Middle East

Three months after its “split” from al Qaeda, which in reality is simply a feint, Jabhat Fateh al Sham (JFS), formerly known as Jabhat al Nusra, […] More

The battle to liberate Mosul in Iraq from the tentacles of the Islamic State (ISIS) is turning attention away from Syria, where fighting continues to […] More

With a new administration set to enter the White House early next year, there is hope for a renewal of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.  One […] More

The Cipher Brief sat down with Robert Richer, former Associate Deputy Director for Operations at the CIA, to discuss impending changes atop the Hamas leadership […] More

The upcoming internal Hamas elections, which will be conducted over a number of months in a secretive, phased process, will take place in a radically […] More

Since oil prices plummeted in the last quarter of 2014, oil-producing countries have struggled to adapt to the new low-price environment. From reforms to slashed […] More

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) came to a surprise agreement at informal talks this September to reduce global oil production by between 200,000 […] More

OPEC members have finally reached an agreement to curb the global oil supply by cutting their overall production from 33.75 million barrels per day (mb/d) […] More

When the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed in July 2015, you might have been forgiven for […] More

Iran’s supreme leader implemented a dramatic overhaul of Iranian military leadership in June 2016, and in so doing, effectively consolidated control of the Iranian military […] More

According to U.S. Navy officials, confrontations between American and Iranian naval vessels in the Persian Gulf have risen by roughly 50 percent. This despite the […] More

With the Islamic State (ISIS) having lost more than 40 percent of its territory in Iraq since its height of control in January 2015, all […] More

The good news: all signs point to a final attack on ISIS in Mosul by Iraqi forces and the American-led coalition. This struggle has received […] More

From victories in Ramadi, Fallujah, and towns and principalities in between, the Iraqi army and its coalition allies have steadily rolled back the territorial gains […] More

The conflict in Syria has ground on for roughly five years now, claiming some 400,000 lives, leading almost five million Syrians to seek refuge in […] More

It’s often hard to discern when a tipping point arrives in any international crisis.  For those of us working the Balkan beat in the 1990s, […] More

On July 4 1821, John Quincy Adams gave an historic address to Congress, in which he stated that, while America may support the cause of […] More

Fifteen years to the date after the U.S. launched its invasion of Afghanistan, al Qaeda still remains a force to be reckoned with. And with […] More