Policy Analysis

March 20, 2017 On December 11, an Islamic State bomb targeting St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo’s Abbassia district killed 25 Egyptian Christians. According to the official investigation, the suicide bomber was an Egyptian citizen named Abu Abdullah al-Masri, or Mahmud Shafiq. Following that attack, a stolen truck drove through a

March 14, 2017 Iraqi Kurdistan has been an autonomous region since 1992. It emerged as a quasi-state after the establishment of the no-fly zone in northern Iraq by the United States – along with the United Kingdom and France – which put an end to Saddam Hussein’s murderous attacks on

Six years after unrest in Dar‘a sparked what has metastasized into a civil war and multilateral regional conflict, the Syrian opposition may have to contend with the painful, yet undeniable truth that Russia has prevailed in Syria. It is not the ipso facto end of the Syrian revolution, but it

It is never difficult to encounter gender stereotypes in the news of many countries in the Middle East. The problem continues behind the scenes in the newsroom as gender policies are almost nonexistent and female journalists are rarely equally paid or given an equal chance of getting promoted to upper-level

March 8, 2017 Women’s demands in North Africa are increasingly diversified and polyvocal as new actors and agents gain visibility in the public sphere of authority. This diversification is being nourished by new values, such as all citizens’ dignity in the public sphere, and new approaches, such as the use

At the beginning of the year, one of the members of the Lebanese Parliament had previously voted for singer Myriam Klink during the presidential election session, causing the whole session to erupt in laughter, with some nearly divulging their own fantasies about the ‘sexy singer’. Today, however, she is being

March 7, 2017 In the spring of 1860, Col Charles Henry Churchill was well into his interviews with one of the great personalities of his era. As a British military officer and former diplomatic representative in Damascus to the Ottoman Empire, Churchill finally found the opportunity to record first-hand the

March 6, 2017 On January 24, during a speech for National Police Day, President Sisi – to everyone’s surprise – brought up the issue of the high divorce rate in Egypt and its dangerous impact on family security and stability, calling for an amendment of divorce laws. According to Sisi’s

March 6, 2017 There is no hiding the religious zeal that gripped Lebanon’s Shiites when, in 2013, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah launched the group’s campaign to defend the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad. Thousands of fighters, imbued with the illusion of rapid victories, crossed the Lebanese border into Syria believing

At a conference in Dahuk in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq a few weeks ago, I was intrigued to see the leader of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDP-I) -- which the Tehran regime considers a subversive, terrorist group -- address the assembled notables. Sitting in the front row

Turkey has come to see the Iraqi city of Mosul as a representation of the geopolitical balance with other states in the region. The area Mosul is not only important for its size, population, and resources, but also for its location. Sitting on the border between Turkey and Syria, it

In Iraq, there are several significant laws applied by the federal and local governments, despite not originating in Parliament, which is the highest political and legislative institution in the country. Some of those laws are pertinent to fundamental individual freedoms, while others are ideologically oriented; a good example is the

It is strange to hear talk of an alliance between Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose competition is notorious. The two states, who have clashed in multiple countries, now find themselves in a new political situation which may force them to work together. At the very least they may have to

February 14th, 2017 The Islamic State’s (ISIS) credentials substantially improved after their conquest of Mosul in 2014. In only two years, this al-Qaeda splinter group has spread into most Middle Eastern countries, the Islamic Maghreb, South and Southeast Asia, and has established cells and inspired individual attacks in Europe and

February 14, 2017 The newly established state of Israel captured West Jerusalem in the aftermath of the 1948 War and East Jerusalem in the 1967 War; however, neither military acquisition was recognized internationally. In 1995, though, the US Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act claiming Jerusalem as the eternal capital

Following accusations that Syria had assassinated former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Syrian forces withdrew from Lebanon in 2005 under UN Security Council resolution 1559. In a speech to parliament announcing the withdrawal, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that “Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon does not mean an end to Syria’s

February 7, 2017 Counter to what many believe, Islamists in Kurdistan are characterized by their openness to change and their intellectual and practical development. But challenges within and outside their parties, defined by political, economic, and administrative realities in the region, prevent them from playing an effective role in resolving

February 7, 2016 When the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) stormed northern Iraq and took over Mosul in the summer of 2014, it ran a parallel campaign of genocide against the minorities of the Nineveh Plains. For many of these groups, including Christians and Yezidis, this was the

Pakistan, a country with an unprecedented youth bulge, could be a massive recruitment pool for ISIS. Several Islamist terrorist organizations have already taken advantage of the country’s fragile situation.

As long as the relocation is conducted within the confines of Western Jerusalem, Arabs should recognize it as a normal diplomatic action.