On 29 June, after the spectacular takeover of Mosul and other Iraqi cities, the Islamic State (IS) declared a caliphate in Iraq and Syria. How can the sudden rise to power of IS be explained? What is the future of the caliphate, and of the region as a whole? Romain Caillet provides an assessment.
US strikes against Islamic State fighters heading towards Erbil will not make a significant impact against a group that can fight across multiple fronts in multiple countries.
Behind the Arab rhetoric of unity over Gaza - and Syria or Iraq - lie deep and dangerous fractures.
As Qatar assumes an increasing role in the political diplomacy of the Middle East, its subtler interventions in Syria's civil war continue unquestioned.
Iraq's fragmentation and Syria's implosion are the long-term outcome of the follies of their Ba'athist and other Arab nationalist leaders.
The Syrian imbroglio is very difficult, not intractable—and the west cannot continue to throw up its hands in despair.
The influential nationalist-modernist ideology once attracted religious-sectarian support. Today that process is over, as the latter forces reclaim their older identities.
The squeeze between Iraqi, Syrian and international forces and the conflict between armed groups in the region is the gamble that the Islamic State has made. In return for this gamble, global jihadist recruitment from an ever growing list of nationalities and pledges of allegiance are the prizes.
A surge of Tunisian jihadists into Syria tells much about the wider story of violence and politics after the Arab Spring.
Israel's conflict with Hamas highlights its close partnership with the United States over missile defence. But it also deepens Washington's regional worries over Syria, Iraq, Hizbollah, and Iran.
To continue our examination of the Syrian army, a contesting view to that of Kamal Alam in an excerpt from Gilbert Achcar's 'The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising', identifying a complex manipulation of sect and clan in the maintenance of the Syrian regime and its apparatuses
Humanitarian agencies have renewed support after a rare moment of unity in the UN Security Council regarding cross-border aid delivery into Syria, but face only growing challenges and ethical dilemmas navigating the country's complex conflict lines.
