On 20 January, the Turkish armed forces began Operation Olive Branch in Afrin, an area of Syria controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), one of the key opposition groups to the regime of …
Articles by: "Isaac Kfir"
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has redefined Turkey’s foreign policy, making it more independent and nationalist. The key to the new policy is a shift in Turkey’s security concerns, as the country has become less fearful of …
On 4 December, Houthi rebels in Yemen killed former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. A few days earlier, Saleh had ended his three-year-old alliance with the Houthis and sought to re-establish relations with Saudi Arabia. Saleh’s …
After spending over a week in Saudi Arabia following his unexpected resignation, then visiting France, Saad Hariri, Lebanon’s former prime minister, is expected to arrive back in Lebanon later today. He has accused Iran of …
In August, Myanmar’s military launched ‘clearing operations’ against the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. According to the government, this was a response to a coordinated attack by the group against 30 police posts and an army …
On 12 October, Mogadishu was rocked by a powerful bomb that killed more than 320 people and injured around 500. Security officials attribute the bombing to al-Shabaab (‘the youth’), although the group has yet to …
The 5 October special meeting of the Council of Australian Governments focused on security and counterterrorism. Premiers and chief ministers agreed to establish the National Facial Biometric Matching Capability and signed the Intergovernmental Agreement on …
In his much-acclaimed 1970 book, Why men rebel, Ted R. Gurr postulated that political violence could be explained by looking at social psychological factors. Gurr’s theory about political activism, and specifically political violence, centred on …
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described the city of Marawi, in Mindanao, as a candidate for becoming the Raqqa of Southeast Asia. He has authorised the dispatch of Australian military trainers (not special forces, as …
Since it was formed by Mohammed Yusuf in the early 2000s, Boko Haram, or Jama’a Ahl as-Sunna Li-da’wa wa-al Jihad (roughly translated from Arabic as ‘people committed to the propagation of the Prophet’s teachings …
In August, a Jakarta court jailed 28-year-old Dian Yulia Novi for seven-and-a-half years for plotting to carry out a suicide attack outside the Presidential Palace during the changing of the guard, an event that is …
It’s slowly becoming clear that as horrific as the Barcelona attack was, it could have been much worse. The cell was planning to use a homemade explosive device to kill hundreds at landmarks across the …