The ongoing offensive against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, as well as the neutralisation of jihadist leaders such as Abu Muhammad al-Adnani or Abu Omar al-Shishani in the Arab-Muslim world, beg the question of post-ISIS and future jihadist threats in the world. The following points provide some ...
On June 29, 2014, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the head of what was then known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, proclaimed the establishment of the Caliphate. Two years on, in summer 2016, the Islamic State celebrated its “birthday” with a spate of terror strikes.
The Islamic State spokesman Abu Mohammed Al Adnani released a statement ...
... operations to one that contains a unified strategy and is spearheaded by the UN Security Council. It is extremely important to rebuild a solid international legal framework for the fight against terrorism, one that is free from double standards.
Once terrorism has been eliminated (or once the process is under way), we need to turn our attention to resolving the crises in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen. Negotiations must be launched immediately upon the settlement of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which has become a chronic source of instability in the region that has spilt over into neighbouring countries and beyond.
...
... still holds today. Thus, it was Maliki’s absolute refusal to compromise with and accommodate Iraqis Sunnis and others that created the current crisis with ISIS. The sad truth is that if Maliki had treated the Sunnis and Kurds more fairly, the Iraqi government—Shiites, Sunnis, and Kurds united against terrorism as they were back in 2007—would have been in a strong position to fend off any ISIS incursions coming into Iraq from Syria. If anything, the internal dynamics of Syria spilled over into Iraq, not the other way around, and hardly related ...
The attacks will almost inevitably lead to an escalation of war in Iraq and Syria, as well as to changes in the balance of forces in the Middle East as a whole.
Although it will take time to truly evaluate the consequences of the November 13 massacre in Paris for the French, European and world politics, some conclusions ...
... conflict with direct intervention by degrading the Assad regime’s military capabilities and limiting the shipments of weapons into Syria with a combination of naval blockades, no-fly-zones, and the U.S. specifically partnering with its allies Iraq and (NATO member) Turkey to use drones, reconnaissance flights, and other high-tech monitoring equipment to lock down Syria’s land borders with both nations. NATO could have played a significant role in such an operation, too, not terribly ...
A Sensible Grading of Obama’s Middle East Strategy, As Opposed to Republican Nonsense: Part I: Introduction, Muslim World Reset, Iraq, Israel/Palestine
If you can’t understand that Obama’s overall Middle East strategy is starting to work, you don’t know what you’re talking about
By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981) May 21st,...
... should also be improved, as tragically exemplified by the attack against
Charlie Hebdo
. One of the terrorists, Chérif Kouachi, had already spent almost two years in jail in the mid-2000s for his involvement in a network that sent jihadists to Iraq. After his release, he managed to slip under the radar.
Thirdly, the new law includes provisions relating to the jihadists’ use of the Internet. Namely, it provides for the heavy sanctioning (up to 7 years in prison) of the glorification of terrorism on the Internet. It also allows French authorities to block radical websites. This measure will most probably be inefficient: it is easy to get around such blockings with the help of free downloadable programs and, moreover, jihadist web-propaganda ...
How the Obama Administration Removed Iraq’s Largest Political Obstacle
Originally published Nov. 2nd, 2014
How Did It Come To This?
At some point during Obama’s second term of his presidency, he and his Administration realized that Nuri Kamal al-Maliki was part of the problem,...
Dr. Glen Segell
(Fellow – The Ezri Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies,University of Haifa, Israel)
The Southern flank of Europe is the Mediterranean Sea. It is a small sea and many countries rely on the freedom of both sea and air traffic for their economy. On the one hand there was optimism that the Arab Spring would bring greater freedom for the individual in countries on the southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. There was further optimism that the North African countries of Tunisia...