Latest Articles about Middle East
Balochi Nationalists Intensify Violent Rebellion in Iran
The conflict between Iranian security forces and ethnic Baloch insurgents led by the Jondallah (Soldiers of God - an obscure militant group also known as the People’s Resistance Movement of Iran) that has been raging in Iran’s southeastern province of Sistan-Balochistan since 2003 is experiencing... MORE
Reviving the Iraqi Ba’ath: A Profile of General Muhammad Yunis al-Ahmad
The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq not only toppled Saddam Hussein, but it also put an end to three and a half decades of political domination by the Ba’ath party over Iraq. Despite a proliferation of political parties and militant organizations eager to take or at... MORE
Al-Zarqawi’s Legacy Seen in Trial of Jordanian al-Qaeda Cell
On January 27, 2009, the trial of a Salafi-Jihadi group was launched in Amman, Jordan. The twelve Jordanians, all of Palestinian origin, were members of a group charged with carrying out attacks with Molotov cocktails on a Christian church and cemetery. According to Jordanian authorities,... MORE
Al-Awda Party and the Ba’athist Dream of Return in Iraq
Iraq’s al-Awda party first emerged in the weeks following the demise of Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist regime in 2003. Al-Awda means “the return” in Arabic, in this case the “return” of the Ba’athists. In those days, pro-Ba’athist graffiti appeared in some areas in Iraq, with slogans... MORE
Rocket Attacks from Lebanon Threaten Dangerous Escalation of Gaza War
Israel’s invasion of Gaza and the ensuing humanitarian catastrophe has raised concerns about the potential for a dangerous escalation in regional hostilities. On January 8, three Katyusha rockets fired from southern Lebanon struck Nahariya, a city located in northern Israel, approximately 8 km from the... MORE
A Mujahideen Bleed-Through from Iraq? Part Four – The Case of Palestine and Israel
As discussed earlier in this series of articles, the entry of Sunni mujahideen from Iraq into Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon has been a fairly visible process and tracking it – at least in outline form – is an achievable task. Likewise, the goal of the... MORE
Kadyrov Performs the Hajj Pilgrimage
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Muzdalifah, near Mecca, in Saudi Arabia on December 9. Ziyad Sabsabi, the Russian Federation Council member representing Chechnya, also took part in the meeting and told Interfax that Kadyrov and Abbas “unanimously noted... MORE
U.S. Missiles Target Suspect in Transatlantic Airliner Plot
Late in the evening of November 21, a U.S. operated Predator drone struck a house in North Waziristan owned by local warlord Khaliq Noor. Among those allegedly killed were British-Pakistani militant Rashid Rauf and senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Zubair al-Masri (Dawn [Karachi], November 22; BBC,... MORE
Iraq’s Shias Split over the Impending U.S.-Iraq Status-of-Forces Agreement
Major divisions have begun to emerge in the Shia political bloc following the Iraqi cabinet’s approval of a proposed security agreement between Baghdad and Washington that would authorize American forces to remain in the country until the end of 2011 (Voices of Iraq, November 18;... MORE
Erdogan Visits India: Bilateral Trade and Turkish-Israeli-Indian Energy Cooperation on the Agenda
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited India from November 21 to 24, against a background of growing economic ties between the two nations. Erdogan was the first Turkish prime minister to visit India since Bulent Ecevit’s visit in 2000. Erdogan met Indian President Pratibha... MORE