Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey was interviewed by CNN over the weekend and asked to evaluate the trajectory of the conflict in Syria. Describing how the conflict has been polarized along sectarian lines by battling Shiite and Sunni extremists, Dempsey projected that warfighting may last a full decade: The United...

A majority of Palestinians believe that the Palestinian Authority should reject efforts by the Obama administration to “bring Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table without any preconditions,” according to a poll published by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. The question wording accounts for concessions,...

Details and conflicting reports are beginning to trickle out of the Middle East, after huge explosions overnight Thursday rocked a Syrian army base twenty kilometers outside the port city of Latakia. Troops loyal to the Bashar al-Assad regime and opposition forces seeking its overthrow were exchanging artillery and missile fire...

Turkey and its ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) had long sought to provide a so-called “Turkish model” for the region, providing an example of “a modern, moderate Muslim state that works.” Ankara’s aspirations had been met with “early enthusiasm” in some corners of the Western foreign policy community....

Conflicting reports emerged from Egypt this weekend about the potential appointment of opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei as interim prime minister, while allies of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi committed to indefinite mass action to restore Morsi to the presidency. The combination has many protracted confusion: Egypt remains in a state...

A security fence built along the increasingly anarchic Israeli-Egyptian border is having its desired effect, according to figures released last week by Israel’s Population, Immigration and Borders Authority. Last year at this time 9,570 incidents had been recorded of migrants illegally crossing into Israel from the Egypt-controlled Sinai Peninsula. This...

Egyptian violence that spiked last Friday during rallies held by supporters of Egypt’s former president Mohamed Morsi – the events were part of a “Day of Rejection” called for by Morsi supporters – extended through the weekend and into Monday. Dozens were reportedly killed over the weekend, as rival protests...

Tunisian secularists and Islamists are closely watching events unfold in Egypt, with tensions grounded in the country’s 2011 Arab Spring – which saw the subsequent political empowerment of the Islamist Ennahda movement – threatening to escalate into protests. Pressure mounted through last week and over the weekend on Tunisia’s Islamist-led...

Maccabi Haifa and Israeli national team point guard Gal Mekel has reached an agreement with the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA. Mekel will be the second Israeli to play in the world’s premier basketball league, following in the large footsteps of Omri Casspi. ESPN reports: To clinch the deal with Mekel,...

Blasts were heard today in the Israeli resort Eilat, raising fears that Islamists had fired rockets in the direction of that city. No shrapnel have been found so far, but Eilat and its surrounding areas have been targeted by rockets from the Sinai several times during the past year. The...