Policy Analysis

Along with Iran's heightened anti-American rhetoric and local naval deployments, the recent Houthi missile attacks against U.S. vessels raise fears that Tehran's clients may take the war into a new and more dangerous phase.

But kicking out the Islamic State and keeping the peace are two very different things, so longer-term coalition support will be needed.

In this ninth essay in a series exploring Middle East actors pressing for political reform, Saudi activist Hala Aldosari discusses, first, the network of human rights activists encompassing Shiites, liberals, and women; and, second, social entrepreneurs who advocate for a cultural transformation to resist politically forced norms.

While the vast majority of Israeli settlers prefer a political solution, several radical subsets could threaten violence during the Amona evacuation or other attempted outpost removals.

Although the nascent Palestinian initiative may fizzle out on its own, U.S. inaction could draw the Obama administration into an unwanted diplomatic fracas or preempt its own potential initiative.

Israeli President Rivlin hosts Washington Institute Iinitiative that brings Israeli Jewish and Palestinian Muslim religious leaders together for the first time.

Absent effective support from the United States and Saudi Arabia, Lebanon's traditionally pro-Western but increasingly fractured Sunni bloc stands little chance of preventing further gains by the Hezbollah-Syria-Iran axis.

After three antishipping attacks in two weeks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, Washington should take firm steps to prevent this from becoming the new normal off Yemen's coast.

As their sons and 'temporary husbands' are ripped from them to fight a proxy war in Syria, grieving mothers and brides are compensated with empty promises, poverty, and threats, heightening communal frustrations to the point of explosion.

In early 2017, Iraqi security forces are likely to liberate Mosul from the Islamic State, which has held the city since June 2014. As the event draws near, big-picture questions regarding how Arabs, Kurds, and microminorities can work together have justifiably drawn much scholarly attention, as have immediate challenges such

Russia's long-term economic and military problems are formidable, but Western policymakers should not expect such issues to deter Putin from continuing to undermine the West.

از سال ۱۹۸۹ که آیت‌الله علی خامنه‌ای رهبری انقلاب را عهده‌دار شد، نهاد روحانیت به تمامی دگرگون شده و هم در شبکه‌های داخلی و بین‌المللی و هم از نظر مالی و شمار کارکنان رشد بی‌سابقه‌ای را تجربه‌ کرده است. هم‌زمان با این رشد، خامنه‌ای کنترل تندروها بر مدیریت نهاد روحانیت شیعه را شدت بخشیده است. اصل راهنمای جمهوری اسلامی پس از مرگ خامنه‌ای هم عوض نخواهد شد: یک رژیم روحانی نیازمند دیوانسالاران روحانی است تا حاکمیت و صدور ایدئولوژی‌اش را تضمین کنند.

Two longtime veterans of American military operations in Iraq share their assessments of the campaign against the Islamic State as Iraqi forces prepare to liberate the city of Mosul.

"Syria is going to hit the next president very hard," warns Ambassador Dennis Ross. A veteran of five administrations, under presidents of both parties, Ross shares his insights into the decisions that will face the next commander in chief as well as the planning that must take place before Inauguration

Tehran continues to boast about military capabilities that bolster deterrence, but ambiguities in its definition of national interests raise concerns about how it will wield its new offensive weapons and increasingly assertive policies.

Whether credible or not, rumors of risky U.S. military strikes overshadow the wide range of other tools Washington has for raising the costs of Russia's behavior and creating leverage for more successful negotiations down the road.

The second parliamentary election since the protests of 2011 will be a referendum on the kingdom's leading Islamist party and the broader reform process.

Yemeni rebels successfully attacked a UAE military vessel with what appeared to be an Iranian cruise missile, raising the need for a stronger U.S. role in the strategic waterway.

The last remaining Islamic State stronghold in eastern Syria is poised to fall, and given the potentially major strategic implications for the Kurds, Turkey, the rebels, and other actors, one of them may act quickly to determine its fate.

هر چقدر که مقابله‌ی ایران با «جنگ نرم» ایالات متحده دشوار باشد، در عوض، به نظر می‌رسد هیچ کاری آسان‌تر و کم‌هزینه‌تر از بسیج کردن ایرانیان در داخل و خارج از ایران بر ضد عربستان سعودی و یا مسموم کردن ذهنیت آن‌ها با احساسات ضدعرب نیست.