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The Unsustainability of ISIS Detentions in Syria
A member of the SDF raises the hood of a Bosnian man suspected of being an ISIS fighter as he is searched after leaving the group’s last holdout of Baghouz, on March 1, 2019.
  • Analysis
  • The Unsustainability of ISIS Detentions in Syria

    Perhaps the most immediate challenge facing the Syrian Democratic Forces is what to do with the influx of ISIS members and their families that have poured out of ISIS’s last stronghold, particularly since February 2019.

    March 12, 2019

    Monday Briefing: Iran's Rouhani heads to Baghdad
  • Analysis
  • Monday Briefing: Iran's Rouhani heads to Baghdad

    In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Randa Slim, Robert S. Ford, Marvin G. Weinbaum, James P. Farwell, Emadeddin Badi, Guney Yildiz, and Jean-François Seznec provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Baghdad, reconstruction efforts in Syria, the crackdown on militant Islamists in Pakistan, Iran’s cyber attack capabilities, upcoming elections in Libya, Turkish-Egyptian tensions, and Qatar’s $12B loan from bond markets.

    Monday Briefing: Tenuous promise in Pakistan and Afghanistan
  • Analysis
  • Monday Briefing: Tenuous promise in Pakistan and Afghanistan

    In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Marvin G. Weinbaum, Robert S. Ford, Alex Vatanka, and Birol Baskan provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including a potential agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan, protests in Algeria, Rouhani’s planned trip to Baghdad, and recent Turkish naval exercises.

    Pakistan’s border standoff and domestic politics
  • Podcast
  • Pakistan’s border standoff and domestic politics

    Madiha Afzal, visiting fellow at Brookings, and MEI’s Marvin Weinbaum join host Alistair Taylor to discuss Pakistan’s latest flare-up with India, the recent visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the US-Taliban talks, and the political and economic challenges facing the government of Imran Khan.

    March 1, 2019

    A thaw in Tunisian-Syrian relations
    Tunisian protestors wave their national and the Syrian flags on May 6, 2013.
  • Analysis
  • A thaw in Tunisian-Syrian relations

    Observers of political affairs in the Arab world are keeping a close eye on the upcoming Arab League summit, set to be held at the end of March in Tunis. Although Syria will not participate in the meeting, the question of when, or how, to bring Damascus in from the cold after an eight-year suspension from the body will be the most important issue on the agenda.

    February 28, 2019

    Monday Briefing: Egypt hosts first EU-Arab League summit
  • Analysis
  • Monday Briefing: Egypt hosts first EU-Arab League summit

    In this week’s Monday Briefing, contributors Mirette F. Mabrouk, Gerald Feierstein, Marvin G. Weinbaum, Przemysław Osiewicz, Grace Wermenbol, and W. Robert Pearson provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the EU-Arab League summit, the progress in US-Taliban talks, challenges to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s power, consequences of the Kashmir attack, and Turkey’s next steps in Syria.

    Russia, Turkey, and Manbij: Moscow’s move
    An image grab taken from AFP TV on January 17, 2019, shows a Russian army vehicles on patrol in the area of Arimah, just west of Manbij.
  • Analysis
  • Russia, Turkey, and Manbij: Moscow’s move

    As the Sochi talks made clear, for all their efforts, Russia and Turkey remain far from a joint resolution on Manbij. But the two sides do not have equal clout on the issue. Russia’s significant and expanding military police presence in the Manbij countryside gives Moscow the final say on what will happen there, a reality that could result in Ankara losing some or all of the region to its Syrian rivals in Damascus.

    February 25, 2019

    Afghanistan's Unending Wars
    An Afghan soldier aims his gun as he guards the area surrounding the Intercontinental hotel during a military operation against Taliban militants that stormed the hotel in Kabul on June 29, 2011.
  • Analysis
  • Afghanistan's Unending Wars

    The current conflict in Afghanistan, the latest in a series of perpetual wars and episodes of civil strife over the past 40 years, is strategically stalemated. While the Taliban are willing to negotiate with the U.S. about the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country, they continue to reject direct talks with the Afghan government for a political settlement. Even with inclusive peace talks, there is reason to question whether the Taliban’s vision of a future Afghan state and society can be reconciled with a liberal, democratic constitutional order.

    Weekly Briefing: MBS South Asia swing aims to shore up relations
  • Analysis
  • Weekly Briefing: MBS South Asia swing aims to shore up relations

    In this week’s briefing, MEI experts Gerald Feierstein, Charles Lister, Marvin G. Weinbaum, and W. Robert Pearson provide analysis on Saudi-Pakistan relations, Turkish politics in the lead-up to March municipal elections, and the question of what to do with ISIS prisoners after the group’s territorial collapse.

    Why Assad’s alliance with Iran and Hezbollah will endure
  • Analysis
  • Why Assad’s alliance with Iran and Hezbollah will endure

    This article was published by IranSource on February 6, 2019.

    The Tehran-Damascus-Hezbollah trilateral partnership has been decades in the making. It pre-dates the Syrian civil war, has strengthened as a result of the war and will likely endure in the post-war years.

    February 8, 2019

    Renouncing al-Qaeda and the prospects for engagement
    Syrian fighters stand at the back of a pick-up as they attend a mock battle in anticipation of an attack by the regime on Idlib province and the surrounding countryside, during a graduation of new Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) members at a camp in the countryside of the northern Idlib province.
  • Analysis
  • Renouncing al-Qaeda and the prospects for engagement

    Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) recent seizure of the northern Syrian province of Idlib once again brings to the fore the debate over HTS’ renunciation of al-Qaeda (AQ). But can a group renounce AQ? If so, how should Western countries react, if at all?

    February 6, 2019

    The US withdrawal from Syria
  • Podcast
  • The US withdrawal from Syria

    MEI’s Robert Ford and Charles Lister join host Alistair Taylor to discuss the announced US withdrawal from Syria, the rush to fill the power vacuum that has ensued in its wake, and what the policy means for Syrians and the fight against ISIS.

    February 5, 2019

    Monday Briefing | Iraq: Stuck in the middle again
  • Analysis
  • Monday Briefing | Iraq: Stuck in the middle again

    In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Randa Slim, Paul Salem, Ahmad Majidyar, and Marvin G. Weinbaum provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including President Trump’s comment about keeping U.S. troops in Iraq “to be able to watch Iran,” Pope Francis’s trip to the UAE, the EU’s maneuvers to defy U.S. sanctions on Iran, and intra-Afghan talks in Moscow.

    Iraq: Stuck in the middle again

    Randa Slim
    Senior Fellow, Director of Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues program

    February 4, 2019

    The Global and Regional Geopolitics of Civil War in the Middle East
    An opposition fighter fires a gun from a village near al-Tamanah during ongoing battles with government forces in Syria's Idlib province on January 11, 2018
  • Analysis
  • The Global and Regional Geopolitics of Civil War in the Middle East

    Power dynamics between the major global and regional powers have indirectly influenced the civil wars currently plaguing the Middle East. The distribution of power caused by end of the Cold War facilitated the creation of two opposing camps that later competed for regional primacy in the civil wars of Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

    Child soldiers and the YPG
    YPG in Tal Abyad
  • Analysis
  • Child soldiers and the YPG

    There is no doubt that minors are fighting in the ranks of the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia that controls most of the country’s northeast, but just how widespread is this phenomenon?

    February 4, 2019