Middle East

Tunisia’s Security Sector and Countering Violent Extremism; Part II: The Police State, Six Years On

By Fadil Aliriza

In 2009, the US Ambassador to Tunisia wrote in a cable later published by Wikileaks, “Tunisia is a police state,” where the ruling regime used the police to protect itself rather than citizens.

US-led Coalition Needs to Rethink Its Anti-Jihadist Strategy in Syria

By Faysal Itani

Insurgents captured the strategically important town of Jisr al Shughour from regime forces on April 25. This followed a rebel takeover of the provincial capital of Idlib, a mere few weeks earlier. Significantly, while only one of many members of the coalition that took Idlib and Jisr al Shughour, the Nusra Front played a critical […]

Is Assad Losing Control?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Atlantic Council report suggests more US support for ‘nationalist opposition’ in Syria Iran has fueled the war in Syria by providing a steady stream of assistance to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but his regime is gradually losing control, says Robert S. Ford, a former US Ambassador to Syria. “I think we would have been able […]

What’s Next for Egypt’s Military and Media Moguls?

By Miriam Berger

It’s just past three o’clock in December and the Dot Masr office is bustling. Dozens of twenty-something Egyptians tap away at desktop computers in the website’s open newsroom in the two-story office in Garden City, Cairo — prime real estate. 

Defeating the Jihadists in Syria: Competition before Confrontation

On Tuesday, April 28, 2015, the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East released Fellow Faysal Itani’s issue in focus, “Defeating the Jihadists in Syria: Competition before Confrontation,” and hosted a discussion on nationalist or moderate insurgent forces in Syria, the problems that they currently face, and prospects of strengthening these forces. Kim […]

Syria: Is Assad Slipping?

By Frederic C. Hof

Recent tactical setbacks by Assad regime forces in northwestern Syria are reviving—for the first time since early 2013—fin du régime hopes and speculation. Reporting from the region suggests that arms transfers from Gulf powers and Turkey are enabling rebels to overcome exhausted and exposed Syrian Arab Army units.

Dying to Get to Europe

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Libya’s ‘slave trade’—exodus of migrants from Africa—is a European crisis, says Atlantic Council’s Mezran A European commitment to save lives is “backfiring” as human traffickers continue to pack boats full of migrants fleeing desperate situations in Africa and the Middle East, says Atlantic Council analyst Karim Mezran. Traffickers have exploited instability in Libya to funnel […]