Category: Middle East & North Africa
46 Articles
- Middle East & North Africa
U.S. and Israeli Checks and Balances Collapsed During the Iran War
One of the hallmarks and indeed strengths of democracies is their checks and balances – their ability to ensure that no single branch oversteps its authority or unilaterally…
July 20, 2026
- Middle East & North Africa
Lessons from Idlib: The Syrian Civil War and Iran’s Missing Opposition
The Sound of Silence: The Absence of Iranian Opposition Groups Operation Epic Fury, coming on the heels of Iran’s largest public uprising since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has…
June 9, 2026
- Middle East & North Africa
Blind to the Berm: Western Sahara, Morocco, and the World’s Quiet Abandonment of Self-Determination
In January 1981, Morocco began constructing what the Sahrawi people would call the “Wall of Shame.” The Moroccan Western Sahara Wall now stands as both the longest operational…
May 14, 2026
- Middle East & North Africa
Disarmament Is Not a Starting Point in Stabilizing Gaza
In the aftermath of the October 2025 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, international efforts to stabilize Gaza have converged around a common organizing principle: the…
April 21, 2026
- Defense
- Middle East & North Africa
Egypt Is Rebuilding Its Defense Industrial Base—It Should Not Forget Maintenance and Sustainment
In late 2021, Egyptian defense firm Benha Electronic Industries participated in the third biennial Egypt Defence Expo. On display at the firm’s stand stood a domestic ESR-32B…
April 14, 2026
- Middle East & North Africa
- News
The Impact of the Conflict Between the U.S., Israel, and Iran on Qatar
On Saturday, February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran, killing the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his Tehran compound. Iran…
March 4, 2026
- Middle East & North Africa
- News
Tipping Over Lykke’s Stool: How Trump’s Iran Campaign Exposes a Flawed Theory of Victory
In the core class SEST 5001 at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program, students examine strategy as a process, a product, and a theory, along with the characteristics…
March 3, 2026
- Middle East & North Africa
Yemen’s Anti-Houthi Coalition Crisis
Yemen is amid one of the most eventful winters it has seen in years. Territorial control of the nation swung in extremes between December 2025 and January 2026, not between the…
February 28, 2026
- Middle East & North Africa
A New Dawn in the Levant: How Growing Daylight Between the Israeli Government and the American People Could Change U.S. Middle East Policy
Popular American discontent with Israel—and the subsequent weakening of the Israel Lobby— presents an opportunity to reorient U.S. policy in the Middle East and North Africa )…
January 20, 2026
- Middle East & North Africa
The 2025 Elections in the Kurdistan Region: Eroding Legitimacy, Strategic Fragmentation, and the Salafi Shift
On November 11, 2025, Iraq concluded its sixth parliamentary elections. In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), the ruling parties, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the…
January 4, 2026