US continues to curb its involvement in Middle East

US President Barack Obama's speech on attacking the Islamic State reflects the US regional strategy on Iraq, Syria and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: partial engagement only, since radical Islam and conflicts in the Middle East are first and foremost a regional problem.

Palestine

Can Turkey set up buffer zone inside Syria?

The idea of a buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border has been revived again, but faces serious feasibility questions.

Syria

Syrian rebels deny truce deal with Islamic State

The Syrian Revolutionary Front has rejected media reports that it signed a nonaggression pact with the Islamic State, but there are efforts being made in south Damascus to reach a local truce.

Syria

Is Syrian army US' best option against IS?

Too many uncertainties about "moderate" Syrian rebels make them the least effective option for confronting the Islamic State, leaving the Syrian regime the only realistic alternative.

Iraq

Political rifts threaten Iraq's anti-IS coalition

While a coalition of the willing is being formed to tackle the Islamic State (IS), international and local political divisions still threaten to tear it apart, leaving IS the only winner.

Iraq

US strikes in Syria won’t turn locals against Islamic State

Contrary to widespread belief, the Islamic State has largely succeeded in winning hearts and minds in the areas it rules by providing services and order.

Syria

Clashes escalate around Damascus

Syrian rebels took al-Dukhaniyya last week in a bid to open supply routes to the front line in Jobar.

Syria

Obama needs peace in Syria to defeat IS

Syria’s internal opposition says defeating the Islamic State is impossible without finding a solution to Syria’s civil war.

Iraq

Turkish villages smuggle IS oil through makeshift pipelines

In the village of Hacipasa, almost every house is connected to an illegal oil pipeline smuggling IS oil into Turkey.

Syria

Turkey rows against the tide

Ideological assumptions based on Islamist and Sunni sympathies, as well as a series of bad judgments, leave Turkey with diminished influence in a region where it once hoped to play a leadership role.

Iraq

Israel skeptical about US strategy on IS

While the US finds a new interlocutor in Israel's opposition leader, the Israeli security establishment is not reassured by President Barack Obama's latest speech, since it fears that much like Hamas, the Islamic State cannot be defeated by airstrikes alone.

Iraq

Syrian women find independence in embroidery

An NGO in Lebanon that trains and employs Syrian refugee women in embroidery is also providing a safe environment where they can share their experiences and support one another.

Lebanon