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Military & Security

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Maps & Graphics
Brief Analysis
Roads to Raqqa: Potential Turkish and Kurdish Offensives
In the unlikely event that either side decides to follow through on its declared intentions, each has multiple options for advancing on the Islamic State's heartland.
Nov 7, 2016
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  • Fabrice Balanche
Articles & Testimony
Why Current Ground Force Numbers Against ISIS Are Insufficient
I should feel complimented by Paul Pillar dredging up a piece I wrote for the Washington Post a year ago in his quest to calumny anyone ever recommending use of military force. I had written that, given the impact of ISIS including the threat of more terrorist attacks, the Administration
Nov 4, 2016
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  • James Jeffrey
Multimedia
Middle East 2017: Challenges and Choices - Strategy with Michael Singh
Where does the Middle East fit into America's global strategy, and is the rise of Russian and Chinese great-power competition in the region a permanent new reality or an anomaly that the next president can reverse? This episode of the Institute's Near East PolicyCast podcast features a conversation with Michael
Nov 4, 2016
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  • Michael Singh
Articles & Testimony
Battle for Mosul on Schedule, But Not Exactly to Plan
An in-depth look at where Iraqi military, Peshmerga, and Shiite militia forces have wound up in their push toward Mosul, and what sort of resistance they are encountering along the way.
Nov 2, 2016
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  • Michael Knights
Multimedia
Middle East 2017: Challenges and Choices - Russia
Is Russia's recent military foray into the Middle East a permanent move, and what if anything can the 45th president of the United States do to limit Moscow's mischief in the region without risking open confrontation and war between the world's leading nuclear powers? In this episode of the Institute's
Nov 1, 2016
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  • Anna Borshchevskaya
Articles & Testimony
3 Factors for the U.S. to Consider in Assessing Iran’s Role in Yemen Attacks
Publicly blaming Tehran for the recent missile strikes would be a serious matter, so U.S. officials need to go through several preparatory steps before deciding whether that is the best course of action.
Oct 26, 2016
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  • Michael Singh
Articles & Testimony
Losing Mosul, Regenerating in Diyala: How the Islamic State Could Exploit Iraq's Sectarian Tinderbox
Diyala offers a look into the near-future of Iraq’s security situation in areas where ethnosectarian tensions are neglected or even exacerbated by government policies and the presence of uncontrolled militias.
Oct 25, 2016
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  • Michael Knights
  • Alex Almeida
Maps & Graphics
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

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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.
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 the Nathan and Esther K. Wagner 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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