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Latest Articles about Middle East
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Briefs
Oman’s Ability to Balance Competing Priorities Will Help Shape the Gulf in Coming Years Brian M. Perkins During the fraught aftermath of the airstrike that killed Major General Qasem Soleimani, another key development with broad implications for the Middle East was unfolding. The death of... MORE
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Russia Exploits Middle East to Subvert Europe
Amidst the Russian government reshuffle and constitutional revisions (see EDM, January 16, 20, 2020), the only international set of troubles that President Vladimir Putin had time to address in the last couple of weeks was the Middle East. He visited Syria and Turkey in the... MORE
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The Strategic Implications of Chinese-Iranian-Russian Naval Drills in the Indian Ocean
Introduction In early December, Major General Shao Yuanming (邵元明), the Deputy Chief of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), traveled to the Islamic Republic of Iran for rare high-level military meetings. These meetings were held... MORE
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Calls for U.S. Troop Withdrawal From Iraq Continue as al-Amiri Emerges as Leader of PMU
The crisis in relations between the United States and Iraq’s Shia-led government has deepened over the last few weeks and especially after the killing of Iran’s top general, Qasem Soleimani, as he arrived at Baghdad International Airport on January 2. Soleimani was killed alongside Abu... MORE
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Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi: From Guantanamo Bay Detainee to AQAP Leader
The U.S. State Department offered a $4 million reward for Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi (a.k.a. Abu Khubaib al-Sudani) through its Rewards for Justice program in November, bringing the longtime al-Qaeda figure back into the international spotlight. The reward comes over seven years after al-Qosi was... MORE
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CAPTURED: Chechen Islamic State Commander al-Bara al-Shishani Arrested in Ukraine
On November 12, the Ukrainian Security Services (SBU) apprehended al-Bara al-Shishani, a leader of the Russian-speaking faction of Islamic State (IS). Al-Bara was arrested in a private house located in the region surrounding Kyiv. According to SBU officials, al-Bara had been residing in Ukraine since... MORE
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Islamic State and AQAP Could Exploit Disorder in Southern Yemen
Though the war in Yemen is far from over, the conflict is at least seemingly moving in a more positive direction as the Saudi coalition is engaging in indirect talks with the Houthis and facilitating a fragile ceasefire referred to as the Riyadh Agreement between... MORE
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Tehran Expanding Efforts to Counter US, Israel and Turkey Across South Caucasus
Iran’s approach to the three countries of the South Caucasus—Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia—is derivative of its concerns to keep its geopolitical opponents, the United States, Turkey and Israel, from being able to threaten the Islamic Republic from the north. At the same time, despite the... MORE
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The Kremlin’s Controversial ‘Soft Power’ in Africa (Part One)
The Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum, held in Sochi on October 23–24, was presented as an event of great geopolitical and geo-economic importance (see EDM, October 28), explicitly showcasing the competitive advantages Moscow is purportedly ready to employ in its struggle for influence on the... MORE
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Abu Zainab al-Lami—The Mastermind Behind the Bloody Crackdown in Iraq
The ongoing protests in Baghdad and in the predominantly Shia areas of southern Iraq are unprecedented in both their scale and the degree of violence they were confronted with by the authorities. The Iranian-backed Iraqi Shia militias and its umbrella organization, the Popular Mobilization Units... MORE