Islamic State
Reports on Islamic State See all →
GIS Dossier: Islamic State
For the better part of a decade, Islamic State was enemy number one for the United States, its allies and other countries across the Middle East. While establishing a quasi-state across a huge section of Iraq and Syria, the group also conducted terrorist attacks all around the world. Though it has now lost its territory and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the organization could make a comeback. This GIS Dossier explores our experts’ analysis of the group’s origins and operations, and examines their scenarios for what moves it could make in the future.
GIS Dossier: El-Sisi’s Egypt
Since coming to office in 2014, Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi has offered his country a mixed bag. He has brought stability and economic growth but cracked down on political opposition and dissident voices. Shunned by the West at first, he turned to Russia for support. Now, with a new administration ...
2019 Global Outlook: The Fertile Crescent
The single most important development in the Middle East has been the end of Syria’s civil war, which was unequivocally won by the Baath regime. Even the hammer blows of a determined religious opposition could not destroy the post-World War I system that created Syria, Iraq and Jordan as Arab ...
Withdrawal from Syria: George Washington’s warning revisited
President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from Syria was neither a bolt from the blue nor a departure from his predecessor’s strategy. Even so, the announcement allowed a new and perhaps more stable configuration to emerge in the Middle East. While the short-term winner appears to be Vladimir Putin’s ...
GIS Dossier: Europe as a global player: The Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa
The most important part of Europe’s security perimeter in the 21st century may be its southern rim. The migration crisis of 2015 was only a foretaste of the demographic, economic and political pressures that are building up in the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. Yet the approaches tried by European powers ...
