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January 8, 2025 Iran-Backed Militias Face Crisis After Assad’s Fall in Syria Four years ago, in January 2020, a US drone carried out a strike in Iraq near Baghdad International Airport, killing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force leader Qasem... January 8, 2025 Trump can’t leave Syria to others After the fall of Bashar Assad‘s regime in Syria, the incoming Trump administration faces a complex set of challenges. Despite President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to reduce U.S.... January 8, 2025 Turkey Is Preparing to Invade Syria, Then Israel? President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is making no effort to disguise his ambitions. In a bold declaration following the first meeting of Turkey’s cabinet, Erdogan made it clear that he intends to... January 8, 2025 Syria’s new Minister of Justice: A profile of Shadi Mohammed al Waisi Shadi Mohammed al Waisi is the newly appointed Minister of Justice in the transitional government in Syria. Al Waisi has faced criticism from Syrian activists and international media after videos surfaced... January 8, 2025 Border security is national security For my money, J.D. Vance’s best moment on the campaign trail was when ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz attempted to grill him for supporting President Trump’s claim... January 7, 2025 Vladimir Putin’s wobbly empire gives US a path to stifle Russia’s threats This week marked 25 years of Vladimir Putin’s rule, a milestone the Russian dictator celebrated in a televised address. Boasting of past achievements, he assured Russians, “We can... January 7, 2025 Tehran’s triad: propaganda, proxies, and preparedness The regime in Tehran finds itself increasingly besieged by challenges, ranging from the faltering influence of its regional proxies to the prospect of an Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities, potentially... January 7, 2025 U.S. continues to target the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria The US launched a series of strikes against the Islamic State’s (IS) network in Iraq and Syria over the past week. The operations are part of the US military’s continuing effort to degrade the Islamic... January 7, 2025 In 2025, Israel’s Gaza Campaign Is Not Over As the new year begins, Israel will need to find a strategy for the war in Gaza. Several factors are at play in this decision. First, the war has gone on for more than fifteen months since it began with the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Although Israel has fought long conflicts in the past, such as the Second Intifada and the war in Lebanon that began in 1982 and lasted for eighteen years, the war in Gaza has been of greater intensity and complexity than those other wars. This is because the war in Gaza also set off Iranian-backed attacks on Israel from multiple fronts. It is also due to the fact Hamas still holds 100 hostages captive in Gaza. January 7, 2025 The State Department still needs to combat Chinese and Russian lies Congress just killed the U.S. government office dedicated to fighting Iranian, Chinese, and Russian propaganda overseas. The specific act was the decision not to reauthorize the State Department’s Global... January 7, 2025 Trump’s Poland Problem Just Got Bigger President-elect Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House has caused many of his loudest European critics to rummage uncertainly through their diplomatic toolkits in preparation... January 6, 2025 Trump’s year of opportunity against Iran What began as a year of resilience for Iran ended with the tide unmistakably turned against the Islamic Republic. Its Axis of Resistance is shattered, its currency is in freefall, its major cities... January 6, 2025 Profiles of the new Syrian military leadership, part 2 Beginning on Friday, January 3, the newly appointed minister of defense of the Syrian Interim Government, Murhef Abu Qasra, initiated a series of meetings with leaders of armed factions to discuss integrating... January 6, 2025 Trump Can Keep America’s AI Advantage Legislators on both sides of the aisle recognize that the U.S. must lead the world in artificial intelligence to preserve national security. This gives the incoming Trump administration a chance to establish a historic advantage for the U.S. and the free world. Legislators on both sides of the aisle recognize that the U.S. must lead the world in artificial intelligence to preserve national security. This gives the incoming Trump administration a chance to establish a historic advantage for the U.S. and the free world. ... January 6, 2025 Turning the Page on Intolerance: Egypt’s Textbook Reforms Egypt has made significant strides in purging school textbooks of antisemitic content and other problematic material, revising over 350 state-issued books since 2018 as a part of an ambitious reform program.... January 4, 2025 Lebanon is not serious about disarming Hezbollah Lebanon is not serious about enforcing the UNSC Resolution 1701 mechanism agreement that it signed with Israel on November 27 and that ended 14 months of war. Before the ceasefire, the Lebanese... January 3, 2025 The Shadow War “We must possess Syria. If the thread from Lebanon to here is cut, bad events will happen,” warned former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in 2012. Fast forward 12 years, and the Islamic Republic no longer possesses Syria, a point made clear when images of Tehran’s ransacked embassy in Damascus surfaced online recently. January 2, 2025 Critical and opportune: Time to take out the Houthis Sirens blared across central Israeli communities in the early hours of Tuesday morning, wrenching millions of Israeli civilians out of their beds for the seventh time in two weeks as another Houthi missile... January 2, 2025 An Afghanistan war veteran and an active duty servicemember conduct separate domestic attacks on New Year’s Day On January 1, 2025, two US citizens conducted separate attacks in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Las Vegas, Nevada. Fifteen people were killed and dozens injured after a terrorist who had declared membership... January 2, 2025 Xi Jinping’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good Year 2024 was disastrous for Chinese President Xi Jinping. For all of his rhetoric about “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” his regime faced staggering setbacks. Military... January 2, 2025 Israel takes stock of military casualties over a year of war A total of 363 Israeli soldiers were killed in 2024, according to Israel Defense Forces (IDF) data published at the end of the year. Overall, 891 IDF personnel have fallen, most of them in combat, since... January 1, 2025 Islamic State release highlights the foreign-fighter nature of its recent assault in Somalia A day after the Islamic State Somalia’s (ISS) brazen suicide assault against a Puntland military base—its most audacious attack to date in Somalia—the jihadist group released images of the men it... January 1, 2025 American greatness requires great military power The end of the Cold War brought no tickertape parades. But after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the U.S. and its European allies began taking a “peace dividend.” Why spend money on soldiers and guns... December 31, 2024 Puntland forces repel Islamic State suicide assault Earlier today, the Puntland Security Forces (PSF), the armed forces of Somalia’s northern Puntland region, announced thwarting a major assault on a PSF base. Unusually, the attack was not carried out... December 31, 2024 Israeli forces in southern Lebanon dismantle more Hezbollah sites The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) continued combing through southern Lebanon to dismantle Hezbollah sites and extract weapons and munitions from villages and hilly terrain near the Israeli border. These... December 31, 2024 Profiles of new Syrian military leadership On December 21, Abu Mohammad Jolani, also known as Ahmad al Sharaa, convened a meeting with numerous leaders of Syrian armed factions and local figures to discuss plans for unifying these militias into... December 31, 2024 Assad’s Syria manipulated the region, will the new Syria do the same? The Assad regime was able to stay in power over the last two years by playing countries against eachother and balancing itself between powerful countries such as Turkey, Iran, Israel and Russia.... December 31, 2024 Houthis, Hezbollah threaten Israel with ongoing war Despite a ceasefire in Lebanon and Israeli and US-led Coalition strikes on the Houthis in Yemen, both groups appear undeterred from further attacks. The situations are different. The Houthis are... December 31, 2024 Russia enters 2025 at a crossroads in a post-Assad Middle East Russia is at a crossroads in the Middle East, having lost its Syrian ally with the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime. Now Moscow is looking to shift its forces from Syria to other places. One... December 30, 2024 Multi-month battle for Jabaliya underscores Israel’s security challenge in northern Gaza The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) eliminated “dozens” of terrorists in the northern Gaza area of Jabaliya overnight between December 29 and December 30. The militants were killed in... December 29, 2024 Syria’s Rebel Leader Is No Moderate Once head of al Qaeda’s branch in Syria, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani is now the most powerful man in the country. He is leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the U.S.-designated... December 29, 2024 IDF clears hospital of terrorists, launches new raid in Beit Hanoun The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) detained over 240 suspected terrorists in an operation at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. The raid was completed over the weekend on December 28 after the Israeli... December 29, 2024 Australia vies with China to turn the Solomons into a police state In August, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was caught on camera talking to Kurt Campbell about Canberra’s newly announced Pacific Policing Initiative. Canberra had long wanted to reshape Pacific... December 29, 2024 Pro-Iran militias in Iraq may move away from Syria border Pro-Iranian militias in Iraq may move away from the Syrian border after years of using the area to move into Syria and smuggle weapons to pro-Iran groups there, according to a recent report. This... December 28, 2024 Iran’s waning influence in the Arab world The League of Arab States, based in Cairo and comprising 22 nations, issued a pointed rebuke of Iran’s ambitions in Syria on December 26, stating, “The Arab League rejects the recent Iranian... December 27, 2024 Energy crisis has Iran on the brink — and hands Trump a historic opportunity “Fools” flocking to the “scent of kebab”: That’s how Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recently described audiences abroad who sense an opportunity to support Iran’s people against their... December 27, 2024 Israel strikes Houthi targets after ballistic missile attacks on Israel The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out a new round of airstrikes targeting the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen on December 26. The strikes are the latest attempt by Israel to deter the Houthis from... December 27, 2024 Turkey and JNIM: Jihadist messaging signals possible conflict between two ascending forces in the central Sahel After years of Turkey progressively asserting its position in the central Sahel, recent months have seen Jamaat Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimin (The Group for Support of Islam and Muslims, JNIM), Al Qaeda’s... December 26, 2024 Shabaab announces the death of senior official Mohamed Mire Earlier today, Shabaab, Al Qaeda’s branch for East Africa, publicly announced the death of Mohamed Mire, one of the group’s senior-most officials. The jihadist group stated that Mire was killed in... December 26, 2024 Removing Hamas from central Gaza is the key to removing its leverage Recent reports indicate that Hamas has once again made a hostage deal impossible. This is because it continues to believe it is winning the war. This would seem impossible, given that the IDF... December 26, 2024 Projecting strength and tolerance: New Syrian gov’t faces biggest test yet A night of protests and the sight of armed men roaming the streets of several areas of Syria have provided the new Syrian government with its biggest challenge since it took power on December... December 25, 2024 The Curious Case of Iran’s Destroyed Nuclear Site On October 26 2024, the day after Israel conducted a massive counterstrike against Iranian missile and military sites, open-source sleuths noticed something strange: A building was unexpectedly missing... December 25, 2024 ‘Gazafication’: The terror threat in northern West Bank is growing Israel and the Palestinian Authority are facing growing terror threats in the northern West Bank. While this has been the case for the last two years, several recent incidents point to a... December 25, 2024 What do the Houthis hope to achieve as they lash out on Israel? The Iranian-backed Houthis upped their attacks on Israel this past month, having carried out four ballistic missile attacks over 10 days. The attacks now appear to be increasing to a point where... December 25, 2024 How Trump can reset the US-Qatar relationship There was diplomatic whiplash when President-elect Trump’s transition team reportedly instructed Qatar to summon Hamas leaders back to Doha. Only last month, reports... December 25, 2024 A letter to the Polish foreign minister Dear Your Excellency, Radosław Sikorski, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Poland:Or do you mind if I just call you Radek? We don’t know each other well, but we’ve met, and you’ve been... December 24, 2024 Israel and the US know that only sustained bombing will stamp out the Houthis’ threat On December 22 a US warplane was shot down by an American ship in an incident of friendly fire. The F/A-18 Super Hornet was flying from the USS Harry Truman when it was engaged by the guided-missile cruiser... December 23, 2024 Three Israeli soldiers killed by an IED in northern Gaza Three Israeli soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Beit Hanoun, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on December 23. The deaths come as the IDF continues operations in northern... December 23, 2024 Iranian-backed militias in Iraq may stop attacking Israel Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have been attacking Israel for a year, since October 7, 2023, initiating attacks almost immediately after the Hamas attack, first targeting US forces in Syria and Iraq... December 23, 2024 Khamenei’s Brilliant Failure On October 6, 2023, the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, could have done a tour d’horizon of the Middle East and been proud. His anti-Israeli/anti-American battle plan was...

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