by Graham E. Fuller Every once in a while President Trump manages to get something right. This time it is the decision to call off the broad US covert assistance to the Syrian opposition forces fighting against Syrian President Bashar… Continue Reading
by Maximilian Beauchene On July 4, 2014, the first Friday of Ramadan, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi climbed to the pulpit of the Great Nur al-Din Mosque in Mosul to announce his self-proclaimed caliphate. His declaration was a historic milestone in the post-9/11… Continue Reading
by Edward Hunt The ongoing effort of the United States to eradicate the Islamic State by aggressively launching airstrikes against targets that include non-combatants is causing significant harm to civilians in Iraq and Syria. Estimates of civilian deaths from airstrikes… Continue Reading
by Graham E. Fuller The fall of the primary ISIS stronghold in Mosul in Iraq represents a turning point strategically, politically, ideologically and even religiously in the Muslim world. Mosul has been the largest symbolic center of the ISIS “Caliphate”… Continue Reading
by Giorgio Cafiero On July 2, France along with five African states – Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Mali, and Mauritania – launched a multinational force to confront al-Qaeda offshoots and other militant extremists in the volatile Sahel. President Emmanuel Macron… Continue Reading