On July 21, a group of militants in Kabardino-Balkaria launched a bold attack on the Baksan hydroelectric plant, ransacked the facility and rendering it unusable after a series of explosions. Two policemen who were guarding the plant were killed in the raid. The attack drew... MORE

Attacks apparently carried out by insurgents and attacking infrastructure have been reported in Dagestan in the wake of the daring attack earlier this week on the Baksan hydropower station in Kabardino-Balkaria. Russian news agencies reported that an improvised explosive device (IED) went off today (July... MORE

Salafism, the Islamic reformist current that first appeared in the Middle East in the 19th century, is a more diverse movement than many observers initially assume. Like other Islamic movements, it now encompasses a wide variety of distinct sub-sets, each with its own scholars and... MORE

On June 29, a court in Dubai found two ethnic Uyghurs guilty of plotting to attack a massive shopping mall made up of 400 shops selling Chinese-made goods (The National [Abu Dhabi], June 30). This attempted attack was not only the first terrorist plot to... MORE

A series of clashes in southern Lebanon between peacekeeping troops of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and local residents have raised concerns that hostilities may escalate along the Israeli-Lebanese border. Tensions have been running high in the Levant since Israel accused Syria... MORE

Dagestan’s Sharia Jamaat acquired a new leader this past week, six months after the death on the night of December 31, 2009 of the previous Emir al-Bar (aka Umalat Magomedov). Seifullah of Gubden (aka Magomed Vagapov), the emir of the Gubden Jamaat, has been chosen... MORE

On July 15, a meeting between Dagestan’s Vice Prime Minister, Rizvan Kurbanov, and the relatives of a detained bus driver prevented a possible regional scandal –the blockade of the highway connecting Russia and Azerbaijan. Relatives of Usman Garisov, who was arrested on drug possession and... MORE

On July 15, Moskovsky Komsomolets published a revealing report about a bitter conflict between the Russian interior ministry troops stationed in Chechnya and the Chechen Sever (“North”) battalion. Russian interior ministry sources told the newspaper that on February 4, 2010 during an operation against a... MORE

Attacks reported in Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan, Ingushetia and ChechnyaDespite Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin’s, announcement of a new plan to overhaul the economy of the North Caucasus, there was little sign of a let-up in insurgency related violence in the region this week. A large improvised... MORE

A small governorate of roughly 150,000 people, Ma’rib was once the heart of the great Sabaean civilization of pre-Islamic times, a land made prosperous by the construction of great irrigation works. Its wealth figured in the legends surrounding reputed rulers like Queen Sheba. When the... MORE