Israel’s Knesset has voted to dissolve itself, and a general election is due to be held on March 17 2015. Binyamin Netanyahu’s third government was a fractious one from the start, with many coalition members…
The Israeli government continues to undermine a two-state solution by expanding settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.
EPA/Jim Hollander
Escalating confrontations in Jerusalem centred on the al-Aqsa Mosque, 1500 more homes to be built in settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and a sharp deterioration in Israel’s relations with Jordan have…
We’ve secretly got your back.
EPA/Alaa Al-Shemaree
The Shia militant group Hezbollah has suggested its fight against Islamic State has given it a common purpose with the West. In an interview with the BBC, Mohammed Fneish, a Lebanese Hezbollah minister…
A military campaign against Islamic State forces will offer no long-term resolution to Iraq’s extremist problem.
YouTube/VICE News
To explain the disaster befalling Iraq, as well as the rise of Islamic State (IS), you have to go back a century – before modern Iraq even existed. That’s not to discount the shared culpability of Iraq’s…
A specter continues to haunt the Arab world – the specter of regionalism. The idea that illogical national boundaries, drawn by colonial overlords divided what should have been a pan-Arab region has been…
Extra security has appeared at Cairo University.
Khaled Elfiqi/EPA
Egypt’s new academic year started in early October amid unprecedented repressive measures by the state against students. On October 11, the morning of the first day of university, police carried out a…
Locking up convicted extremists does not prevent marginalised and angry youth from being radicalised.
AAP/Julian Smith
The dreadful events in Iraq and Syria and counter-terrorism raids in Australia have alarmed Australians, including the 500,000-strong Muslim community. These incidents represent a new episode of the “third…
An Australian Super Hornet refuels from a KC30 tanker while flying over Iraq.
@VCDF_Australia/Twitter
There are two reasons why we should ignore the growing calls in the United States, Canada and Australia for Western “boots on ground” – meaning ground troops – to fight and destroy the Islamic State (IS…
A US Marine covers a statue of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein with the US flag in Baghdad’s al-Fardous square in April 2003, before the statue was toppled.
EPA PHOTO AFPI/RAMZI HAIDAR
For at least a decade, attempts to understand why some young Muslims living in Western countries turn to violence in the name of religion have raised questions about Western foreign policy in the Middle…
Investigations of the death and destruction wrought upon Gaza’s civilian neighbourhoods must be independent of the warring Israeli and Palestinian forces.
EPA/Mohammed Saber
With the August 26 ceasefire between Israeli and Palestinian forces holding, both sides have resumed their relentless pursuit of political advantage. Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, Palestine…
Over it: Iranian president Hassan Rouhani (L) and his foreign minister Javad Zarif.
EPA/STR
Since Hassan Rouhani was elected Iran’s president in June 2013, relations between Iran and the United States have significantly improved – though they remain very fragile. To explain why, most analysts…
The German army prepares arms for the Kurds in August.
Jan Woitas/EPA
An “initial gifting package”: the opaque label is wrapped around £1.6m worth of heavy machine guns and half a million rounds of ammunition, which has now reached the Iraqi town of Arbil courtesy of the…
This is as far as you go: refugees arrive in Jordan.
EPA/STR
Swamped as we are with media outrage and political rhetoric about asylum seekers “invading” Europe, we tend to forget that the vast majority of displaced people find refuge in countries far beyond EU borders…
Barack Obama is reluctant to jump in with both feet with a major military intervention in Iraq and Syria.
EPA/Valda Kalnina
US president Barack Obama has yet to work out exactly what America’s strategy is in confronting Islamic State (IS), and has been foolish enough to say so in public. Cue the foreseeable torrent of point-scoring…
US troops have made gains against IS.
EPA/Armin Weigel
With an unmistakable British accent, the now-infamous Islamic State (IS) fighter thought to have killed journalist James Foley has addressed his second message to US president Barack Obama. IS is trying…
Executed journalist Steven Sotloff.
EPA/Mazen Mahdi
Islamic State’s brutal killing of Steven Sotloff, coming on the heels of James Foley’s execution, is intended to shock and appal. It has done just that. But any response to the executions must recognise…
Does Tony Abbott’s justification for Australian involvement in Iraq amount to a legal basis for our commitment?
AAP/Dave Hunt
The humanitarian missions by the Royal Australian Air Force in Iraq are in accordance with international law, despite a confusing statement by Iraq’s ambassador to Australia, Mouayed Saleh. But continued…
When Tony Abbott says he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself on Australia’s Middle East commitment – specifically about joining air strikes – what he means is that he can’t get ahead of Barack Obama…
How did it come to this? Once again Australia is apparently in a ‘high state of readiness’ and prepared to commit to military forces in the Middle East. In reality, this will probably only mean the RAAF…
History tells us that it is certain criteria and not democratic niceties, secularism or a moderate hand that will make or break Islamic State.
EPA/STR
The rise of Islamic State (IS) across parts of the Middle East has galvanised the international community in a way not seen since September 11. But before a military response is considered, western nations…
Senior Associate Fellow on the Middle East at RUSI; Associate Professor in Politics & International Relations; Deputy Director of the Centre on US Politics, UCL