Middle East

Courtesy Reuters

Hassan Nasrallah addresses his supporters during a funeral ceremony for Qasem Soleimani, Beirut, Lebanon, January 2020

Aziz Taher / Reuters

Hezbollah Has Prepared for This Moment for Decades

The full response to the U.S. strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani will unfold in the coming months and years—and will likely feature Hezbollah in a starring role.

Brian Katz

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Terrorism & Counterterrorism Jan 14, 2020 Snapshot

Hezbollah Has Prepared for This Moment for Decades

The full response to the U.S. strike that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani will unfold in the coming months and years—and will likely feature Hezbollah in a...

Brian Katz

Politics & Society Jan 1, 2020 Snapshot

New Caliph, Same Old Problems

The man upon whom ISIS’s continued resurgence now depends is Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.

Asaad Almohammad

Rubble from the fighting between ISIS and the Philippine government forces, Marawi City, the Philippines, May 2018

Political Development January/February 2020 Review Essay

Dreams of Westphalia

The idea of a Westphalia for the modern Middle East is as appealing as it is unlikely to succeed.

Reviewed by Suzanne Maloney

Middle East Nov 1, 2019 Snapshot

The Coming Emergency in Iraq

Neglected Prison Camps Are Incubating a New Extremist Threat

Thanassis Cambanis

Middle East Oct 31, 2019 Snapshot

Russia, the Indispensable Nation in the Middle East

Russia’s temporary absence from the Middle East, and not its return, is the anomaly.

Eugene B. Rumer

Politics & Society Oct 24, 2019 Snapshot

How Iran Found Its Feet in Afghanistan

Despite its deep historical and cultural ties to its eastern neighbor, Iran has struggled for decades to assert its interests in Afghanistan. Its newfound willingness...

Mahan Abedin

Iranian revolutionary guards during war games on the border with Afghanistan, September 1998

Terrorism & Counterterrorism Oct 23, 2019 Snapshot

The Coming ISIS Jailbreak

The Strategy That Enabled the Caliphate’s Rise Just Became Viable Again

Aki Peritz

U.S. Foreign Policy Oct 18, 2019 Snapshot

Iran, the Unitary State

When it comes to dealing with the United States and setting foreign policy, Iran's internal factions put aside their differences and form a united front.

Afshon Ostovar and Ariane M. Tabatabai

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei meeting with military commanders in Tehran, Iran in February 2017

Middle East Oct 16, 2019 Snapshot

ISIS Is Already Rising From the Ashes

Turkey’s Invasion of Syria Will Fuel a Jihadi Resurgence

Brian Katz and Michael Carpenter

U.S. Foreign Policy November/December 2019 Comment

America’s Great Satan

It is time to relegate Iran’s remarkable grip on U.S. strategic thinking to the dustbin.

Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps troops, July 2018

U.S. Foreign Policy November/December 2019 Comment

Disaster in the Desert

Almost three years into his term, Trump has nothing to show for his efforts to counter Iran or promote peace in the Middle East.

Martin Indyk

Melania Trump, Donald Trump, and King Salman in Riyadh, May 2017

Economics November/December 2019 Comment

The Middle East’s Lost Decades

The Arab Spring may not have ushered in immediate reforms, but it may have awakened the political energies of the Arab world and set in motion the long process of Arab...

Maha Yahya

Spring is in the air? A protest in Algiers, May 2019

Politics & Society November/December 2019 Comment

The Unwanted Wars

The question facing the United States in the Middle East is not whether it wants to engage or disengage, but rather how it should choose to engage—diplomatically or...

Robert Malley

Rifles and rifts: Houthi rebels in Sanaa, Yemen, December 2018

War & Military Strategy Aug 7, 2019 Snapshot

The Enduring American Presence in the Middle East

For all the headlines, the U.S. military footprint in the Middle East is fairly consistent.

Daniel Benaim and Michael Wahid Hanna

On the flightdeck of the USS John C. Stennis in the Persian Gulf, May 2000

Terrorism & Counterterrorism Jul 1, 2019 Snapshot

How to Win Friends and Wage Jihad

With its wealth of experience and web of historical relationships with regional powers, al Qaeda looks poised to capitalize on the chaos engulfing the Middle East.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross and Varsha Koduvayur

Fighters for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al Qaeda affiliate, in Syria, July 2018

Middle East Jun 7, 2019 Snapshot

From the Ancient Middle East, Art That Links Past and Present

Historian Peter Frankopan reviews "A World Between Empires: Art and Identity in the Ancient Middle East," an exhibition on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in...

Peter Frankopan

A bronze horse cast in Yemen on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, March 2019

U.S. Foreign Policy May/June 2019 Response

Commitment Issues

Robert Satloff and Ian S. Lustick respond to Mara Karlin and Tamara Cofman Wittes' essay "America's Middle East Purgatory" and debate the United States' commitments in...

Robert Satloff, Ian S. Lustick, Mara Karlin, and Tamara Cofman Wittes

A U.S. military vehicle in Darbasiya, Syria, April 2017

Ideology Dec 7, 2018 Snapshot

The Rise of Islamic Soft Power

Muslim governments, even relatively secular and progressive ones, have a powerful incentive to deploy "Islamic soft power."

Peter Mandaville and Shadi Hamid

A poster of Sisi in downtown Cairo, with the al-Azhar Mosque in the background, May 2014.

U.S. Foreign Policy January/February 2019 Essay

America’s Middle East Purgatory

The United States exists in a kind of Middle Eastern purgatory—too distracted by regional crises to pivot to other global priorities but not invested enough to move...

Mara Karlin and Tamara Cofman Wittes

Leaving on a jet plane: an F-18 on its way to the Persian Gulf, March 2017

Middle East Oct 31, 2018 List

How to Understand Upheaval in the Middle East

Domestic Discord and Regional Rivals

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Hezbollah Has Prepared for This Moment for Decades

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Hezbollah Has Prepared for This Moment for Decades

New Caliph, Same Old Problems

Dreams of Westphalia

The Coming Emergency in Iraq

Russia, the Indispensable Nation in the Middle East

How Iran Found Its Feet in Afghanistan

The Coming ISIS Jailbreak

Iran, the Unitary State

ISIS Is Already Rising From the Ashes

America’s Great Satan

Disaster in the Desert

The Middle East’s Lost Decades

The Unwanted Wars

The Enduring American Presence in the Middle East

How to Win Friends and Wage Jihad

From the Ancient Middle East, Art That Links Past and Present

Commitment Issues

The Rise of Islamic Soft Power

America’s Middle East Purgatory

How to Understand Upheaval in the Middle East

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Aung San Suu Kyi’s Major Speech on Rakhine State

Creating a State Department Office for American State and Local Diplomacy

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Hezbollah Has Prepared for This Moment for Decades

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