Policy Analysis

The latest Panel of Experts report shines a much-needed light on operational control issues that will likely complicate postwar efforts to unify the country’s sundry armed forces.

The head of the UN team charged with monitoring each group assesses their prospects for bouncing back and recommends further steps that governments can take to counter them.

With this year’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day recognizing the 75th anniversary of the freeing of Auschwitz, it is also important for the German public to address the potential implications of a new wave of anti-Semitism within its borders. Germany’s notable acceptance of over one million refugees from Syria, where anti-Semitic

During the war years in Syria, the northwest, specifically Idlib, has become a site of heavy internal displacement. Observers on the ground recognize the green buses traveling to Idlib carrying migrants who have refused reconciliation agreements with the Damascus regime. Since around 2014, a range of jihadist, Islamist, and Salafi

The four most vital governorates in Yemen, in terms of agriculture and population density, are Sana’a, Ibb, Taiz, and Hodeidah. Ibb in particular is known as “the fertile province” or “Ibb the Green” because of its unusual amounts of rainfall and soil properties, and it serves as a major agricultural

The best ideas in the plan will be delegitimized by its overall failure, because on each count the administration has stretched a laudable principle beyond recognition.

By granting Israel much more say over the sovereignty of a future Palestinian state and its ability to absorb refugees, the document may undermine the administration’s ability to build an international coalition behind its policies.

Iraq’s trifecta of unemployment, lack of public services, and corruption has been a prime motivating force fueling Iraq’s months of protests. And since the protests began, the young Iraqi protesters who took to the streets have discovered a fourth point of contention: the elite’s lack of accountability and willingness to

The surest way to counter Iran’s malign influence is to proactively focus on human rights issues that the new prime minister can actually affect, such as organizing free elections and preventing further violence against protestors.

If the latest U.S. effort winds up backing the Palestinians into a territorial corner from the outset, then Washington may not be able to move the process any closer to direct negotiations.

Since the start of the Iraq War in 2003, a defining element of American policy has been the importance of the political and territorial integrity of the Iraqi state. In light of the U.S. killing of Qassem Soleimani, subsequent retaliation from Iran, and continued violence in Iraq—most recently manifesting in

The rapid escalation following the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani has threatened the already precarious state of U.S.-Iraq relations. Now, Iraq must decide how to respond, while considering the unintended consequences that any action will bring. At present, it seems the Iraqi government’s recent 170-0 vote—in the absence of

As currently constituted, the plan cannot be accepted by any Palestinian who cares about self-determination, but implementing some of its economic provisions might create room for negotiations down the road.

Besides highlighting Assad’s financial mismanagement, the recent unrest gives the international community a genuine opportunity to push for transition while bolstering the more prosperous local administration in the northeast.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration released the political portion of the long-awaited Middle East Peace Plan, six months after its attempts to publicly involve Arab states through the peace plan workshop in Manama, Bahrain, which introduced a $50 billion Palestinian investment and infrastructure proposal. The eighty-page document named Jerusalem as

As Cairo prepares to host an urgent Arab League meeting this weekend, called to address the new U.S. Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, results from a rare new Egyptian public opinion poll show two-thirds support “incentives for both sides [Israelis and Palestinians] to take more moderate positions.” And a narrower majority, among