Sunni Islam

November 24, 2025 | David Daoud |

Israel Killed Top Commander Because Lebanon Isn’t Disarming Hezbollah

Hezbollah’s active and ongoing regeneration is leading Israel to take increasingly drastic measures to hinder the group’s rearmament. On November 23, an Israeli airstrike targeted a residential building...

November 20, 2025 | |

Syrian Government Condemns Israeli Prime Minister’s Visit to Troops in Southern Syria

Latest Developments ‘Violation of Sovereignty and Unity’: The Syrian government strongly condemned a November 19 visit to Israeli-controlled Syrian territory by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin...

November 18, 2025 | Hussain Abdul-Hussain |

Why Normalization with Israel Will Revive Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia risks irrelevance by tying its future to the failed Palestinian cause. Saudi Arabia is rapidly losing regional relevance, with Sunni rivals Qatar and Turkey encroaching on its traditional...

November 14, 2025 | Bridget Toomey |

Iraq’s Election Is Over, But the Real Winner Has Yet To Be Determined

The voting is done in Iraq, but that doesn’t mean there will be a new government anytime soon. The preliminary results of the November 11 election didn’t contain shocking conclusions, but neither did...

November 13, 2025 | Bridget Toomey |

With voting in Iraq complete, government formation begins

Now that voters have cast their ballots in Iraq’s 2025 parliamentary elections, the country is entering the government formation phase, which culminates in the selection of the prime minister...

November 12, 2025 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Iraq votes in parliamentary elections amid US security talks and concerns about Iranian influence

Iraqis voted in a parliamentary election on November 11, the country’s sixth since the toppling of former President Saddam Hussein in 2003. The election, held as security forces were deployed...

November 7, 2025 | Bridget Toomey |

Iraq’s Election Plays Out in the Shadow of Influence From Washington and Tehran

Iraq’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for November 11, but voters aren’t holding their breath for change. Allegations of pervasive vote buying and reliance on patronage systems already taint...

November 5, 2025 | Clifford D. May |

Meet the Muslim Brotherhood

Working to reestablish the caliphate for almost a century

October 27, 2025 | Saeed Ghasseminejad |

Qatar’s Calculated Bet on the Islamic Republic

Qatar’s wealth and prestige are built on the incompetence of the rulers of Iran’s Islamic Republic. As long as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his gang of fools are in charge in Tehran, Doha...

October 27, 2025 | Hussain Abdul-Hussain |

Iraqi polls grapple with Israeli and Iranian relations as country prepares to vote

Iraqis head to the polls Nov. 11 to elect 329 parliament members for a four-year term, marking the seventh free election since Saddam Hussein’s 2003 fall. Candidates are treading carefully, pledging...

October 27, 2025 | David Adesnik, Mariam Wahba, Ahmad Sharawi, David Daoud, Natalie Ecanow, Hussain Abdul-Hussain, Bridget Toomey

Patient Extremism: The Many Faces of the Muslim Brotherhood

October 24, 2025 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Assassination Casts Dark Cloud over Iraqi Elections

Iraq continues to suffer from lawlessness, where the politics of the gun – and not the ballot box – play too great a role   In the early hours of October 15, an IED tore through a Chevy Tahoe...

October 24, 2025 | Behnam Ben Taleblu, Bridget Toomey

Don’t Fall for the Islamic Republic’s Attempt at “Christian-Washing”

On a recent trip to Israel, Mark Walker, President Trump’s nominee to be Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, did not mince words about the administration’s priorities. “We want...

October 16, 2025 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Iraqi parliamentary candidate killed in car bombing

Safaa al Mashhadani, a Sunni Iraqi parliamentary candidate who served on the Baghdad Provincial Council, was killed by a car bomb, The National reported on October 15. Mashhadani, a candidate...

October 8, 2025 | |

Erdogan Demands SDF Complete Integration With Syrian Government

Erdogan Demanding Full Kurdish Integration: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Syrian Kurds to integrate with the Syrian government following a ceasefire between the Kurdish-led...

October 6, 2025 | |

New Syrian Parliament Takes Shape as Local Bodies Appoint Legislators Under Post-Assad Interim Constitution

Syria Announces First Results: The Syrian authorities announced preliminary results of the first parliamentary selection process since the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad’s...

October 3, 2025 | Hussain Abdul-Hussain |

Will Syria’s New President Live Up to the World’s Hope? The Signs Aren’t Good

Last week, Ahmad Sharaa became the first Syrian president in 60 years to visit New York for the UN General Assembly’s annual meeting.

September 14, 2025 | Jonathan Schanzer |

Who Remembers Afghanistan?

REVIEW: 'To Lose A War: The Fall and Rise of the Taliban' by Jon Lee Anderson

September 9, 2025 | Hussain Abdul-Hussain |

Will Lebanon Disarm Hezbollah, or Not?

The Lebanese cabinet heard, on Friday, a presentation from Army Chief Rodolphe Haykal on a confidential plan to monopolize arms, as tasked by the government on August 5. The cabinet then issued a statement,...

September 3, 2025 | Sinan Ciddi |

Turkey’s Quiet Relationship with ISIS

On June 29, 2014, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State in al-Sham (ISIS), was recorded on video speaking at the al-Nuri Mosque in Mosul, Iraq. (“Al-Sham” is the traditional Arabic...