It was hardly surprising that the fragile ceasefire in eastern Ukraine was broken last week by an exchange of artillery and tank fire after weeks of deployment of Russian troops and heavy weapons in the war zone. What was unexpected, however, was the direction of... MORE

After Nadir Abu Khalid (a.k.a. Nadir Medetov), one of the best known radical Salafist preachers in Dagestan and one of the most popular among young people, fled to Syria, it appears that the Dagestani authorities have begun cracking down on Salafist imams. Khalid’s house arrest... MORE

Prior to its start, the European Union’s May 21–22 Eastern Partnership (EaP) summit in Riga was widely anticipated, given that the previous summit in Vilnius had been overshadowed by the war in Ukraine and newly evident Russian expansionism. Russia’s aggressive policies caused concerns in those... MORE

The amir (commander) of the Khasavyurt jamaat, Islam Abu Ibragim (a.k.a. Islam Muradov), recently declared that Muslims in Dagestan should pay a tax to the Islamic State (IS). Ibragim is among those militants who left the Caucasus Emirate and pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu... MORE

To read Part One, please click here. For all their personal friendship, President Petro Poroshenko’s appointment of Mikheil Saakashvili as governor of Odesa province in Ukraine is the ultimate merit-based appointment. In Georgia, Saakashvili had presided over the boldest and most successful reform programs of... MORE

The fragile ceasefire in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine seems to be unwinding, and both sides accuse each other of being the aggressor. This week (June 3), the worst fighting was in Maryinka, west of Donetsk. The Russia-backed rebels insist they are defending their... MORE

In the early stages of the Russian military operation to annex Crimea, in February–March 2014, the level of surprise triggered in Kyiv and in Western capitals caused many journalists and analysts to seek ways to conceptualize Russia’s military and security power. The success and speed... MORE

Though far from a household name, Abu Humam al-Suri (birth name: Samir Hijazi) is a critical Syrian jihadist leader, important to both Jabhat al-Nusra and the broader al-Qaeda organization. Abu Humam is an al-Qaeda veteran and also Jabhat al-Nusra’s masul al-askari al-amm (general military official).... MORE

On September 24, 2014, the U.S. Department of State listed Harakat Sham al-Islam (HSI) as “Specially Designated Global Terrorists” (U.S. Department of State, September 24, 2014). The listing described HSI, which was formed in August 2013, as a “Moroccan-led terrorist organization operating in Syria principally... MORE

In an Arabic-language statement issued over Twitter on April 23, the Iranian hardline Sunni Baloch militant organization Ansar al-Furqan announced the death of its leader, Abu Hafs al-Balochi (Twitter, April 23). The statement said al-Balochi had been killed the previous day after “a long confrontation”... MORE