Policy Analysis

On May 13, 2011, Dalia Ziada and Amr al-Azm addressed The Washington Institute's 2011 Soref Symposium. Ms. Ziada, an Egyptian activist and blogger, is director of the American Islamic Conference's North Africa bureau. Mr. al-Azm, a Syrian historian and archaeologist, is an associate professor of Middle Eastern history and anthropology

On May 12, 2011, National Security Advisor Thomas E. Donilon delivered the Michael Stein Address on U.S. Middle East Policy at The Washington Institute's 2011 Soref Symposium. Mr. Donilon is national security advisor to President Obama, a post he has held since October 2010. During the Clinton administration, he served

The raid that killed Usama bin Laden may finally shed light on the financial network behind al-Qaeda.

An Interview by Bernard Gwertzman, CFR.org Israel marked the sixty-third anniversary of its independence yesterday against the backdrop of the Arab Spring roiling the Middle East. The democracy movement holds out promise but also challenges for Israel, says Israel expert David Makovsky, because while Israel welcomes the idea of fellow

The Syrian government has stepped up its campaign to quash a seven-week uprising, reportedly using tanks to fire on cities. At least twenty people and two Syrian soldiers died in the latest clashes. Larisa Epatko of PBS NewsHour asked Andrew J. Tabler, a Next Generation fellow in The Washington Institute's

On May 4, 2011, Gilles Kepel and Martin Kramer addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Dr. Kepel is the chair of Middle East and Mediterranean studies at the Insitut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po) and author of Beyond Terror and Martyrdom: The Future of the Middle East

If recent trends hold during Turkey's upcoming elections, as many as a quarter of all voters will not have representation in the parliament.

On April 29, 2011, Ahmed Ali, Michael Knights, and Michael Eisenstadt addressed a Policy Forum at The Washington Institute. Mr. Ali is a Marcia Robbins-Wilf research associate at the Institute, focusing on Iraqi political dynamics. Dr. Knights is a Lafer fellow at the Institute, specializing in the military and security

The regime of Muammar Qadhafi is engaging in multiple fights across Libya, but the focal point is now in the west. The battle itself has two main fronts: the city and port of Misratah and the Nafusa Mountains to the south and west of Tripoli. The regime is fighting hard

Despite being overshadowed by tumult elsewhere in the region, the December 2011 deadline for U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq looms ever closer. And although Baghdad has made notable progress on many fronts, its security forces and related civilian ministries continue to show troubling gaps in both capabilities and decisionmaking, leaving

The following is a sampling of reactions from various Islamist leaders, commentators, and organizations following the death of Usama bin Laden. Lashkar-e-Taiba (Pakistani Militant Group) "Usama bin Laden was a great person who awakened the Muslim world...Martyrdoms are not losses, but are a matter of pride for Muslims...Usama bin Laden

Although bin Laden played little if any operational role over the past few years, he was the face of the organization and the voice of its extremist narrative, and his death could mark a turning point in the decade-long global struggle against terrorism.

Pakistan's embarrassment at being shown as having provided sanctuary to the world's most wanted terrorist is likely to prompt diplomatic, military, political, and public responses.

On May 4, Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas is slated to sign a reconciliation agreement with Hamas leaders in Cairo, a development first announced last week. The move will mark an end to the period of estrangement between the two factions, which began in summer 2007 when Hamas expelled

Nearly ten years after the attacks of September 11, and a year to the day after the failed Times Square bomb plot, U.S. Special Forces killed al-Qaeda chief Usama bin Laden in a safe house some forty miles north of Islamabad, Pakistan.

Does the behavior of Iran's armed forces during and after the 1979 revolution hold relevant lessons for current unrest in the Middle East?

Top U.S. officials are now offering praise for Aljazeera, a Qatar-owned and -based news network that broadcasts in both Arabic and English-language versions. Aljazeera, not carried by any U.S. cable networks and broadcast locally in only a few cities, depends on its English-language website to reach an increasingly large U.S

As they pay their respects to the House of Windsor, Arab royals may also catch a glimpse of their imperiled future.

The Arab Spring may well produce a few more strong, reliable, democratic, pro-American allies in the Middle East, but until that moment arrives, Washington would be wise to strengthen and protect the only such ally it has in the region.

Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003, Iran has tried to establish itself as the key external power broker in Iraq by exploiting ties with key parties, arming and training militias, and exerting economic, religious, and informational influence. Although these efforts have yielded mixed results thus far, the