Middle East Near You

As the Iraqi Kurdish administration continues to defy international opinion by pressing ahead with its plans to hold an advisory independence referendum next Monday, Iraq’s two most powerful neighbouring...

With the referendum on proposed Kurdish independence just two weeks away, the stage is being set for the gravest political and potential military crisis in post-Baathist Iraq. Months of...

As the fight against Daesh continues to grab international headlines, behind the scenes Iraqi politics is gearing up for a reset. With provincial and parliamentary elections scheduled for next...

Credible reports centred on the collapse of Ahrar Al-Sham in north-west Syria point toward an important shift in the six-year Syrian rebellion. The group was widely regarded as the...

For the past three years virtually all news related to Iraq has been dominated by Daesh and the struggle to defeat it. Political developments in Baghdad have gone largely...

The full implications of Saudi Arabia’s three-months old siege of the Qatif town of Awamiyah are only just beginning to emerge. Pictures depicting wholesale destruction and civil war-like conditions...

After months of dithering the Trump administration finally appears to be implementing a relatively coherent policy in Syria. The decision to focus exclusively on Daesh and completely forego any...

The latest ceasefire in south-west Syria, negotiated by the United States and Russia, is a clear reflection of increasing US-Russian cooperation in the country. Whilst this is a welcome...

The suppression of an important report into the funding of “extremist” activity in Britain by foreign sources is a clear indication of the gap between British foreign and domestic...

As expected Qatar has defied the extortionate demands made on it by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The stage is now set for a prolonged...

As Iraqi forces continue to mop up the last remnants of Daesh from west Mosul, it is worth remembering that the jihadist group continues to maintain a significant presence...

The release of formal demands made of Qatar by the Saudi-led coalition bears striking similarities to 19th century-style gunboat diplomacy with its concept of issuing impossible-to-meet demands intended to...

The intensifying split within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), as epitomised by the Saudi-led effort to isolate Qatar, has effectively ended (at least for the foreseeable future) Saudi Arabia’s...

Last Wednesday’s twin terror attacks in Tehran have come as a huge surprise for a number of reasons, not least because of the brazen breach of the Islamic Republic’s...

Reports that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have warned Iraqi Shia militias not to enter SDF-controlled territory are, on the face of it, a potential addition to the complexity...

Last week’s terrorist atrocity in Manchester has intensified the seemingly endless debates about British counterterrorism. The two most contentions features of this debate are centred on the roles of...