Rebecca Anne Proctor

Tensions between the two main opposition umbrellas—Tahrir al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham—in northwestern Syria continue to rise. The two sides are clashing in different towns, and intensifying their media campaign against each other to justify their narrative and rally more support from civilians.

The following testimony by Amb. (Ret’d) Gerald M. Feierstein, Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Gulf Affairs at the Middle East Institute, was delivered to the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 9, 2017.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ranking Member, Members of the Committee:

Thank you for providing this opportunity to speak to you today about Yemen and the tragic circumstances confronting the Yemeni people.

A powerful Iran-supported Iraqi Shiite militia group has announced the creation of a new brigade to “liberate” the Golan Heights from Israel, the Iranian media reports. “After the latest victories [in Syria and Iraq], we established the ‘Golan Liberation Brigade’.

This essay explores the future of India-Gulf ties in all spheres and some out-of-the-box security dynamics, especially the possibility of evolving an alternative security mechanism in the Gulf. It specifically highlights the opportunities and challenges for Asian countries, especially India, in the quest for a new collective security architecture and stability in the region.

Afghanistan’s largest daily Hasht-e Sobh has blasted the Iranian government for coercing Afghan refugees into fighting Iran’s proxy war in Syria.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) has “successfully” test-fired a naval missile destroying a floating target more than 100 miles away, the Iranian media reported earlier today.

A report in Asharq al-Awsat

Qatar is throwing its financial muscle to woo Russia in a bid to regain lost political influence in the Syrian conflict, and the broader Middle East. Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani visited Russia in January to address Middle Eastern geopolitics and energy issues.

Twenty human rights organizations issued a joint statement today calling on the Iranian authorities to “stop the harassment, intimidation and prosecution of human rights defenders seeking truth and justice on behalf of individuals who were summarily executed or forcibly disappeared during the 1980s and their families,” the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI), one of the signatories of the statement

The Iraqi government has approved Tehran’s controversial ambassador pick to represent the Islamic Republic in Baghdad, the Iranian media reports.

Egypt and Hamas continue to explore potential cooperation against a common threat in the Islamic State in the Sinai, as well as on the domestic Palestinian scene. Egypt’s Public Intelligence Chief, Khaled Fawzy, hosted the Vice President of Hamas’s political bureau, Ismail Haniya, and his associates Rawhi Mushtaha and Moussa Abu Marzouk for several days of consultations in late January.  

This essay, which launches the MAP series on India’s relations with the Middle East (West Asia), delineates the extraordinary transformation of India’s deeply fraught relations with the region into, arguably, India’s most satisfying set of external relationships.

In a new revelation on Monday, a senior Iranian official said that more than 2,000 combatants

The Iranian media speculates that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman’s month-long tour of Asia-Pacific region is aimed at expanding Riyadh’s “anti-Iran” coalition to pressure and isolate Tehran.