Shehab Al-Makahleh  The importance of the Middle East region for the US stems from the fact that it is part of a wider geography which includes Europe and Asia, whose security has been one of the main American concerns since the 1900s. The Middle East has been considered …

Shehab Al-Makahleh Hamza bin Laden, the son of Osama bin Laden, appeared in a video broadcast by al-Qaeda’s ‘al-Sahab’ media channel in which he criticized Saudi Arabia and its alliance with the United States. This video raises many questions about the timing, the motives and future developments, as Hamza …

The United States on Thursday presented for the first time pieces of what it said were Iranian weapons supplied to the Iran-aligned Houthi militia in Yemen, describing it as conclusive evidence that Tehran was violating U.N. resolutions, according to Reuters. While it is understandable that the US and …

Shehab Al-Makahleh On December 5, 2017, Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, announced that provincial and parliamentary elections will be held on May 12, 2018; yet, many domestic events and regional developments would delay the elections as the Iraqi community is undergoing many societal and economic as well as …

Given that the last strongholds for ISIS (known as Daesh in the region) in Raqaa, Syria and Mosul, Iraq have fallen, it is likely the group in its current territory-based form will gone by the end of 2017.  Only weeks ago, Daesh was allowed to leave central Syria before …

According to reports by Kurdish media a source from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has revealed that thousands of military personnel of the US-led Global Coalition are present in Syrian Kurdistan and other northern regions of the country. “Nearly 4,000 troops and military advisors of the anti-Islamic State Global …

Shehab Al-Makahleh  What has been the outcome of the summit between the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran in the Russian city of Sochi? What is the significance of the timing of President Putin’s meeting with Bashar Al-Assad in Sochi on November 21? Has the path towards a …

Putin/Assad Meeting Cements the End of U.S. Dominance in the Middle East Tom Luongo I’m not a terribly religious man.  But, I’d like to believe there is a special corner in Hell reserved for those that fomented the Syrian Civil War. From its beginnings in Libya with gun-funneling through …