Summer 2013 was, on the whole, unkind to Qatar’s international influence and stature. The Gulf country had aligned itself with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and with the Islamist Justice and Development party in Turkey. After the Brotherhood lost power, and alongside Turkey’s decline, Qatar saw its own position slip....

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At least 59 people were killed in what Reuters describes as a “spate of attacks” on mainly Shiite communities across Iraq on Thursday, the latest in a spike in violence driven both directly and indirectly by fighting in neighboring Syria. The conflict, which has gone on for more than two...

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Syrian officials today announced that peace talks will take place – depending on the timing and source of the reports – either Nov. 23-24 or some time before the end of the year. Secretary of State Kerry pushed for the so-called Geneva II talks on Monday, stating that the purpose...

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Hezbollah has for decades justified its military and political domination of Lebanon by insisting that it had to maintain its arsenal in order to defend Lebanese territory from Israel. That brand has been shattered, however, by the organization’s critical fighting in Syria on behalf of the Iran-allied Bashar al-Assad regime....

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Deepening instability along Turkey’s border with Syria has analysts concerned that U.S. troops – who are in the theater to protect Turkish airspace from Syrian forces – are likely to be either directly targeted or caught in crossfires. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had for the better part of a...

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Hezbollah’s participation in the Syrian conflict – where the group has been critical in allowing the Bashar al-Assad regime to erode years of opposition gains – had long ago drawn heated condemnation from across the Arab world. Even efforts by the Iran-backed group to demonize Israel are being met with...

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Rumors emerged in recent weeks that Hezbollah – its brand as a Lebanese organization protecting Lebanese interests having been shattered by its involvement in the Syrian conflict – was untangling itself from that almost three year old conflict. A graphic video posted online and embedded below, which appeared to show...

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Hezbollah has struggled in recent months to contain the blowback from its involvement in the Syrian war, where the Iran-backed terror group’s forces have been critical in enabling the regime to erode years of opposition gains. In response to jihadist attacks on Hezbollah-dominated areas of Beirut, the group militarized their...

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Khaled Meshaal, the head of Hamas’s political bureau, had until recently never visited the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Over the years there had been many justifications – a primary one being that it kept him beyond the Israelis’ range – but the upshot was always that he remained physically separated from...

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Analysts have worried for months that the decline in Turkey’s regional and global position will heighten the frequency and intensity of diatribes by the country’s Islamist prime minister Recep Erdogan. In September Erodgan lambasted Jews for orchestrating the overthrow of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood-linked president Mohammed Morsi, after Ankara had sought...

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