Syria: This Could Be Good Time to Press for Ceasefire
The U.S. military launched dozens of Tomahawk missiles from two naval warships in the Mediterranean Sea at the Shayrat air base near Homs in Syria, […] More
Middle East
Trump Draws the Line in Syria
The United States launched a missile strike on a Syrian air base early Friday morning, local time, in response to this week’s deadly chemical weapons […] More
U.S. Message to Assad: The Game Has Changed
After the United States launched airstrikes against a Syrian airfield late Thursday night, The Cipher Brief reached out to Rob Richer, the former Associate Deputy […] More
Network Take: Do U.S. Airstrikes Mark Emergence of a “Trump Doctrine?”
Late on Thursday night, U.S. naval vessels stationed in the Mediterranean fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Shayrat Syrian military air base near Homs. […] More
How Syria’s Chemical Attack Could Force Shift U.S. Policy?
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said his “attitude” toward Syria and President Bashar al-Assad “has changed very much” in the wake of a deadly chemical […] More
“We Must Win in Afghanistan:” Terror Groups Exploiting Stalemate
In an exclusive interview with The Cipher Brief, Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan Ambassador to the U.S., emphasized the progress that the Afghan government, led by […] More
Committed to the Afghan Mission
The Cipher Brief spoke with Representative Will Hurd, R-Tex., about what more the U.S. can do to improve security and the economy in Afghanistan. Hurd […] More
Enhancing Egyptian-Israeli Ties under the Trump Administration
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi is at the White House on Monday with the high hopes of receiving strong support from U.S. President Donald Trump. […] More
Why Syria’s Kurds Are America’s Key Ally
Before the civil war, few outside the Middle East had ever heard of Syria’s Kurds. Syria has by far the smallest Kurdish population of the […] More
Syrian Kurds – Forgotten No More
Syria has by far the smallest Kurdish population of any country with major Kurdish minorities. However, in the last two years, the Kurds of Syria […] More
The Battle for Raqqa – It’s Complicated
Though the battle to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Mosul is slowly reaching its denouement, the campaign to take the […] More
India-Israel Relations: An Opportunity That Can’t Be Missed
With the Middle East mired in a constant state of turmoil, reoccurring tectonic shifts across the region have encouraged new partnerships, sometimes between unlikely players. […] More
Israel-India Alliance Based on Strategic Interests and Mutual Concerns
Contacts between India and the Jewish people, whether in ancient Israel, in India itself, or in the Diaspora, go back to remote antiquity. But it […] More
Indian-Israeli Cooperation Intensifying
The Cipher Brief sat down with S. Samuel Rajiv, Associate Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses based in New Delhi, India, to […] More
Cipher Brief Expert View: Why Electronics Ban Only In Middle East
New rules go into effect this weekend that restrict electronic items in passenger cabins on U.S.-bound flights. The measures are being taken as a security […] More
Al Qaeda Takes Advantage in Syria
While the U.S. remains focused on defeating ISIS in Syria and Iraq, al Qaeda in Syria is accumulating strength at an alarming pace and may […] More
Al Qaeda in Syria Can Change Its Name, But Not Its Stripes
Following recent infighting with other Syrian rebel groups in the northwestern part of the country, al Qaeda in Syria appears to have recognized the need […] More
How Al Qaeda Exploited The Syrian Civil War
The Cipher Brief sat down with Charles Lister, Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute, to discuss al Qaeda in Syria’s latest rebranding, how the […] More