Iraq

US-Iran: Deal or No Deal, This Is Not the Question

By Hanin Ghaddar

The June 30 deadline will make or break the US-Iran nuclear deal. Until then, the preliminary accord, its interpretation, and implementation will be the center of attention for all stakeholders. However, less attention will be given to the developments in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon.

The State of the Islamic State

By Mona Alami

The Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) has upped this ante this month, conducting a series of attacks in a number of Arab countries. While the operations in Syria, Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen pursue the organization’s goal of destabilizing the region, the ISIS escalation also means to display its strength for its supporters.

Joint Arab Military Force: A Force for Stability?

The heads of Arab League countries agreed at a summit in Egypt last month to set up a joint military force. Tarek Radwan, an Associate Director for the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center and editor of the MENASource blog, interviewed Atlantic Council analysts who weighed in on these plans.

For the First Time, France Puts Aircraft Carrier Charles de Gaulle Under US Command

By Missy Ryan, Washington Post

When Gen. Martin Dempsey’s plane touched down Sunday on the deck of this ship, he became the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in recent history — perhaps ever — to set foot on a French aircraft carrier, a sign of the two nations’ increasing operational unity in the campaign against the Islamic […]

Gender and the Jihadist: Radical Islam and Women

By Rola el-Husseini

The approach of International Women’s Day on March 8 prompts some reflection not only on the difficulties women face in the Middle East, but also their changing roles in conflict and religion. As religious extremism dominates the headlines, subtle shifts in how women engage with this phenomenon begin to emerge.

The Tikrit Offensive Raises Hard Questions about US Policy

By Faysal Itani and Jeppe Sorensen

In Iraq, an assault on ISIS-held Tikrit, north of Baghdad, is underway. In theory, this serves US goals: defeating the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) and restoring Iraq’s territorial integrity and political sovereignty. In practice, something different and more sinister is underway in Tikrit and Iraq writ large.

Vietnam on the Tigris and Euphrates?

By Harlan Ullman

For those of us old enough to recall the Vietnam War, fact and reality were obscured and mangled by successive White Houses anxious to reach the delusional “light at the end of the tunnel.” Tragically, at the end of the tunnel lay a quagmire that consumed 58,000 American and countless Vietnamese lives. In the highly complex […]