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

Syrian rebels break uneasy peace in Golan Heights

Syrian rebels, including Jabhat al-Nusra, are hoping they can take control of Quneitra province and break the siege on Ghouta in eastern Damascus.

Israel

The return of Lebanese 'self-security'

The growing fears of a jihadist presence in Lebanon have pushed some Lebanese villages toward increasingly relying on themselves for security.

Lebanon

Hezbollah parliamentarian: We will defend Lebanon from IS

In an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor, Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad said Lebanon was under direct threat from the Islamic State and that Hezbollah stood ready to confront it.

Saudi Arabia

US-Iran cooperation on IS makes Israel uneasy

Although Israel is increasingly uneasy about the possibility of US-Iran cooperation in fighting the Islamic State, Israeli security officials say the emergence of a regional Islamic caliphate would be a strategic disaster.

Palestine

Christians in Homs province fear jihadist advance

Christians in the strategic Wadi al-Nasara area are pinning their defense on the Syrian army’s ability to hold the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra at bay.

Syria