Middle Orient

Latest Developments The United States charged a Pakistani national with a thwarted Iran-backed plot to assassinate American government officials, the U.S. Justice Department disclosed on August 6. The defendant, 46-year-old Asif Merchant, had hired purported hitmen who were actually undercover U.S. law enforcement officers, according to the U.S. complaint unsealed …

Latest Developments Five U.S. service members and two U.S. contractors were injured in a rocket attack by Iran-backed terrorists in Iraq on August 5, according to U.S. defense officials who briefed The Washington Post. Two Iraqi security officials told Reuters that the injuries were caused by two rockets that fell …

Iranian armed forces-run Defa Press published a list of potential civilian and military targets in Israel on August 5, which likely aims to decrease Israel’s ability to effectively defend against an Iranian attack by causing Israel to air- and missile-defense assets and creating panic among civilians.[1] The list includes Israeli …

During the past week, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for 43 attacks on military and civilian targets in northern Israel, including communities attacked for the first time since the beginning of the war. A civilian was killed; an officer and an IDF soldier were injured.Israeli Air Force aircraft attacked Hezbollah targets and …

When U.S. Patriots shot down an Iranian missile over Erbil on April 15, Kurds wondered why such defenses weren’t activated when they were attacked. Late in the night of April 13, Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, was shaken by the sound of a Patriot missile battery shooting down …

The surprising and evolving intersections between the Jewish state and Islamic institutions. Introduction The term “Israeli Islam” may sound like an oxymoron, but Islam is present in Israeli society—and inside the Israeli state. Just under one-fifth of Israelis are registered by the state as Muslims; Muhammad has been the most …

Risky Assassinations Are a Desperate Bid to Restore Deterrence The ten-month-old war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip long ago escaped its local geography, triggering dangerous military escalations across the Middle East—deadly clashes on the Israeli-Lebanese border, Houthi assaults in the Red Sea and on Tel Aviv, attacks …

Introduction The U.S.’s plea bargain with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khaled Sheikh Mohammad (KSM) would have prevented the full exposure of Qatar’s role and responsibility in the attack. The plea bargain, which has now been rescinded by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, brought to light new and old documents about …

Latest Developments The secretary of Russia’s Security Council arrived in Tehran on August 5 as fears of an Iranian strike on Israel continued to grow. Sergei Shoigu, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was shown on the Russian Ministry of Defense-controlled Zvezda TV channel meeting Rear Adm. Ali …

In a brazen act that has sent shockwaves across the Middle East, Ismail Haniyeh, the exiled political chief of Hamas, was assassinated on Wednesday in Tehran. The 62-year-old Palestinian leader was killed during a visit to Iran to attend the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Haniyeh, a key …