Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is working hard on both domestic and international fronts to advance his grand design of reviving an Islamic caliphate under his rule. It is now no secret that he sees himself as the rightful heir of the former Ottoman caliphate which was abolished in 1924 by the founder of modern...
General Khalifa Haftar led Libyan National Army (LNA) offensive on Tripoli has now completed its first anniversary since it was launch. Current offensive has widened the proxy war, bringing more countries and foreign fighters into the Libyan battlefield making it more complicated. Yet neither side has managed to make a breakthrough and gain any sizeable...
The United States new President Donald Trump decision to quickly slap new sanctions on Iran after it conducted a ballistic missile test clearly signals the hard turn the new administration intends to take with Tehran. Neutralizing the Iranian threat in the Middle East has been an American aim since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Arabs and...
Jabhat-Al-Nusra Front, once al-Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, has cut ties with the parent organisation with the approval of al-Qaeda central leadership. Nusra Front is one of the largest and most effective rebel groups in Syria. It controls territory in the north, west and south of the country and commands approximately 6,000 to 7,000 battle...
Syrian peace talks are heading in the direction of another failed process or have already been failed, depending on how grim a view we take of the events unfolding in Geneva. The Syrian opposition has called a ‘pause’ to negotiations which we can conclude as an equivalent to a walkout from the talks. Even UN’s...
Muqtada al-Sadr has long served as the spark in a volatile Iraqi politics. When the Shiite cleric ordered his followers to fight U.S. forces in 2004, it was the gravest challenge to the United States in Iraq since Saddam Hussein was toppled. More than a decade later, the mercurial leader has taken on Iraq’s entire...
With the recent attacks in Kabul the Taliban demonstrated that it’s has become too easy for them to strike the capital at will. The Taliban wants to show ordinary Afghans how weak their government is, that it cannot protect them even in its stronghold. The Taliban definitely scored on that front. In the past two...
Kurds despite being the one of the largest ethnic group in Middle East numbering perhaps 35 million were denied a nation of their own as a result of the deliberate Anglo-French carving up the map of the collapsed Ottoman Empire following the First World War. Kurdish culture predates the birth of Islam and of Christianity,...
The United States and Russia are backing a cessation of hostilities agreement in war-torn Syria which has been accepted by most of the parties involved in the conflict. This is the second ceasefire plan recently which calls on the warring parties to stop fighting but specifically excludes the Islamic State and the Al Qaeda franchise...
The United Nations mediated Syrian peace talks in Geneva was abruptly suspended it was stated that there was more work to be done by the big powers sponsoring the talks between the Syrian sides. The latest inconclusive Syrian peace talks were attended by representatives of the Syrian government, the Saudi-backed coalition, and the High Negotiation...