Policy Analysis

A decade after the beginning of the 2011 uprising against Assad, the Autonomous Administration (AA) that controls the northeastern region of Syria faces numerous governance challenges. The author sat down with General Mazloum, the SDF commander in charge of protecting the AA, to discuss its current issues and potential future.

The process of assuaging the militia support base was carefully stage-managed in the first week of the new year, with Iran and Nujaba setting the ground rules.

The Supreme Leader and the IRGC are asserting more control over the task of monitoring and managing protest movements, creating yet another intelligence agency in the process.

The president is very unlikely to win the next election fair and square, so he may well resort to undermining the vote, disregarding the result, or even fomenting a January 6-like insurrection.

Calls to reject the results of Iraq's October 10 parliamentary election by the Fateh alliance and other parties affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces that underperformed have garnered much attention. Yet the successful strategies and ideologies of relatively new parties that took seats in the recent election cycle deserve a closer look.

Instead of quietly greenlighting the Assad regime’s diplomatic rehabilitation, U.S. officials should escalate economic pressure on its Iranian enablers to regain leverage at the negotiating table.

The Emirates are the region’s leading destination for the sport, but Saudi Arabia is coming on strong as part of their broader economic competition.

Three French experts survey the evolution of twenty-first-century counterterrorism and assess how the struggles against jihadist and far-right violence need to adapt in the coming years.

The timing of the exercise and the types of systems and tactics on display reveal much about Iran’s likely response to any uptick in foreign pressure.

The IS military project led not only to the announcement of a “caliphate,” but to the proliferation of jihadist franchises that devastated countries, displaced millions, and killed tens of thousands.

Reflecting on the thirtieth anniversary of the Soviet collapse makes clear that Moscow and its pragmatic anti-Western approach never fully left the region.

Newly disclosed interviews indicate that a key Pakistani source of Iran’s nuclear know-how also figured out how to equip F-16s with nukes.

Although the United States has firmly committed to shifting its focus eastward, it is making clear efforts to build up regional alternatives to protect its interests.

Polling indicates sectarian consensus on most issues, with some variation on Iran.

Israel seems to hope that differences between Moscow and Tehran will emerge with greater clarity as the fighting ends, but this view reflects wishful thinking more than reality.

The meeting confirmed how eager both countries are to keep their economic progress humming along, but such cooperation could become complicated if concerns about Iran’s nuclear program come to a head.

Residents of the beleaguered country desperately need electricity, but a U.S.-Arab scheme carries complications that could benefit Syria's Assad regime.

Popular attitudes in Egypt support both the United States and China, and indicate relative stability on domestic issues.

Iran-backed groups seem to be directing their more dangerous attacks against coalition forces in Syria, not Iraq, and the trend could accelerate in early 2022.

The government seems to believe the economy will grow significantly even without sanctions relief or increased oil revenue.