled Batarfi (a.k.a. Abu Miqdad al-Kindi) and... MORE