Policy Analysis

September 28, 2016 In a bold state-like move, the Kurdish Democratic Union Party ( PYD) conducted censuses in the Rojava canton of Jazira. The government of the autonomous region seems to realize that being the “good guys” on the battlefield is not enough. To be legitimate rulers, they need to

The sectarian, ethnic "holy wars" manifesting in Syria and Iraq are morphing into permanent security and financial liabilities for the international community. Have the people of Iraq and Syria decided that they are better off when they are separate but equal? In 2003, Iraq was enshrined with a constitution that

The League of Arab States has 22 members. The heads of state in all but one are Muslim. Up until two years ago, Lebanon was evidence that pluralism in the Arab region was more than just a pipe-dream. Since May 2014, however, with the mandate of the former president expiring

Mentally manipulating the Iraqi security forces by shaping the news and disseminating it online was one of the major pillars of ISIS’ strategy to occupy Mosul. The fall of Mosul on June 10 2014, followed by the fall of Nineveh and other Iraqi provinces, was especially notable for ISIS’s use

Proponents of such a view are driven by an utter lack of alternatives amid intractable regional conflict.

Lone wolf attacks are inevitable, but U.S. and Western reactions will determine whether the jihadist group succeeds in its long-term goal of turning its hatred into a culture war legitimized by the other side.

The Syrian government has intentionally targeted its own medical infrastructure, a violation of the Geneva Convention that has resulted in the near complete destruction of the country's modern preconflict health care system.

The eight suicide bombers were apparently dispatched to disrupt a new political paradigm in Lebanon: a Christian-Shiite alliance.

The Islamic State (ISIS)’s siege of Mare’ in the countryside north of Aleppo near Dabiq has once again brought this Syrian town into the public eye. It is one of ISIS’s latest conquests in a string of newly captured strategic villages such as Kafr Kalbin and Jibrin during the end

It is certainly still premature to engage in a post-mortem for the “Islamic State” in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). While the group has lost two-fifths of its territorial conquests, including Tikrit, Ramadi, Tal Abyad, Sinjar, and Palmyra, ISIS has not yet been put fully on the defensive. Instead, it continues

On March 17, the PYD declared the establishment of the Founding Council of Democratic Federal System in Rojava and announced the declaration of a democratic federal system for northern Syria. Analyzing the result of this declaration can provide a better view of the PYD’s strategic policies and goals and how

May 20, 2016 In the Gulf region, a state of tension prevails regarding what has become of the Arab world. Fears are also growing of Iran’s strength, population, regional expansion, semi-revolutionary ideology, increasingly institutionalized political system, and nuclear agreement. Moreover, Iran has actively involved itself in both realms, using its

The May 6 meeting between Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, and Israeli Major General Yaakov Amidror, Israel's former national security advisor—hosted by The Washington Institute for Near East Policy—has spurred a wide range of differing voices in the Arab press to comment. Some newspapers have denounced the

April 28, 2016 In the decades before 2011, Syria’s Baath Party flag, which controlled “society and state," and images of the president and “Leader” dominated all public platforms: the corridors of the state’s institutions and agencies, public squares, and even non-governmental institutions. This branding was most visible in educational institutions

April 28, 2016 Yazidism is a separate religion. It is not “Umayyad Islam,” and neither is it an off-shoot of Sufism. Islam, notably in its ecstatic rituals, is evidently part of the Yazidi universe ― to which Yazidism has contributed, and from which it has adapted. Still, Yazidism is not

For the first weeks of 2016, the imminent “Geneva 3” conference was hyped as the best chance to a find a political solution to the seemingly indefinite Syrian civil war. Despite the buzz and high expectations for diplomacy, violence marked the eve of the negotiations. Syrian soldiers, the YPG, Afghan

Ostensibly convened to develop a political solution to the five-year old Syrian crisis, the Geneva III talks were based on deceit. While diplomatic teams from major world capitals wrangled over the minutiae of the negotiation process, Moscow was preparing a major air and special forces offensive against opposition-held territory in

The fifth anniversary of the Syrian uprising against Bashar al-Assad's government will be commemorated in a few weeks with yet another round of diplomatic attempts at forging a political solution. The Syrian crisis has killed hundreds of thousands, injured and displaced millions, and destroyed much of the country's infrastructure. Facing

October 16, 2015 A year after the American-led international coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS) began its airstrikes in Syria and over 7,000 attacks later, U.S. President Barack Obama has come to realize that the air campaign in Syria will not achieve any of the coalition’s objectives. The new Russian

The attack on Kobane, pitting ISIS against Kurdish forces, is a political as well as military battle given its presence on the border between Turkey and Syria.