The U.S. Department of Defense reported the first death of a U.S. soldier in ground combat against the Islamic State, which occurred during a hostage rescue in Iraq yesterday....
Assad made a surprise visit to Moscow this week, his first trip abroad since the start of the civil war and a sign of how much he is dependent on Russian support....
While the Russian military escalation in Syria in support of the Assad regime has received attention for its lack of action against its stated target, the so-called Islamic State, the terrorist group is not without challengers....
The Syrian civil war has dramatically affirmed that the trend lines of globalization are not restricted to trade and finance, but are also fundamentally altering persistent regional conflicts. ...
Sunday, October 18, marked JCPOA “Adoption Day”—90 days after the passage of UN Resolution 2231 that endorsed the nuclear deal—when the agreement formally entered into force. ...
President Obama announced that the United States would keep 5,500 troops in Afghanistan after the planned 2017 full withdrawal....
There is now a gathering of armies in northern Syria unlike any in the four-plus years of a raging civil war....
On Sunday, Iran tested a new ballistic missile with an improved guidance system and increased range....
As other parties run aground in Syria, Russia may be able to achieve its objectives while avoiding long-term engagement in the war....
While international attention has largely shifted to the flow of refugees from Turkey into Europe, those attempting to reach Europe from Libya continue to die by the hundreds....
The Russian military escalation in Syria—which now includes cruise missile attacks and close air support for Syrian troops—has led to concerns about another jihad along the likes of Afghanistan in the 1980s....
The ongoing war in Yemen has been a disaster for almost everyone involved, except the Islamic State and al-Qaeda....
On September 30, Russia began its air campaign in Syria, targeting those rebel groups that pose the most immediate threat to the Assad regime’s survival. ...
With less than 100 airstrikes in Syria, the Russians have significantly changed the internal and external dynamics of the civil war....
No matter the outcome in Syria, Iran will insist that it be able to continue arming Hizballah via the country and that radical Sunni Islamists not be able to conduct cross-border attacks on Hizballah from Syria....