Palmyra was just re-liberated for the second time after a hard-fought battle for this strategic city, while in the same week, the leader of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq visited Turkey to plot the “Rojava Civil War”. Each of these events will directly impact on the disjointed efforts that are underway to liberate…
Commander of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), General Joseph Votel, has secretly visited the Syrian Arab Republic in order to meet with leaders of US-backed militant groups. The visit was made just two days after it was announced that Washington is going to dispatch more US troops to the Arab country. On Friday, Votel, who…
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) secretly visited the Kurdish-held region of Syria during a trip to the Middle East last weekend to meet with United States military officials, The Wall Street Journal reported. A spokeswoman for McCain later confirmed the trip in a statement to The Hill. “Senator McCain traveled to northern Syria last week to…
Following Turkey’s path in the war against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria is extremely confusing. One cannot even rely on high-level officials’ statements regarding developments on the ground. For instance, Gen. Hulusi Akar, the chief of general staff, is the highest Turkish official in uniform. As he was traveling Feb. 15 with President Recep…
The past couple of years have been marked by dramatic geopolitical changes triggered by the onset of the New Cold War, and while events such as the spree of urban terrorism popularly known as “EuroMaidan” and Russia’s anti-terrorist intervention in Syria are well known, there are other major shifts which have yet to generate considerable…
The political future of Iraq is uncertain because of the intensified domestic splits between its constituent Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish communities which were exacerbated by Daesh over the past couple of years. Post-2003 Iraq has been continually plagued by communal violence, but never before had each of its three communities been so divided from one…
