Middle East

Syria: A Problem In Search of a Strategy

By Frederic C. Hof

As matters now stand, the Obama administration sees the Syrian side of the anti-Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS, or the Islamic State) military campaign in the context of a headquarters/safe-haven for an enemy whose main target is Iraq.

Is Egypt Hurting or Helping Libya?

By EgyptSource

As Egypt simultaneously rejects foreign intervention in Libya’s internal affairs and inches ever closer into a partnership of assistance with its neighbor to the west, announcing its plans to train Libyan forces to fight terrorism. Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni’s recent visit to Cairo has served to further cement this partnership between an anti-Islamist Egyptian […]

Egypt and Libya: A Fatal Embrace?

By Karim Mezran

The stalemate emerging from the armed political conflict in Libya today suggests that neither the Islamist-backed Operation Dawn nor the more secular Operation Dignity movements have the capacity to dominate the other.

Cairo Court to Consider Facebook, Twitter Ban in Egypt

A Cairo administrative court announced on Thursday that it will hear a lawsuit calling for a ban in Egypt on Facebook and Twitter. The first session in the trial will take place on November 18. The lawsuit, filed by lawyer Mohamed Hamed Salem, calls for the social networking sites to be blocked until they obtain […]

Do drone strikes in Yemen undermine US security objectives?

By Danya Greenfield and Stefanie A. Hausheer

Despite President Obama’s assertion that the United States’ counterterrorism strategy targeting militants in Yemen and Somalia provide a “successful” model to be emulated in its fight against ISIS, a new Atlantic Council issue brief assesess the use of drones and the US strategy in Yemen, and argues this approach is shortsighted and threatens US national […]