Policy Analysis

The international conference on Syria is unlikely to make headway toward a transitional government and might instead undermine U.S. interests in ending the civil war.

While delivering more Apache helicopters to Egypt may well increase the terrorist body count in the Sinai, Cairo must find a way to reduce the reportedly heavy collateral damage caused by such weapons.

Hizb Allah is the most effective force on the Syrian battlefield and has been instrumental in the preservation of the Assad regime and the success of its offensive operations since spring 2013.

Resuming direct U.S. material support for anti-Assad forces offers the only serious prospect, even if modest, for halting Syria's downward slide and its damage to U.S. interests.

North African Shiites are growing in number, forming organizations, and mobilizing around Syria and other causes, refuting the popular belief that Morocco is removed from the dynamics of the Gulf and Levant.

Although Mali could become a satellite of another North African power, Morocco's involvement is the best chance to uproot extremism there, from the inside out.

Washington can provide counterterrorism advisors and air support without being dragged back into war.

Low Salafist turnout for this week's constitutional referendum could signal a broad base of support for growing jihadist violence against the post-Morsi government.

Sending a small number of U.S. Apache helicopters to Iraq would demonstrate increasing U.S. support, and any local or regional drawbacks could be addressed by offsetting measures.

U.S. efforts to intervene with radicalized and at-risk individuals can only thrive if the federal government is willing to commit money, not just lip service.

The Israeli leader showed himself capable of making bold policy reversals when he felt the country's welfare as a democratic Jewish state was at stake.

The perception that the White House is determined to include the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt's political process could hamper the Iran and Syria negotiations, among other ill effects.

The U.S. military mission in Iraq started with a deliberate skewing of intelligence and ended that way too.

Although President Rouhani has persuaded the Supreme Leader to adjust the IRGC's economic functions, he has not challenged its role in shaping Iran's nuclear policy.

Iraq is at a decisive impasse. An al-Qaeda threat able to operate as a quasi-conventional military force has seized large portions of western Iraq, including parts of Ramadi and Fallujah, two major cities in Anbar province. While the main reason for the growth of al-Qaeda in Iraq, a faction which

There are few takers for Hezbollah's contorted logic that the Syrian rebellion is an American or Israeli scheme, so the group may eventually feel the need to rejuvenate its "resistance" credentials by confronting Israel directly.

If Egypt's activists are to continue their righteous campaign for a non-dictatorial government, they will have to draft a concrete agenda, better engage the public, and organize beyond one traffic circle in downtown Cairo.

Turkey will hold local and presidential elections in 2014, both of significant import. The AKP, in power since 2002, has lasted longer than any other government since the country became a multiparty democracy in 1950. Likewise, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled Turkey longer than any other democratically elected

Many hazards line the path to a comprehensive nuclear accord with Iran, including the unraveling of multilateral sanctions and efforts by the Iranian parliament to assert a role in national decisionmaking.

Differing approaches to Iran's nuclear program do not bode well for Israel in 2014.