Terrorism, Conflict and Peace Studies

As Israel’s assault on Gaza rages on, the prospect of a regionalization of the fighting grows. Lebanon, in particular, remains the most likely point of escalation, even if the country cannot afford it. Two weeks into the unfolding crisis in Palestine-Israel, and...

Background Omar Bongo was president of Gabon for four decades. In 1967, following the death of Leon Mba, he rose to the seat of power for the country with France’s backing. Throughout his tenure, various measures benefited Omar Bongo in securing his power. Under...

The IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia's premier defense summit, convened in Singapore from 2nd to 4th June 2023, marking a pivotal moment for policymakers, ministers, and experts to gather and deliberate on the most critical security challenges facing the Indo-Pacific...

Background  On October 10, 2021, parliamentary elections were held in Iraq about six months before schedule in response to protestors’ demands. Winning 73 out of 329 seats, the Sadrist movement, the party of influential Shi’ite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, settled for...

Russia’s war on Ukraine is entering the third day of active fighting, Mr. Putin’s time is running out. It is a full-on race between a successful Russian blitzkrieg or a grueling war of attrition, where the Ukrainian drag Russia into another Afghanistan. Russia has a...

1. What is going on? Back in February 2019, ground-breaking peace talks between the U.S. government and the Taliban took place in Moscow, fostering the possibility of a negotiated peace in an unpreceded way during the 17-year-long conflict. The peace table, however,...

When a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states launched a military intervention against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on March 26, 2015, the Yemeni people had no idea that they were witnessing the beginning of the costliest conflict in their country’s long and...

As the commander of U.S. Central Command from 2016-2019, I was responsible for conducting military operations and supporting U.S. security policy in Yemen. These responsibilities mainly focused on the prosecution of our counter-terrorism campaign against al-Qaeda....

Earlier this month, Morocco normalized ties with Israel. In exchange, the United States agreed to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. This announcement continues the trend of an Arab-Israeli rapprochement outside of a final status settlement with the...

Introduction   Although final election results have not been declared, vote counts show Joseph R. Biden, Jr.  has been elected the 46th president of the US. In general, US elections are followed closely across the globe as the decisions and actions of the US...

Following their success in the west of Libya and Al-Watiya airbase,  GNA advance continued this week. Tripoli International airport and its neighbouring towns like Ain Zara, Wadi Al-Rabi in the south of the capital are now under the GNA control. Failing to withstand...

Possibility of Turkish military intervention caused an increase in the external military support to Haftar. Despite his powerful words and Parliamentary approval to troop deployment plans, Erdogan is not able to send a decisive force to back GNA side. On the other...

Background In the last couple of weeks, we have been witnessing the most active times of the Libya crisis According to news coming from front lines, defenders of the Tripoli are in dire straits in the eye of Haftar’s LNA. Increased Russian interference; US reactions...

Although the main objective of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) is to re-establish a Southern Arab State, Yemeni President Abdu Rabbuh Mansour Hadi tweeted shortly before the agreement, conveying the message that they have worked diligently to give the Southern...

Eight years ago, on 20 October, Moammar Gaddafi was captured and killed in his hometown Sirte and buried to an unknown grave. Since his death, Libyans have been waiting for their dreams to come true. Developments of last week are not promising though, indicating that...

Yemen is overlooking the Strait of Bab al-Mandab and ranks 29th in the world in terms of oil reserves. Yemen is also overlooking two seas for two thousand kilometers and shares its border with the rich Gulf countries. With all these facts, Yemen will become the...

Preparations and developments related to the upcoming Libya Conference in Germany are dominating the discussions on the Libya crisis. Mediators are working hard to manage the expectations to avoid disappointment at the end of the conference. Main discussion point will...

Ahead of a new international Libya Conference, the one evident thing is that both GNA and LNA propaganda machines try hard to persuade international community that they have the upper hand in the battlefield. The operations rooms of both sides frame the developments...

Following the G7 summit and statements of UN special envoy Ghassan Salame, major international actors were expected to come together to end the protracted civil war and initiate a new peace process in Libya. The 74th Assembly of the United Nations was the perfect...

Repercussions of the attacks on Saudi oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais on September 14 still keep global agenda busy. The attacks that caused highest rise in crude oil prices in one day and took down 5 percent of global production still continues to be a matter of...

Almost six months has elapsed since start of Haftar’s Tripoli offensive, an initiative that has costed thousands their lives and made many more displaced. Setting out with great promises,  Haftar’s LNA has so far suffered major setbacks to include one of the biggest...

There was no surprise in what happened in Aden. Since the beginning of the transitional period, the Yemeni elites and their parties have dealt with the Yemeni situation without imagination, and in the same traditional ways of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh....

This week was an especially bloody one for Yemen. The Houthi, ISIL and Al Qaeda attacks in a fashion outbidding each other killed more than a hundred and left many others in critical condition in hospitals. If we have to focus on the factual aspect of the events: a....

Background The UAE decision to draw down troops in Yemen has been on the agenda of international spectators since 22 June. In an article reflecting her consultations with Emirati officials, Elena DeLozier formulated the content of the drawdown as: Emirati units are...

While the armed conflict in and around capital Tripoli escalate to a full-blown civil war destroying the physical and social infrastructure of Libya and making a democratic and peaceful Libya a more elusive vision, Beyond the Horizon ISSG had a chance to take a closer...

Nearly six months since the so-called Stockholm agreement was signed by Yemen’s warring parties in an effort to prevent a deepening humanitarian crisis, any semblance of progress is almost dead. The agreement, signed on Dec. 13, stipulates the redeployment of forces...

The anti-United Nations campaign - and talk about its dubious role in Yemen - has become increasingly popular recently. This coincides with claims of conspiracy, a rhetoric mostly used by the helpless party in an indirect attempt to justify self-insufficiency. Calls...

Yemen’s Houthi rebels are not just Iran’s proxies On May 14, Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen launched multiple drone strikes against Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities. These drone strikes targeted a major oil pipeline located just west of Riyadh and sparked fears of...

On 2 May 2019, an article with the subject “A Real Plan to End the War in Yemen” was published in Foreign Affairs. The article is purposeful and well-written in terms of clarity of the arguments and got quite  positive feedbacks from those following the crisis....

As Haftar’s offensive toward Tripoli stalled, the conflict does not cease to reproduce itself in other realms or dimensions. This week, Haftar and his international backers increased their level of engagement in propaganda to dominate or shift opinion in favor of...

Operation Sophia was quietly and officially extended until 30 September 2019 following longstanding negotiations among member states. Political and Security Committee (PSC) reached a flawed last-minute compromise on March 29th, the last working day for an extension of...

The fear and terror induced by this situation, combined with unbearable survival conditions are creating a generation of psychologically scarred people, many of whom will never be able to live normal lives. Less than a month after the signature of the Stockholm...

The latest milestone in the peace process for the Libya crisis, Palermo Conference, passed without a significant breakthrough on 13-14 November 2018. No final agreement has been reached during the leader’ meeting which Khalifa Haftar didn’t attend (He only attended...

The events following the murder of Khashoggi shook the US, the EU and the rest of the world. Although not directly related with war in Yemen, the scandal worked as a catalyst for a series of events culminating with the latest statements by US Secretary of Defence Jim...

The civil war in Syria is about to enter a new phase by the possible operations to Idlib. While the Syrian regime is willing to close the chapter on one of the bloodiest civil wars on its soil by gaining the control over this last stronghold of opposition forces,...

March 2018 will mark the three-year anniversary since the start of the disastrous conflict in Yemen. With at least 10,000 people killed, and over 22 million requiring some form of food assistance, the last three years have been among the worst in modern Yemeni...