Week in Review - AL-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Week in Review

Turkey abstains on US coalition against Islamic State

Week in Review

Peshmerga fighters inspect the remains of a car, bearing an image of the trademark jihadist flag, which belonged to Islamic State (IS) militants after it was targeted by an American air strike in the village of Baqufa, north of Mosul, on August 18,2014. Kurdish peshmerga fighters backed by federal forces and US warplanes pressed a counter-offensive Monday against jihadists after retaking Iraq's largest dam, as the United States and Britain stepped up their military involvement. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE

Islamic State becoming ‘dominant voice’ among global jihadists

Week in Review

Residents of Tabqa city and Islamic State militants tour the streets in celebration after Islamic State militants took over Tabqa air base in northeast Syria August 24, 2014. Islamic State militants stormed the air base in northeast Syria on Sunday, capturing most of it from government forces after days of fighting over the strategic location, a witness and a monitoring group said. Fighting raged inside the walls of the Tabqa air base, the Syrian army's last foothold in an area otherwise controlled by IS, w

US gives new priority to foreign fighters in Syria

Week in Review

The Armenian St. Kevork Church (Saint George) is seen in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on October 30, 2012, after it was burnt during fighting between rebel fighters and Syrian government forces. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Aleppo's Christians in Syrian crossfire

Week in Review

A general view shows damage and burnt tents for Syrian refugees from the fighting between Lebanese army soldiers and Islamist militants in the Sunni Muslim border town of Arsal, in eastern Bekaa Valley August 7, 2014. Militant Islamists have mostly withdrawn from the Lebanese border town of Arsal, which they seized at the weekend, taking with them captive Lebanese soldiers, militant and security sources said on Thursday, as a truce to end the deadly battle appeared to hold. REUTERS/Hassan Abdallah (LEBANON

Is Lebanon next target of Islamic State?

Week in Review

Does Iran benefit from Gaza crisis?

Week in Review

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah gestures as he makes a rare public appearance to addresses his supporters during a rally to mark "Quds (Jerusalem) Day" in Beirut's southern suburbs July 25, 2014. REUTERS/Sharif Karim (LEBANON - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST ANNIVERSARY) - RTR404VX

Nasrallah promises 'all means of support' for Gaza 'resistance'

Week in Review

Smoke trails are seen as rockets are launched towards Israel from the northern Gaza Strip July 13, 2014. Thousands fled their homes in a Gaza town on Sunday after Israel warned them to leave ahead of threatened attacks on rocket-launching sites, on the sixth day of an offensive that Palestinian officials said has killed at least 160 people. Militants in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip kept up rockets salvoes deep into the Jewish state and the worst bout of Israel-Palestinian bloodshed in two years showed no sign

Iran boosts Hamas rocket capacity

Week in Review

Israel considers costs of escalation in Gaza

Week in Review

Palestinian women watch from a rooftop as the body of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khudair is carried during his funeral in Shuafat, an Arab suburb of Jerusalem July 4, 2014. Palestinians infuriated at the kidnap and killing of Abu Khudair they blame on far-right Jews, clashed with Israeli police in Jerusalem on Friday, while cross-border shelling in the Gaza Strip abated under Egyptian mediation. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST OBITUARY) - RTR3X41S

Will Palestinian unity fall victim to crisis over murders?

Week in Review

Members of the Iraqi security forces fire artillery during the clashes with the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the town of Dalli Abbas in Diyala province, June 28, 2014. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most influential Shi'ite cleric in Iraq, called on the country's leaders on Friday to choose a prime minister within the next four days, a dramatic political intervention that could hasten the end of Nuri al-Maliki's eight year rule. Picture take

The Syria disconnect in US Iraq policy

Week in Review

Fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) celebrate on vehicles taken from Iraqi security forces, at a street in city of Mosul, June 12, 2014. Since Tuesday, black clad ISIL fighters have seized Iraq's second biggest city Mosul and Tikrit, home town of former dictator Saddam Hussein, as well as other towns and cities north of Baghdad. They continued their lightning advance on Thursday, moving into towns just an hour's drive from the capital. Picture taken June 12, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (I

Mosul's rude awakening on ISIS

Week in Review