Policy Analysis

Iran’s recent actions in the region challenge the core interests of many American allies, and rallying those partners around shared objectives would give U.S. policy a better chance of success.

America’s oldest Arab ally has made significant economic progress since 1999, but grievances regarding social issues and political reform continue to pose a challenge.

We’re looking at the new face of cyber-ops in our hyperconnected, digitized world. It too often resembles the real thing. And it looks like Iranians are pretty good at it.

While the military threat of ISIS is much diminished inside of Syria, there remain a number of thorny issues in the wake of this defeat, not least the question of ISIS-affiliated prisoners. In northeastern Syria, the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration (AA) is currently responsible for most of the militants held hostage

Legal ambiguities have led to disagreements over how vessels can use the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf, so Washington should highlight them in any future talks with Iran.

Of all the threats in Israel’s strategic landscape, none have loomed larger in recent years than Iran’s ambitions and developing military capabilities in neighboring Syria and Lebanon. Exploiting regional turmoil as well as the 2015 nuclear agreement, the IRGC’s elite Qods Force has embarked on an ambitious plan to build

Since February 22, Algeria has been witnessing what has been described as the largest political movement since its independence in 1962. Over the past four months, this popular movement has been able to force changes that most political analysts previously thought to be unachievable in a country such as Algeria

While much of the world is focused on the Strait of Hormuz, tensions are also mounting rapidly in the East Mediterranean.

The future of the bilateral relationship looks bleak after years of strategic divergence on crises in Iraq and Syria.

The reign of terror that ISIS conducted in their self-proclaimed caliphate shocked the world’s conscious to the point that sworn enemies marshaled their resources to defeat the threat. Yet as Kelley E. Currie, senior State Department appointee and representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, stated at a

The military elite who decide much of Pakistan's foreign policy view Afghan stabilization efforts as a strategic opportunity for arch rival India to encircle them.

After the June 13 meeting between Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei and Japanese Prime Minister Abe failed to yield fruitful results, it has become clear that the United States and Iran have reached a deadlock without much of a solution on the horizon. Nevertheless, it is widely agreed among observers

The United States is now designating politicians who place personal or Iranian interests above the needs of the Iraqi people, but these efforts could go awry if locals don’t understand the justification or consequences.

If the PKK is confirmed as the perpetrator, Ankara will almost surely launch retaliation in Iraq or Syria, and Washington will have little choice but to stand aside.

Egypt and Turkey are the two largest countries in the eastern Mediterranean; along with Iran, they make up nearly half of the total population of the Middle East. The two states also possess what are considered the two strongest conventional military powers in the Middle East. Moreover, Cairo and Ankara

On July 2, the Turkish army reportedly shelled Kurdish forces in the Northern Aleppo region of Tel Rifaat, following a similar incident in mid-June where the Turkish Defense Ministry reported killing ten Kurdish soldiers in retaliation for the death of a Turkish soldier. These recent intermittent skirmishes reflect how Tel

Seeing that the president wants out of “endless Middle East wars,” Tehran seems to think that raising the pressure might get him to back off.

A delegation of the American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL) just returned from a trip to Lebanon, where it met with over a hundred representatives of government, business, civil society, and academia while also visiting a Syrian refugee settlement in the Bekaa Valley. During the trip, I and other members

In a time where the balance of the Middle East is in flux, regional leaders and the international community alike should be closely following the relationship between Turkey and Iran. While the relationship between Teheran and Ankara has historically been troubled, mutual interests have sprouted newfound cooperation between the two

Attempts by the de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates, Muhammad bin Zayed al-Nahyan, to consolidate power and pursue an activist regional policy have drawn criticism from other emirates, including Dubai. If a compromise candidate eventually emerges to lead the UAE, it could reshape the country’s posture in the region as well as relations with the United States.