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Military & Security

Policy Analysis on Military & Security

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Brief Analysis
The Druze and Assad: Strategic Bedfellows
The strategically important Syrian Druze will not be won over unless they are cut off from Damascus, and even then they would need concrete assurances that international forces will protect them from hostile jihadists.
Oct 20, 2016
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  • Fabrice Balanche
Brief Analysis
Beware of Muqtada al-Sadr
Whether the popular Shiite cleric's motivations are ideological or political, Washington should make sure that neither his loyal militias nor any rogue splinter groups are tempted into further acts of violence against American personnel and interests.
Oct 19, 2016
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  • Phillip Smyth
Brief Analysis
How Iran's Involvement in Yemen Could Draw America into the War
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.
Oct 17, 2016
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  • Farzin Nadimi
Articles & Testimony
The Liberation of Mosul Will Go Better Than You Think
But kicking out the Islamic State and keeping the peace are two very different things, so longer-term coalition support will be needed.
Oct 17, 2016
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  • Michael Knights
Brief Analysis
How the Russian Military Reestablished Itself in the Middle East
Putin's forceful strategy of internal military reforms, wide-ranging naval deployments, foreign interventions, and formidable A2AD bubbles has seemingly solidified Russia's presence in the region for the long term, which could complicate U.S. freedom of maneuver.
Oct 17, 2016
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  • Anna Borshchevskaya
  • Jeremy Vaughan
Brief Analysis
Missile Attacks on the USS Mason: Principles to Guide a U.S. Response
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.
Oct 12, 2016
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  • Jeremy Vaughan
  • Michael Eisenstadt
  • Michael Knights
Maps & Graphics
In-Depth Reports
How to Secure Mosul:
Lessons from 2008-2014
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
Oct 12, 2016
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  • Michael Knights
Articles & Testimony
Speaking to the Duma, Putin Stressed Unity, Need to Boost Economy and Defense
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.
Oct 11, 2016
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  • Anna Borshchevskaya
Video
Brief Analysis
The Road to Mosul: Reports from the Field
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.
Oct 11, 2016
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  • William F. Mullen
  • Daniel Green
Brief Analysis
Is Iran's Recent Muscle Flexing More Than the Usual Show of Force?
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.
Oct 7, 2016
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  • Farzin Nadimi
Brief Analysis
Syrian 'Plan B' Options Beyond Immediate Military Confrontation
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.
Oct 6, 2016
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  • James Jeffrey
  • Anna Borshchevskaya
Brief Analysis
Houthi Antishipping Attacks in the Bab al-Mandab Strait
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.
Oct 6, 2016
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  • Alex Almeida
  • Jeremy Vaughan
  • Michael Knights
Brief Analysis
Who Will Take al-Bab?
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.
Oct 5, 2016
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  • Fabrice Balanche
Articles & Testimony
How Will the Battle for Mosul Unfold?
Coalition and Iraqi planners seem to have settled on a phased approach aimed at encircling the city, hitting Islamic State targets with precision weapons, and minimizing civilian casualties, but the aftermath could prove more difficult than the battle itself.
Oct 4, 2016
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  • Michael Knights
Brief Analysis
Iran Shows Off Its Bounty of Crashed Drones and New UAVs
The IRGC has sought to prove the resilience and technological prowess of its new UAVs by displaying them next to recovered models from other countries, but it may also be trying to mask key shortcomings.
Oct 4, 2016
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  • Farzin Nadimi
Multimedia
Middle East 2017: Challenges and Choices - Syria with Andrew Tabler
How the next president deals with the conflict in Syria will shape American foreign policy in the Middle East for years to come, says Andrew Tabler, and American decisions in Syria will determine the course of American relations with our regional allies, with Iran, and even with Russia. Join us
Sep 30, 2016
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  • Andrew J. Tabler
Video
Brief Analysis
America's Anxious Allies: Trip Report from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Israel
A bipartisan team of distinguished former officials share their insights from a recent tour of key regional capitals.
Sep 28, 2016
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  • Meghan O'Sullivan
  • Philip Gordon
  • Dennis Ross
  • James Jeffrey
Brief Analysis
What Trump and Clinton Said (and Didn't Say) About the Middle East
With a few exceptions, the candidates focused more on debating the past than offering ideas and prescriptions for today's Middle East challenges.
Sep 27, 2016
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  • Robert Satloff
Multimedia
Middle East 2017: Challenges and Choices with Amb. James Jeffrey
There's no stopping Iranian ambitions if Moscow has Tehran's back, warns Ambassador James Jeffrey, unless the United States is prepared to "get real" about its Middle East engagement in the next presidential administration. The former American ambassador to Iraq and to Turkey, Jeffrey explains the importance of setting, and upholding
Sep 22, 2016
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  • James Jeffrey
Brief Analysis
Clinton vs. Trump on Key Middle East Issues: Prepping for the Debate
Read what both candidates and their parties have said about Syria, ISIS, the Iran nuclear deal, U.S.-Israel relations, and host of other pressing regional issues.
Sep 22, 2016

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Supported by the

Military and Security Studies Program

The Washington Institute's Military and Security Studies Program has established itself as an unrivaled source of reliable, incisive, and forward-looking analysis concerning several of the most critical national-security challenges facing the United States today: The U.S. military role in the Middle East, Iran's nuclear program and its proxy armies, the ongoing conflict is in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, the regional proliferation of missiles and weapons of mass destruction, the security dimensions of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and many other security issues on the frontline of the U.S. policymaking agenda.

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Featured experts

Michael Eisenstadt
Michael Eisenstadt
Michael Eisenstadt is the Kahn Senior Fellow and director of The Washington Institute's Military and Security Studies Program.
Michael Knights
Michael Knights
Michael Knights is the Jill and Jay Bernstein Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute and cofounder of the Militia Spotlight platform, which offers in-depth analysis of developments related to Iran-backed militias.
Grant Rumley
Grant Rumley
Grant Rumley is the Meisel-Goldberger Senior Fellow and Director of the Diane and Guilford Glazer Foundation Program on Great Power Competition and the Middle East at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Elizabeth Dent - source: The Washington Institute
Elizabeth Dent
Elizabeth Dent is a Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where she focuses on U.S. foreign and defense policy toward the Gulf states, Iraq, and Syria.
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