Terrorism & Extremism

At a moment when Hezbollah faces one of the most severe crises in its history, Washington risks handing the group the very lifeline it desperately needs. Recent comments by President Donald Trump suggesting that Syria could play a role in facilitating more precise operations against Hezbollah have revived …

M. Faizal Abdul Rahman Contrast the speeches of the U.S. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, and the Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Dr Kao Kim Hourn, at the 23rd IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on 30 May 2026. It raises the question of whether …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh The headlines trumpet ceasefires in Gaza, Lebanon, and along Israel’s northern front with Iran’s proxies. Politicians breathe sighs of relief. News anchors speak of de‑escalation. But let us be brutally honest: this is not the end of war. This is the suspension of war. Across …

Lama Al-Rakad The image was striking. In Washington, the leader of Syria’s transitional government, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was welcomed as a legitimate political actor after years in which he and his organization were synonymous with jihadist militancy. Whether viewed as diplomatic necessity or geopolitical pragmatism, the transformation raises one …

Syria’s geography, through a network of international roads and land and sea crossings with connection distances of no more than 500 kilometers, condenses the equations of cost and time in favor of supply and logistics chains between Asia and Europe. This short land corridor directly links Mediterranean ports …

The overwhelming military, intelligence, and technological superiority possessed by the United States and Israel in their war against Iran has led many cheerleaders for Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu to assume that crushing Iran is merely a matter of operational sequencing. Yet such assumptions ignore a range of …

Dr. Shehab Al-Makahleh On the eve of his arrival in Beijing, Donald Trump chose a phrase that was deceptively simple: “I respect Xi, and I hope he respects me.” Beneath that carefully calibrated diplomatic phrase lies a far more consequential reality: this is not a courtesy visit between …

Hemant Adlakha Just a few days before President Trump was to arrive in Beijing as per Trump’s previous itinerary (March 31-April 2), the mood in China—as reflected on social media and in the media commentaries—was not at all in favor of a visit by Trump to the Chinese …

“Israel” established an illegal clandestine military outpost in Iraq’s western desert to support its aggression against Iran, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing individuals familiar with the matter, including US officials. According to the accounts, the installation was set up shortly before the war began and …