Are this week's Geneva talks on Syria doomed to fail?

Geneva III negotiations are expected to start Jan. 25 to seek a long-awaited political solution to the lingering Syrian crisis, but the parties have set preconditions and can't even agree on who should participate.

Syria

What’s next for the Syrian regime?

The Syrian regime forces, with the help of the Russian air force, have managed to take over the strategic town of Salma, thus getting closer to the Syrian-Turkish border.

Syria

Senate Democrats use Trump card to block Syrian refugees bill

The Senate defeated GOP-backed restrictions on refugee resettlement.

Iraq

Is the KRG heading for bankruptcy?

Iraq’s Kurds warn that unless Washington rides to their financial rescue, they cannot sustain their fight against the Islamic State.

Iraq

Ankara plays favorites with Iraqi, Syrian Turkmens

Ankara could face a nationalist backlash at home for favoring the Kurds over the Turkmens in Iraq.

Iraq

Why the world questions Turkey's stance on Islamic State

Reasons are mounting to doubt Turkey's dedication to battling the Islamic State.

Iraq

Syrian endgame could begin with Aleppo

Aleppo could begin healing in Syria; Syrian armed group backed by US allies seeks caliphate; FSA leader says US “moving toward being a partner in crime” in Syria; Hagel says US Syria policy was paralyzed over "Assad must go."

Syria

Turkey's distractions make it vulnerable

Many questions still surround the recent suicide bombing in Istanbul, but it nevertheless points up Turkey's limited understanding of IS and the country's need to develop a strategy and assets to deal with terrorism.

Syria

Hagel says Obama 'paralyzed' Syria policy around Assad ouster

Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says President Barack Obama erred in calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to go and declaring a red line over Syria’s use of chemical weapons, and also compared Republican presidential candidates to a "mass gong show" and urged them to be less divisive.

Syria

FSA adviser: IS cannot be eliminated without us

In an Al-Monitor interview, Osama Abu Zeid, legal adviser for the Free Syrian Army, discusses the FSA's return to the forefront in light of Russia’s military intervention in the Syrian war.

Syria

Was Zahran Alloush really a moderate leader?

Some have described the late Jaish al-Islam leader Zahran Alloush as a moderate leader, although his fiery anti-Shiite and anti-democracy statements indicate otherwise.

Iraq

State of the Union highlights Jordan’s rift with Obama

The US president directly contradicts King Abdullah’s talking point that the campaign against IS is a “third world war.”

Palestine