Middle Orient

Just because a course of action is considered to be the most rational doesn’t mean that it’ll be pursued. Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra told the Washington Post last week that the interim government might allow Russia to keep its air and naval base in the country so long …

As early as 2011, during the initial days of the Arab Spring, I anticipated the rise of Islamist imperialism within the global rise of right-wing exclusionary movements. The events continued to follow that same catastrophic trajectory as the extreme right from Indonesia and the Indian Subcontinent to the Middle East …

We do not report in detail on war crimes because these activities are well-covered in Western media and do not directly affect the military operations we are assessing and forecasting. We utterly condemn violations of the laws of armed conflict and the Geneva Conventions and crimes against humanity even though …

Note: The data cut-off for this product was 1pm ET on February 11. ISW will cover subsequent reports in the February 12 Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated Ukraine’s commitment to good faith peace negotiations with Russia and the particular importance of US military assistance to Ukraine’s …

L’armée israélienne continue de bombarder la Syrie et d’attaquer ce qui reste de l’infrastructure militaire de l’ancien gouvernement. L’armée israélienne a étendu son occupation du sud de la Syrie le 9 février, poursuivant sa campagne de destruction des infrastructures appartenant à l’ancienne Armée arabe syrienne (AAS).

New information has arisen about the way in which Hezbollah’s military and criminal operations in Syria is using its terrorist organization’s financial network. The modus operandi of this network brings together three elements of Hezbollah’s activity in Syria: weapon smuggling, drug trafficking operations and financing which make use of the …

Information Cutoff: 2:00 pm ET The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) publish the Iran Update, which provides insights into Iranian and Iranian-sponsored activities that undermine regional stability and threaten US forces and interests. Click here to see …

Regional Setbacks: Iran’s influence in the Middle East suffered major blows. Israel attacked its embassy in Damascus, and key allies Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Assad regime in Syria faced defeats, weakening Iran’s “Axis of Resistance.” (Hamas, though, has regrouped, taking some of the sting out of …

It is well known that the three Baltic States, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, are distinct yet share many similarities. They are comparable in size and have similar social, political, and economic development. They are situated in similar geostrategic positions within the same military operational theatre. For this reason, questions have …

Information Cutoff: 2:00pm ET The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) publish the Iran Update, which provides insights into Iranian and Iranian-sponsored activities that undermine regional stability and threaten US forces and interests. Click here to see CTP …