The ISIS Crisis

Strategy & Conflict Feb 6, 2015 Snapshot

The New New Jihadist Thing

Gideon Rose

Ideology Nov 19, 2014 Snapshot

The Myth of the Caliphate

Western pundits and nostalgic Muslim thinkers alike have built up a narrative of the caliphate as an enduring institution, central to Islam and Islamic thought between...

Nick Danforth

Abdulhamid II, who would become the last Ottoman Sultan and Caliph, as a prince in 1867.

Terrorism & Counterterrorism Jun 15, 2014 Snapshot

Collateral Damage in Iraq

ISIS’ astonishing success in Iraq could be a harbinger of a tectonic shift within the jihadi movement. Namely, ISIS -- a far more radical group -- could supplant al...

Barak Mendelsohn

Fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant stand guard in Mosul, June 11, 2014.

Terrorism & Counterterrorism Sep 10, 2014 Snapshot

State of Confusion

Despite ISIS’ success in capturing jihadists’ imagination, the idea of an Islamic state has one fatal flaw: its physical incarnation makes it vulnerable to attack.

William McCants

A Kurdish fighter keeps guard against Islamic State militants near Mosul in northern Iraq, August 19, 2014.

Gender Aug 21, 2014 Snapshot

The Women of ISIS

Reports that women have formed their own brigade within the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) have confounded experts -- and worried them. For many, the idea of...

Nimmi Gowrinathan

Security Jan 13, 2015 Snapshot

Syria's Democracy Jihad

Recent surveys conducted in Syria reveal that Islamist fighters are surprisingly supportive of democracy. Here's why.

Vera Mironova, Loubna Mrie, Richard Nielsen, and Sam Whitt

Terrorism & Counterterrorism Nov 30, 2014 Snapshot

Blood Money

A key element of U.S. President Barack Obama’s strategy against ISIS has been striking at the oil fields seized by the group to undermine its finances. But ISIS is a...

Louise Shelley

Damage at an oil refinery that was targeted by what activists said were U.S. strikes near the Syrian town of Tel Abyad, October

War & Military Strategy Sep 3, 2014 Snapshot

ISIS Sends a Message

What does an ISIS militant mean when he raises his index finger? Or an Egyptian activist who raises four? Although Western observers have largely ignored them, such...

Nathaniel Zelinsky

A Syrian living in Jordan gestures during a protest in Amman, October 2011.

Terrorism & Counterterrorism Jun 25, 2014 Snapshot

Securing al-Sham

Uprooting ISIS from the swath of territory it holds between Aleppo and Baghdad will take a lot more than airstrikes or a change of government in Iraq. To prevent ISIS...

Andrew J. Tabler

A member of the Kurdish Peshmerga troops in Salahuddin, Iraq, June 21, 2014.

Terrorism & Counterterrorism Nov 11, 2014 Snapshot

Radical Turks

The past few weeks have seen a wave of Muslims from all around the world joining the ranks of ISIS. Although most of the attention has been on those coming from the...

Gunes Murat Tezcur and Sabri Ciftci

Turkish demonstrators in Istanbul, November 5, 2014.

War & Military Strategy Jul 1, 2014 Snapshot

Turkey's Kurdish Buffer

From Turkey’s perspective, Kurdish autonomy is starting to look like a good thing. The portions of northern Iraq and Syria that are under Kurdish control are stable...

Soner Cagaptay

People sit in the back of a truck as they celebrate what they said was the Kurdish liberation of villages from Islamist rebels n

Strategy & Conflict Dec 4, 2014 Snapshot

ISIS Enters Egypt

On November 10, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a militant movement that operates out of the northern Sinai Peninsula, pledged allegiance to ISIS. The new merger underscores...

Khalil al-Anani

Smoke rises during a military operation in the Egyptian city of Rafah, October 2014.

Terrorism & Counterterrorism Mar 1, 2015 Snapshot

ISIS' Next Prize

ISIS is no longer just an Iraq and Syria problem. For months now, the terrorist group has been pushing into Libya as well.

Geoffrey Howard

Women hold up pictures of the 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians beheaded by ISIS in Libya, February 17, 2015.

Terrorism & Counterterrorism Feb 6, 2015 Snapshot

Crime and Punishment in Jordan

If the past is precedent, Kasasbeh’s death at the hands of ISIS could signal a change—at least temporarily—in Jordanian popular attitudes toward the war and presage a...

David Schenker

A boy holds a toy gun beside the Jordanian national flag during a march after Friday prayers in downtown Amman, February 6, 2015

Strategy & Conflict Aug 27, 2014 Snapshot

This is What Détente Looks Like

It is not particularly surprising that the United States is on the verge of rapprochement with Iran. What is surprising, however, is how it's coming about -- not...

Mohsen Milani

Strategy & Conflict Sep 19, 2014 Snapshot

ISIS Goes to Asia

In assembling an international coalition to combat ISIS, the United States has looked mostly to the Middle East and Europe, regions that it said face a direct threat...

Joseph Chinyong Liow

Terrorism & Counterterrorism Oct 1, 2014 Snapshot

They're Coming

Not all Westerners return home from jihad abroad to take part in a violent attack. But many do, and they tend to become involved with extremely dangerous plans.

Jytte Klausen

An Islamist fighter takes part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province, June 30, 2014.

ISIS November/December 2014 Comment

Homeward Bound?

ISIS' army has attracted a stream of Western volunteers, but there is no reason to panic about their return home. Some may come back as terrorists, but the danger has...

Daniel Byman and Jeremy Shapiro

A militant fighter at a military parade in Syria, June 30, 2014.

War & Military Strategy Aug 14, 2014 Snapshot

ISIS' Gruesome Gamble

It is hard to believe ISIS did not understand that threatening the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan would mean directly challenging the U.S. alliance with the Kurds and...

Barak Mendelsohn

Displaced people from the Yezidi minority group in northern Iraq, August 13, 2014.

Terrorism & Counterterrorism Sep 15, 2014 Snapshot

ISIS' Worst Nightmare

There are still those in the West who regard using military force against ISIS as a mistake, believing that, with the beheadings of Western journalists, ISIS was...

Robin Simcox

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during a joint news conference with Egypt's Foreign Minister, September 13, 2014.

War & Military Strategy Oct 26, 2014 Snapshot

Staying Out of Syria

Obama faces a tragic choice between restraint against ISIS to avoid entanglement in Syria’s civil war or full engagement against ISIS with an eye to regime change and...

Steven Simon

A boy sits on a wheel in front of the bullet-riddled facade of a mosque in Damascus, October 4, 2014.

Security Nov 5, 2014 Snapshot

The Hollow Coalition

Washington's European allies are contributing far less to the war on ISIS than the 2011 campaign in Libya. With time, they will only grow weaker on the battlefield.

Raphael Cohen and Gabriel Scheinmann

War & Military Strategy Jan 2, 2015 Snapshot

Hammer and Anvil

The ongoing U.S. air campaign against ISIS succeeded in blunting the group's drive toward Kurdish and Shia territory. But it has failed to prevent ISIS' consolidation...

Robert A. Pape, Keven Ruby, and Vincent Bauer

An Islamic State fighter near Kobani, October 7, 2014.

Best of 2015 March/April 2015 Essay

ISIS Is Not a Terrorist Group

ISIS may use terrorism as a tactic, but it is not a terrorist organization. Rather, it is a pseudo-state led by a conventional army. So the counterterrorism strategies...

Audrey Kurth Cronin

War & Military Strategy Feb 9, 2015 Snapshot

ISIS on the Run

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) is starting to show some wear and tear. True, it has pulled off some gruesome executions, attracted jihadists from across...

Michael Pregent and Robin Simcox

Members of the Kurdish security forces in Diyala province, November 23, 2014.

Brain Trust Dec 14, 2014 Snapshot

Ready for War With ISIS?

We poll experts on whether they think the United States should significantly step up its military campaign against ISIS in Iraq & Syria.

Foreign Affairs Anthology Series

The ISIS Crisis

The nature of the ISIS threat, the current state of the war against it, and the options for what to do next.

Table of Contents

The Challenge

The Fronts

The Response

Must-Read Anthologies