Turkish military operations against Kurdish Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkaren Kurdistan, or PKK) militants inside northern Iraq have evolved since the 1990s from large, ponderous, marginally effective incursions into a combination of semi-permanent screening operations with more precise strikes and raids. The shift, facilitated in large... MORE

Protesters loyal to Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr invaded the heavily fortified area in central Baghdad, known as the Green Zone, twice in one week in late July. They occupied the parliament building for days and blocked al-Sadr’s Iranian-backed rivals’ formation of a new government... MORE

Abu Sayyaf’s Local and Global Prospects Look Increasingly Grim in the Philippines In one of the most recent counter-insurgency successes against Abu Sayyaf, the Philippines army announced that 100 former fighters have renounced the group, pledged loyalty to the government, and returned to their homes... MORE

On April 26, Shari Hayat Baloch, a female suicide bomber of the Baluch Liberation Army (BLA)’s Majeed Brigade, targeted Karachi University’s Confucius Centre, killing four people, including three Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver (Dawn, April 26). This was the first ever female suicide bombing... MORE

After years of hiding, Muhammed Farhatullah Ghauri, one of India's elusive yet most wanted Islamist ideologues, resurfaced with a series of audio-visual messages. Ghauri's sudden re-emergence on popular social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Telegram in early 2022 caught the attention of... MORE

In conjunction with the Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP)’s push to broaden its appeal to speakers of Central Asian languages, an extensive and seemingly growing network of Tajik pro-Islamic State (IS) hubs has emerged using Telegram, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and other online platforms to... MORE

Since its seizure of power in August 2021, the Taliban has repeatedly asserted that it accomplished something the Ashraf Ghani administration could never do: provide nationwide security and eliminate regional transnational terror threats, the latter a topic of profound interest to Afghanistan’s neighbors, including China,... MORE

Following the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma’s remarks denigrating the Prophet Muhammad, several Muslim countries in Asia registered strong protests against India (The Hindu, June 6). The Indian Muslim community also protested in several cities, resulting in a tense communal environment... MORE

On July 10, Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh claimed that Jordan had never treated Iran as a national security threat (BBC Arabic, July 10). However, two months earlier, Jordan's King Abdullah II had underlined the threat that Iran and its proxies would pose on Jordan's... MORE

Thai Military Continues Counter-Insurgency Operations Amid Peace Process Jacob Zenn Amid rising hopes for a more inclusive peace process in southern Thailand, the Thai military is continuing its counter-insurgency operations against ethnic Malay Muslim militants. This represents a strategy whereby the military is allowing talks... MORE