War crimes, genocide, torture, forced disappearances, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international law have been characteristic of conflicts in the Arab world since even before they were codified in law. These crimes still occur in many Arab countries, most notably in...
FO Live asks if another mass casualty terrorist attack is inevitable. What drives terrorism in the 21st century? And is there a solution to this phenomenon?
Even before the recent raid that resulted in the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the erstwhile head of the Islamic State (IS or ISIS), US President Donald Trump had spoken of how he had single-handedly defeated the caliphate. “Now, when I came, the caliphate was all over the place,” the...
US President Donald Trump rose to hyperbolic heights of hyperreal narration last weekend as he described the Pentagon’s successful takedown of the Islamic State (IS) group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in Syria. The world will undoubtedly be a better place without Al-Baghdadi, but much of...
Since 2011, Tunisia has been widely recognized as the Arab Spring’s only success story. But the North African state's political transition faces grave threats.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wants everyone to understand that the bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday provide a justification for the war on terror initiated by George W. Bush, which has become a permanent and dominant feature of US foreign policy. His tone sounded almost thankful for the...
The UK's new counterterrorism strategy neglects overseas priorities when it comes to combating terrorist activity at the source. On June 4, the UK government published the latest version of its counterterrorism strategy (CONTEST.) The strategy has developed significantly since its early...
A modest increase in US troop numbers is unlikely to reverse worsening insecurity in Afghanistan in the coming year. Afghanistan has experienced a violent 2017, with the government continuing to steadily lose territory to the Taliban. According to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan...
The coming year may well prove to be the bloodiest yet in Turkey. The figures for terrorist attacks and those killed in Turkey as a result in 2016 are staggering as the death toll reaches 300 with seemingly no respite from the relentless killings in sight. In the early hours of 2017, the...
Counterterrorism strategy in the Middle East and North Africa can no longer avoid the involvement of women. According to the World Bank, 48.3% of the population in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is female. Yet despite their prominent place in society—and the fact that women and...
Civilians in Iraq and Syria are paying the price for Western weariness of military interventions. The Syrian city of Aleppo now resembles an eerie ghost of Dresden or Stalingrad—burning, in ruins, decimated and helpless. Millions have been displaced across the region, hundreds of thousands...
In the first presidential debate, candidates failed to provide clues about possible political responses to any of the real questions about America’s future in the world. Judging from the results of the first “Super Bowl of presidential debates” it would appear that the following three...
Yazidi refugees reveal tragic and inspirational stories of surviving ethnic cleansing by the Islamic State. The Yazidi people are an ethno-religious group with aspects of their religion entailing a mixture of Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism. They...
Defeating ISIS is not the end-all solution to the war in Syria. When Omar Arab hears the sound of shelling nearby, he does not run for cover. He runs toward the noise. Arab is an independent photojournalist living in Aleppo, Syria. Once an ancient metropolis, it is now the battleground of what...
With mosques under increasing surveillance, the Islamic State has identified soccer as a recruiting ground. Abu Otaiba, the nom du guerre of a self-taught imam and Islamic State (IS) recruiter in Jordan, uses soccer to attract recruits. “We take them to farms, or private homes. There we...
