The Middle East in 2015: What to Watch
Carnegie scholars assess the Middle East in the year ahead, including potential game changers that could have a big impact for the future of the region.
Carnegie scholars assess the Middle East in the year ahead, including potential game changers that could have a big impact for the future of the region.
The outcome of the battle for Kobane will have significant implications for the fight against the Islamic State and developments in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq moving forward.
The growing strength and influence of ISIS is rooted in a deep-seated regional disagreement over the nature of the threat posed by jihadist extremists. Until the fight against ISIS is decoupled from the sectarian fires engulfing the region, efforts to make progress against the group will flounder.
Throughout the Middle East, the overthrow of Egypt’s Mohamed Morsi has heightened Islamist-secularist tensions and pushed actors toward zero-sum politics.
The battle for al-Yarubiya, a border crossing point along the Syrian-Iraqi border, is an extension of the broader regional battle for control of Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon by jihadists.
Furthering the cause of democracy in the Middle East requires realistic, pragmatic U.S. leadership to encourage reform and promote the development of civil society in the region.
The U.S. experience in Iraq suggests that foreign military involvement could not have prevented the scenario we now see unfolding in Syria.