Policy Analysis

June 13, 2017 At the beginning of May, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein expressed concerns over Egypt’s policies to combat extremism, highlighting that a state of emergency, the massive numbers of detentions, and arbitrary arrest facilitate radicalization. Meantime, the Libyan President Fayez al-Sarraj and General

June 13, 2017 “I just want to let everybody know that we are strongly supporting President Sisi; he has done a fantastic job in a very difficult situation. We stand with Egypt, and we support the people of Egypt.” With these words, the U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed his Egyptian

As the Nuri mosque, the place where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdad declared his caliphate in 2014, appears in the crosshairs of advancing Iraqi troops, the military defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the Iraqi theater looks virtually certain. But as the end of the

March 27, 2017 Last month the Marrakesh Security Forum, a semiofficial annual conference of experts and policymakers hosted by Morocco's leading foreign policy think tank, marked the diplomatic reunion of Morocco and the African Union with intense discussion of common continental interests in confronting violent jihadi threats. And last week

The escalation of conflicts, whether in nature or number, has captured the attention of major international powers, especially the United States. In the aftermath of 9/11, the ‘War on Terror’ became the most important theme of international security cooperation in the United States and the defining feature of its national

March 20, 2017 On December 11, an Islamic State bomb targeting St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo’s Abbassia district killed 25 Egyptian Christians. According to the official investigation, the suicide bomber was an Egyptian citizen named Abu Abdullah al-Masri, or Mahmud Shafiq. Following that attack, a stolen truck drove through a

February 14th, 2017 The Islamic State’s (ISIS) credentials substantially improved after their conquest of Mosul in 2014. In only two years, this al-Qaeda splinter group has spread into most Middle Eastern countries, the Islamic Maghreb, South and Southeast Asia, and has established cells and inspired individual attacks in Europe and

Pakistan, a country with an unprecedented youth bulge, could be a massive recruitment pool for ISIS. Several Islamist terrorist organizations have already taken advantage of the country’s fragile situation.

An American and European-backed administrative “Marshall Plan” – contingent upon many requirements – is necessary in order to save Kurdistan.

The inevitable outcome in Aleppo shows how the Syrian revolution has been betrayed first and foremost by Islamism in all its expressions, particularly international jihadism.

Why “wolf”? Because wolves are praised by both Arabs and the West for their courage, opportunism, and perfidy.

In the war on terrorism, intelligence gathering is integral for any and all counterterrorism policies and/or operations. The effectiveness of this apparatus, however, is based largely on the sustained coordination of military, police, and judicial sectors of law-enforcement. With the constant threat of al Qaeda looming domestically, Algeria has increased

If the American-Russian diplomatic process permanently fails, Syria could be on the brink of becoming the epicenter of international jihadism.

As Shiite militias in Iraq attempt to become potent political actors, they may follow Hezbollah's Lebanese model: using military leverage over the government to wrestle power on Iran's behalf.

While at first sight appealing, the notion of moderate Islam constitutes an undue concession to the argument that individuals and societies who hold Islam as part of their faith defined primarily by their religious affiliation.

In order to start a “holy war” against the West, al Qaeda tried to lure Western countries into the Middle Eastern military quagmire. ISIS’ goal, however, is to create a social conflict in the West in order to weaken it, since a weakened enemy is an easier target in the long run.

Ms. Hiam Nawas, an analyst based in Washington, D.C., argues that, essentially, the source of the Arab world’s current crisis is its ‘culture’, promoting James Clapper’s claim that the United States “can't fix” the Middle East region. But a solution for the region’s fundamental problems needs a proper diagnosis, and

April 22, 2016 In a statement issued in early March in by the headquarters of State Security in the Cairo suburb of Nasr City, Egyptian Ministry of Interior General Magdy Abdel Ghaffar announced that Hamas was responsible for the June 2015 assassination of Egyptian Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat. Abdel Ghaffar

April 17, 2016 On the periphery of international concern, the situation in Libya continues to disintegrate. Yet Libya’s eastern neighbor Egypt has consistently exercised its influence in determining the diplomatic outcomes of the five year-long crisis. Recently, Cairo hosted talks between U.N. special representative to Libya Martin Kobler and Libyan

April 15, 2016 The last few weeks have witnessed increased tensions over the Sahara conflict – a more than forty year long dispute between Morocco and the Algerian-backed separatist group Polisario Front, which seeks independence for Morocco’s southern provinces. Although a ceasefire between sides has held since 1991, subsequent attempts