A Tale of Three Libyas
To put it mildly, circumstances on the ground in Libya are complicated. Mired in a state of conflict since former head of state Muammar Gaddafi […] More
Middle East
Algeria Takes the Lead in Libya
That Libya is a mess is beyond doubt, but who is actually trying to resolve the conflict is a harder question to answer. U.S. President […] More
Nobody is in Charge in Libya
The Cipher Brief’s Bennett Seftel sat down with Mohamed Eljarh, former political consultant to the Libyan Mission to the European Union, to discuss the ongoing […] More
Don’t Expect Popping Champagne Corks at Trump-Abbas Meeting
President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, traveled to the White House on Wednesday for his first meeting with President Donald Trump. In brief comments […] More
Trump Needs More Than 100 Days on Syria
When Yitzhak Rabin met with President Gerald Ford on his first visit to Washington as Israel’s Prime Minister in 1974, he sought to cash in […] More
The Kurds Can Fight: Now They Need to Govern
Iraqi Kurdistan has been relatively stable in an otherwise troubled region. Unhappy with Iraq as their home, Kurds have fought successive Iraqi regimes since being […] More
Famine, Houthis, and Peace Talks Confront Yemen
The Yemen peace process has been on life support since late December, even though the nation is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. G-7 […] More
India and Israel Look to Expand Cooperation
A quarter of a century after the normalization of relations between India and Israel, the strength of Indo-Israeli ties can be measured by the continuing […] More
The Best of Times and Worst of Times for Moderate Political Islam
The concept of political Islam has deep historical roots in Islamic societies and, during the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 in the Middle East and […] More
Why is Ahmadinejad Running for President of Iran, Again?
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the firebrand former Iranian president, stunned observers last week by submitting his name as a candidate in his country’s presidential elections next month, […] More
Making Iraq Great Again
It is probably not a bad thing that U.S. President Donald Trump recently dispatched Jared Kusher, his son-in-law and his Administration’s jack-of-all-issues, to Iraq. As […] More
Dropping the MOAB: A Blow to ISIS’ Ambitions in Afghanistan
On Thursday, the United States carried out an airstrike targeting ISIS in Afghanistan, dropping a Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (MOAB) on a tunnel and […] More
Stop the "al Qaeda-is-Degraded" Rhetoric
The Cipher Brief sat down with Michael Kugelman, Deputy Director and Senior Associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center, to discuss the threat […] More
“Mother of All Bombs” Kills 36 ISIS Fighters in Afghanistan
Afghan defense officials announced Friday that 36 ISIS fighters were killed by a U.S. air strike on a tunnel and cave complex, with the possibility […] More
Credential Theft: The Key to Shamoon 2 Data Destruction
The problem of stolen credentials is a well-known threat in the security industry. But knowing something is a problem and understanding the full scope are […] More
A Punch in the Nose for Iran
Now that President Donald Trump has demonstrated his willingness to get tough with a regional bad actor by using a cruise missile attack to punish […] More
Unclear What Trump Learned from Ordering the Syrian Strike
The lessons Donald Trump takes away from last Thursday’s U.S. Tomahawk missile strike against Syria’s Shayrat Air Base are more important than the ones learned […] More
Despite Attacks Egypt Maintains Conventional Military Strategy
Sunday’s horrific terrorist attacks on Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria during Palm Sunday services, in which dozens have been killed and many more injured, should convince […] More