Policy Analysis

March 20, 2017 On December 11, a massive explosion shattered St. Mark’s Cathedral in Abbasia, central Cairo, claiming the lives of more than 25 worshipers and wounding scores of others. The event cast even more anxiety and strain over the situation of Egypt’s Copts, which has been volatile and troubled

March 20, 2017 On December 11, an Islamic State bomb targeting St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo’s Abbassia district killed 25 Egyptian Christians. According to the official investigation, the suicide bomber was an Egyptian citizen named Abu Abdullah al-Masri, or Mahmud Shafiq. Following that attack, a stolen truck drove through a

Given the PJD's popularity, the king's decision is surprising and seemingly risky, but the Islamist party may choose to accept the compromise and move forward.

In deciding whether to cooperate with Russia militarily, the U.S. administration must consider the Kremlin's ties to Iran and its Shiite proxies, and the associated risks of fueling future Sunni jihadist movements.

March 14, 2017 Iraqi Kurdistan has been an autonomous region since 1992. It emerged as a quasi-state after the establishment of the no-fly zone in northern Iraq by the United States – along with the United Kingdom and France – which put an end to Saddam Hussein’s murderous attacks on

Six years after unrest in Dar‘a sparked what has metastasized into a civil war and multilateral regional conflict, the Syrian opposition may have to contend with the painful, yet undeniable truth that Russia has prevailed in Syria. It is not the ipso facto end of the Syrian revolution, but it

Preventing and countering violent extremism is not a soft alternative to counterterrorism, but an essential toolkit to complement law enforcement's ongoing efforts to prevent violence.

Talks this week with the Saudi deputy crown prince are expected to cover current issues including Iran, "radical Islamic terrorism," Syria, and Yemen, as well as perspectives on the longer-term future of the Middle East.

Iran's budget and banking system are being held hostage by unaccountable revolutionary institutions like the IRGC, but for some reason the IMF is not calling Tehran out on the glaring lack of transparency.

Tehran seems eager to extend the range and capabilities of its antiship missiles, and just as eager to prevent the West from monitoring its progress toward that end, even at the risk of escalating naval tensions.

Much to his Gulf allies' chagrin, Egypt's president has not toed their anti-Iranian line in the region, instead following his own pattern of supporting state actors against non-state actors.

As the Trump administration adopts a seemingly more aggressive position on Yemen's nearly three-year conflict, it should take a closer look at where the fighting is stalemated, where political progress can be made, and where urgent humanitarian action is needed.

It is never difficult to encounter gender stereotypes in the news of many countries in the Middle East. The problem continues behind the scenes in the newsroom as gender policies are almost nonexistent and female journalists are rarely equally paid or given an equal chance of getting promoted to upper-level

March 8, 2017 Women’s demands in North Africa are increasingly diversified and polyvocal as new actors and agents gain visibility in the public sphere of authority. This diversification is being nourished by new values, such as all citizens’ dignity in the public sphere, and new approaches, such as the use

At the beginning of the year, one of the members of the Lebanese Parliament had previously voted for singer Myriam Klink during the presidential election session, causing the whole session to erupt in laughter, with some nearly divulging their own fantasies about the ‘sexy singer’. Today, however, she is being

News that Israel has begun exporting gas to Jordan indicates that commercial logic can prevail despite adverse political rhetoric.

Symbolic gestures from Washington can be especially effective in a region where context is often more important than substance, and whose conflicts are based around perceptions of those contexts.

The United States should adopt a strategy on Iran that erects daunting defenses to dissuade the Islamic Republic from challenging the interests of the United States and its allies and that imposes sharp, painful costs should Iran do so nonetheless. In this transition paper for the new administration, Institute managing

If this and other recent air defense developments bear fruit, Iran might soon become self-sufficient in such technology and could even begin offering it for export.

March 7, 2017 In the spring of 1860, Col Charles Henry Churchill was well into his interviews with one of the great personalities of his era. As a British military officer and former diplomatic representative in Damascus to the Ottoman Empire, Churchill finally found the opportunity to record first-hand the