Arab & Islamic Politics

How -- and if -- Hamas and Fatah overcome formidable security, institutional, and political roadblocks should dictate the international response to their unity deal and joint government.

Meet the man crazy enough to run for president against the new strongman in Cairo.

The votes are in, but Baghdad will need to resuscitate the revenue-sharing deal with the Kurds in order to steady the already-troubled government formation process.

Long-simmering tensions between non-Islamist and Islamist forces have boiled over into military actions centered around Benghazi and Tripoli, entrenching the country's rival alliances and bringing them ever closer to civil war.

In light of the inability of diplomacy and sanctions to staunch the Syrian bloodletting, the Obama administration is reviewing its policy alternatives in Syria. This paper, and the associated briefing, provides an overview of U.S. military options, evaluating the pros and cons of each.

Recent developments indicate a credible, previously unseen rebel threat to Damascus.

Before Hezbollah's massive intervention in 2013, Bashar al-Assad's forces were nearing exhaustion, Syrian Opposition Coalition chief of staff Monzer Akbik said during a panel discussion at The Washington Institute's 2014 Weinberg Founders Conference on May 8. Assad was facing a catastrophic human-resources and materiel crisis, Akbik said, which the dictator

The longer the war in Syria continues, the greater the threat these fighters will likely pose.

America's Asian allies questioned the president about Syria not because it is a vitally important issue to them, but because of what it says about Washington's willingness to act.