Shifting dynamics in the Middle East may have presented a rare opportunity to establish the groundwork for a lasting, regionally-backed peace between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and their Arab neighbours. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu …
A cold war is taking place in a very hot place. A key component of the sectarian competition between Shia and Sunni Islam in the Middle East is geopolitical, with Iran facing off against Saudi …
This month marks the centenary of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the secret British-French accord that launched a decade-long series of adjustments to the borders of the post-Ottoman Middle East. Most commentary on the anniversary has been …
On 21 May, Mullah Mohammed Akhtar Mansour, leader of the Afghani Taliban, was assassinated by an American drone strike in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, just across the border with Afghanistan. Mullah Mansour’s death was announced by …
Before toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003, much of the west backed the Iraqi dictator during the 1980–88 war against Iran. Iraq’s Shia majority fought against their coreligionists in the Shia Islamic Republic during that war. …
