ISIL, Syria and the Explosive Middle East
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
The Nairobi Attack and Al-Shabab's Media Strategy
OCTOBER 2013 . VOL 6 . ISSUE 10 Contents The Nairobi Attack and FEATURE ARTICLE 1 The Nairobi Attack and Al-Shabab’s Al-Shabab’s Media Strategy Media Strategy By Christopher Anzalone By Christopher Anzalone REPORTS 6 The Dutch Foreign Fighter Contingent in Syria By Samar Batrawi 10 Jordanian Jihadists Active in Syria By Suha Philip Ma’ayeh 13 The Islamic Movement and Iranian Intelligence Activities in Nigeria By Jacob Zenn 19 Kirkuk’s Multidimensional Security Crisis By Derek Henry Flood 22 The Battle for Syria’s Al-Hasakah Province By Nicholas A. Heras 25 Recent Highlights in Terrorist Activity 28 CTC Sentinel Staff & Contacts Kenyan soldiers take positions outside the Westgate Mall in Nairobi on September 21, 2013. - Photo by Jeff Angote/Getty Images fter carrying out a bold Godane. The attack also followed a attack inside the upscale year in which al-Shabab lost control Westgate Mall in Nairobi in of significant amounts of territory in September 2013, the Somali Somalia, most importantly major urban Amilitant group al-Shabab succeeded in and economic centers such as the cities recapturing the media spotlight. This of Baidoa and Kismayo. was in large part due to the nature of the attack, its duration, the difficulty This article examines al-Shabab’s About the CTC Sentinel in resecuring the mall, the number of media strategy during and immediately The Combating Terrorism Center is an casualties, and al-Shabab’s aggressive after the Westgate Mall attack, both independent educational and research media campaign during and immediately via micro-blogging on Twitter through institution based in the Department of Social after the attack.1 its various accounts as well as more Sciences at the United States Military Academy, traditional media formats such as West Point. -
War Crimes Prosecution Watch, Vol. 13, Issue 12
PILPG Logo Case School of Law Logo War Crimes Prosecution Watch Editor-in-Chief Taylor Frank FREDERICK K. COX Volume 13 - Issue 12 INTERNATIONAL LAW CENTER July 23, 2018 Technical Editor-in-Chief Ashley Mulryan Founder/Advisor Michael P. Scharf Managing Editors Sarah Lucey Lynsey Rosales War Crimes Prosecution Watch is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that compiles official documents and articles from major news sources detailing and analyzing salient issues pertaining to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes throughout the world. To subscribe, please email [email protected] and type "subscribe" in the subject line. Opinions expressed in the articles herein represent the views of their authors and are not necessarily those of the War Crimes Prosecution Watch staff, the Case Western Reserve University School of Law or Public International Law & Policy Group. Contents AFRICA CENTRAL AFRICA Central African Republic News24: CAR rejects Russia mediation bid with rebels Crux: Bishops of Central African Republic 'outraged' by threat against Muslim population The Catholic Spirit: Central African bishops distance themselves from group promising violence Sudan & South Sudan BBC News: South Sudan atrocities may constitute war crimes, UN says IOL: Sudan extends ceasefire in war zones until end of year Sudan Tribune: South Sudanese army abducts civilians in Unity region: rebels Democratic Republic of the Congo The East African: UN voices alarm at 'barbaric violence' in DR Congo's Ituri Reuters: Congo opposition leader Bemba nominated for -
Lebanon: Background and U.S. Relations
Lebanon: Background and U.S. Relations Casey L. Addis Analyst in Middle Eastern Affairs February 1, 2011 Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov R40054 CRS Report for Congress Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Lebanon: Background and U.S. Relations Summary Lebanon is a religiously diverse country transitioning toward independence and democratic consolidation after a ruinous civil war and the subsequent Syrian and Israeli occupations. The United States and Lebanon have historically enjoyed a good relationship due in part to cultural and religious ties; the democratic character of the state; a large, Lebanese-American community in the United States; and the pro-western orientation of Lebanon, particularly during the cold war. Current policy priorities of the United States include strengthening the weak democratic institutions of the state, limiting the influence of Iran, Syria, and others in Lebanon’s political process, and countering threats from Hezbollah and other militant groups in Lebanon. Following Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005 and the war between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006, the Bush Administration requested and Congress appropriated a significant increase in U.S. assistance to Lebanon. Since 2006, U.S. assistance to Lebanon has topped $1 billion total over three years, including for the first time U.S. security assistance for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and Internal Security Forces (ISF) of Lebanon. Several key issues in U.S.-Lebanon relations could potentially affect future U.S. assistance to Lebanon. The scope and influence of foreign actors, primarily Syria and Iran; unresolved territorial disputes; concerns about extremist groups operating in Lebanon; and potential indictments by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) are among the challenges facing the Lebanese government and U.S. -
The COVID-19 Crisis: Impact and Implications
The COVID-19 Crisis: Impact and Implications Editor: Efraim Karsh Mideast Security and Policy Studies No. 176 THE BEGIN-SADAT CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY Mideast Security and Policy Studies No. 176 The COVID-19 Crisis: Impact and Implications Editor: Efraim Karsh The COVID-19 Crisis: Impact and Implications Editor: Efraim Karsh © The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies Bar-Ilan University Ramat Gan 5290002 Israel Tel. 972-3-5318959 Fax. 972-3-5359195 [email protected] www.besacenter.org ISSN 0793-1042 July 2020 Cover image: Coronavirus image via Pixabay The Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies is an independent, non-partisan think tank conducting policy-relevant research on Middle Eastern and global strategic affairs, particularly as they relate to the national security and foreign policy of Israel and regional peace and stability. It is named in memory of Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat, whose efforts in pursuing peace laid the cornerstone for conflict resolution in the Middle East. Mideast Security and Policy Studies serve as a forum for publication or re-publication of research conducted by BESA associates. Publication of a work by BESA signifies that it is deemed worthy of public consideration but does not imply endorsement of the author’s views or conclusions. Colloquia on Strategy and Diplomacy summarize the papers delivered at conferences and seminars held by the Center for the academic, military, official and general publics. In sponsoring these discussions, the BESA Center aims to stimulate public debate on, and consideration of, contending approaches to problems of peace and war in the Middle East. -
Reporters Describe Carnage at Qana
Home News Sport Radio TV Weather Languages UK version International versionAbout the versions | Low graphics | Help | Contact us News Front Page Last Updated: Sunday, 30 July 2006, 14:53 GMT 15:53 UK E-mail this to a friend Printable version Reporters describe carnage at Qana VIDEO AND AUDIO NEWS Africa Reports from the southern Lebanese town of Qana have See the aftermath of the Israeli Americas described a scene of air strike Asia-Pacific carnage, with rescue Europe workers continuing to pull Middle East bodies from the ruins of a South Asia civilian building. UK Business Early on Sunday morning, as LATEST NEWS Health BBC correspondents arrived at Lebanon warning on ceasefire Few people pulled from the destroyed Israeli commando raid alarms UN Science/Nature the site of the deadliest Israeli house in Qana were alive Technology strike so far in this conflict, The raid that went wrong Crisis day-by-day Entertainment frantic efforts to find survivors were already under way. ----------------- DESPATCHES Have Your Say Displaced families had been sheltering in the basement of a Dangers await In Pictures house in Qana, which was crushed after a direct hit. Unexploded bombs are among dangers facing Country Profiles The Israeli strike killed at least 54 people, more than half of those returning to In Depth them children. southern Lebanon. Programmes Israeli city counts cost of war The BBC's Jim Muir said that for some of the rescuers, Devastation sightseers RELATED BBC SITES experienced as they were, the emotional impact of finding so Surveying the damaged south SPORT many dead children in the ruins was too much. -
Tehran Stands Atop the Syria-Iran Alliance
Atlantic Council BRENT SCOWCROFT CENTER ON INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE BRIEF Tehran Stands Atop the Syria-Iran Alliance OCTOBER 2017 DANIELLE PLETKA The state that was once known as Syria has ceased to exist. The nominal central government of President Bashar al-Assad controls only sections of the country, with other portions in the hands, variously, of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), al-Qaeda tied to Fatah al- Sham (otherwise known as Jabhat al-Nusra), People’s Protection Units, the Democratic Union Party, and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. In addition, that which is in Assad’s hands remains so thanks only to the combined intervention of Iranian conventional and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and IRGC-Quds Forces, Hezbollah fighters, and the military support of the Russian Federation. If Assad is ever again to sit atop his nation, whole and entirely under his heel as it once was, it will be only because of these outside forces. Despite the Kremlin’s efforts to ensure a tactically advantageous military presence in Syria for the foreseeable future, Russia’s role in controlling Syria’s leadership going forward may be at least partly in question. Iran’s role, however, is clear. Assad, or indeed any Alawite ruler that succeeds him, will serve solely at the pleasure of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). Beginning at the Beginning Pushback: Exposing and After the ouster of the shah of Iran during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Countering Iran is a project the new regime in Tehran took a straightforward approach to its foreign of the Middle East Peace and Security Initiative in the Atlantic relations: Everything the shah did was wrong, and the regime would do Council’s Brent Scowcroft the opposite. -
Download the Transcript
1 AMERICA-2016/10/17 THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION FALK AUDITORIUM IKE'S GAMBLE: AMERICA'S RISE TO DOMINANCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST Washington, D.C. Monday, October 17, 2016 PARTICIPANTS: Moderator: TAMARA COFMAN WITTES Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Middle East Policy The Brookings Institution Featured Speakers: MICHAEL DORAN Senior Fellow The Brookings Institution MARTIN INDYK Executive Vice President The Brookings Institution * * * * * ANDERSON COURT REPORTING 706 Duke Street, Suite 100 Alexandria, VA 22314 Phone (703) 519-7180 Fax (703) 519-7190 2 AMERICA-2016/10/17 P R O C E E D I N G S MS. WITTES: Well, good morning everyone. Wow. I'm Tamara Wittes, Director of the Center for Middle East Policy here at Brookings. I really want to thank all of you for joining us for a celebratory occasion, which is to mark the publication of a wonderful new book by Mike Doran, "Ike's Gamble: America's Rise to Dominance in the Middle East", for sale outside. If you haven't gotten your copy yet I hope you will after the event. I think for any of us who watches the region, works on the region, it's clear that the Middle East is in a state of disorder today that shares many features with the period that Mike Discusses in "Ike's Gamble", and America's role in the Middle East is likewise at an inflection point as it was for Eisenhower as the British withdrew, to dive in more deeply to this disordered region or to try to stay out of the internecine struggles under way. -
Mohammed Bin Salman's Saudi Arabia
Jamal Khashoggi in the European Parliament: Mohammed bin Salman’s Saudi Arabia: Reforms, Alliances, Regional Role Public debate held at the European Parliament, June 27, 2018 Jointly organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, AJC Transatlantic Institute and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Three months before his murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Jamal Khashoggi joined EU policymakers in a public debate in the European Parliament in Brussels to discuss the reform process initiated by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and how it would affect Saudi Arabia’s position as a key player in Middle Eastern geopolitics. In the light of the events that have unfolded in late 2018, and in view of the lasting impact of Khashoggi’s legacy on the global standing of Saudi Arabia, we decided to release this transcript of the June debate. It shows that he was neither a revolutionary nor a Republican. He did not view himself as a dissident but emphasized the opportunity in Mohammed bin Salman’s reform agenda, and his deep wish to contribute to those reforms becoming a success. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. Welcome Cristian Dan Preda, Member, European Parliament (European People's Party, Romania) Johannes Huegel, Research Associate, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Kristina Kausch, Senior Resident Fellow, German Marshall Fund Discussants Jamal Khashoggi, Columnist, The Washington Post and Raseef 22 The Hon. Mary Beth Long, Principal, Global Alliance Advisors, and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Cristian Dan Preda: I am very happy to host today’s conference. -
Middle East Program Occasional Paper Series Fall 2016
MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES FALL 2016 MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM FALL OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES 2016 From Tribe to Nation: Iraqi Kurdistan on the Cusp of Statehood “For better or nition that after decades of dogged, if at times Amberin Zaman, worse, it is hard unorthodox, efforts to build their own state, Public Policy Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International to escape [the] the Iraqi Kurds are on the cusp of formally de- Center for Scholars conclusion that claring independence. It is no longer a matter future of Iraqi of “if” but “when.” Kurds lies with And the United States, as much as Iraq’s their integration neighbors—Iran, Turkey, and Syria, which into Iraqi state have restive Kurdish populations of their […] In terms of re- own—needs to be ready when Iraqi Kurdis- gional stability, it is probably preferable that tan, the first real Kurdish state in the modern [the] Kurdish independence movement does sense, is born. Most importantly, so do the not succeed.” Thus opined an American dip- Kurds. lomat stationed in Baghdad in a secret cable It will be a premature birth on many dated July 1, 1973.1 counts. The Kurdistan Regional Government Forty-three years on, official U.S. policy— (KRG) remains at war against jihadists of the that Iraq needs to remain territorially intact— so-called Islamic State (ISIS). Collapsing oil has not changed. But there is growing recog- prices have bankrupted the KRG’s rentier 1 MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES FALL 2016 About the Middle East Program Director The Middle East Program was launched in February 1998 in light of Henri J. -
Iraqi Kurds, Persecution and Struggle for Independence
JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 17, 2020 IRAQI KURDS, PERSECUTION AND STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE Pasar Abdulkareem Fendi1, Salawati Mat Basir2, Span Jameel Mustafa3 and Sarsam Khaleel Shwani4 1 Faculty of Law, The National University of Malaysia. And Scientific Research and Development Center- Nawroz University-Kurdistan Regional, Iraq 2 Faculty of Law, The National University of Malaysia 3 Department of Law, College of Law and political science, Nawroz University, Iraq 4 Department of Media Techniques, Erbil Technical Administrative College, Erbil Polytechnic University, Kurdistan region of Iraq Received: 10 April 2020 Revised and Accepted: 26 June 2020 Abstract: The present paper contextualises the discussion by examining the case of the Iraqi Kurds. The discussion begins with an overview of the origin of the Kurds and Kurdistan on the other hand Other major developments torch-lighted in this paper include the Kurdish elections of 1992, the establishment of a Kurdistan regional government and the adoption of a new Iraqi constitution in 2005, which recognises the Kurdistan Region as a federal entity within the Republic of Iraq. Key constitutional disputes between the Kurdistan region and the Iraqi federal government are also discussed. On the other hand, a highpoint of the paper is the 2017 referendum for independence held in the Kurdistan region in which the Kurds voted overwhelmingly to separate from Iraq. The rest of the paper examines after the referendum. The paper ends with a summary of the situation in the Kurdistan region after the 2017 independence referendum. Keywords: Kurdish, Uprising, Parliament Election, establishment government, federalism, independence referendum, referendum Sanctions. -
Kremlin's Actions in Syria
THE KREMLIN’S ACTIONS IN SYRIA Atlantic Council DINU PATRICIU EURASIA CENTER THE KREMLIN’S ACTIONS IN SYRIA ORIGINS, TIMING, AND PROSPECTS Frederic C. Hof, Vladislav Inozemtsev, Adam Garfinkle, and Dennis Ross with a foreword by John E. Herbst ATLANTIC COUNCIL 1 THE KREMLIN’S ACTIONS IN SYRIA ORIGINS, TIMING, AND PROSPECTS Frederic C. Hof, Vladislav Inozemtsev, Adam Garfinkle, and Dennis Ross with a foreword by John E. Herbst This report was edited by Barbara Frye. ISBN: 978-1-61977-957-0 Cover photo credit: Khalil Ashawi/Reuters. A boy inspects damage inside his school, due to what activists said was an air strike carried out by the Russian air force in Injara town, Aleppo countryside, Syria, January 12, 2016. This report is written and published in accordance with the Atlantic Council Policy on Intellectual Independence. The authors are solely responsible for its analysis and recommendations. The Atlantic Council and its donors do not determine, nor do they necessarily endorse or advocate for, any of this report’s conclusions. March 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Foreword 3 Summary of Conference Proceedings 8 Syria Crisis: From Chaos to Solution The Rationale and Goals of Russia’s Syria 19 Policy Russian Motives in Syria and the Implications 28 for US Policy Is it Possible to Collaborate with Russia on 38 Syria? THE KREMLIN’S ACTIONS IN SYRIA FOREWORD JOHN E. HERBST More than one analyst of recent Middle Eastern wars has argued that they seem to go on forever because their antagonists are both too weak and too strong: too weak to win, too strong to lose.1 “Too weak, too strong” could also be a fair summation of Russia’s position as it seeks to change the course of the Syrian civil war. -
Fathom Journal Issue 21
Fathom Journal Issue 21 JOEL SINGER MICHAEL SFARD HUSSEIN AGHA RUTH GAVISON ALAN JOHNSON YOHANAN PLESNER YAIR HIRSCHFELD ALONA WINOGRAD ORNA MIZRAHI YAAKOV LAPPIN DAVID ROSENBERG GERSHON BASKIN HAMUTAL GOURI GARY KENT SHARREN HASKEL LYN JULIUS ADI KEISSAR EINAT WILF NADAV EYAL LIAM HOARE ERAN ETZION JAMES SORENE MIKE PRASHKER ALEX BRUMMER SEAN MATGAMNA JOHN LYNDON JOHN STRAWSON GUNTER JIKEL SARIT LARRY MARTIN JANDER GIL TROY KEITH KAHN-HARRIS YOSSI KLEN HALEVI TOBY GREENE DAVE HARDEN 1 LAPPIN | WAR BETWEEN WARS ‘THE WAR BETWEEN WARS’: ISRAEL VS IRAN IN SYRIA YAAKOV LAPPIN Yaakov Lappin is a Research Associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, and a mil- itary correspondent. In this article he discusses what the Israeli defence establishment calls the ‘war between wars’ – Israel’s campaign is to disrupt attempts by Israel’s enemies to build up their military force on its borders, boost Israeli deterrence, and delay the start of the next full-scale con- flict. Over the past 18 months, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) struck no fewer 200 targets across Syria in response to Iran’s drive to turn Syria into a second Lebanon, and create a new Iranian-run army there. Iran is changing its strategy in turn, as Lappin explains. In late August, Iran’s Defence Minister, Gen. Amir Khatami, met with his Syrian counterpart, Gen. Ali Ayoub, in Damascus and signed an agreement for military cooperation. This is an event that sounds deceptively mundane. In actuality, it was far from being a routine bilateral defence pact. Instead, it was a statement of Iranian intent – a message Israel paid close attention to – that it has no intention of giving up its goal of turning Syria into an Iranian military fortress in the next phase of an ongoing, explosive regional struggle.