Homeland Security Portal
Regional Stability
The Legacy of the Taliban: Sunni Allies of Tehran
The U.S. decision to drop an 11-ton bomb, known as the “mother of all bombs,” in Afghanistan against an ISIS target brought back into focus that entire war and the fact that, aside from the problem of ISIS, there has still been a problem in Afghanistan of the Taliban. Read More »
Palestinian ISIS Fighters Push for Engaging Israel
ISIS rocket fire from Sinai targeting Eilat requires further examination. Up until now, ISIS has avoided antagonizing Israel. The Islamic State has a clear set of priorities – the destruction of Arab states established by the “Sykes-Picot Agreement” 100 years ago in order to prepare for the return of the Islamic Caliphate. Read More »
The Islamic State Is Seeping into Jordan
On December 18, 2016, an armed Islamic terror cell carried out an attack in the area of Karak in southern Jordan. Twelve security officers, two Jordanian citizens, and a Canadian tourist were killed. All four members of the cell were killed by the Jordanian security forces. Read More »
Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps: The Revolution Continues beyond Iran’s Borders
After the JCPOA was signed on July 14, 2015, the Gulf States felt all the more threatened by Iran and concerned that the support the United States had given them previously was eroding. Iran, for its part, particularly by means of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), stepped up its involvement in the region - notably in Yemen, making use of Lebanese Hizbullah fighters among others. It also continues its clandestine intelligence activity in the Gulf States. Read More »
Borders Melt-Down: 100 Years After the Sykes-Picot Agreement
The “Middle East” with which we are all familiar is commemorating a curious and even sad 100 year anniversary. A century after the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the Middle East has become a political powder keg and the setting for successive armed conflicts, causing its borders to disintegrate. Read More »
Hamas’ Terrorism in Egypt
Egypt has officially accused Hamas of training the terror operatives who assassinated Egyptian Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat last year. Hamas now fears that Egypt will declare the movement a terror organization and torpedo Turkey’s efforts to ease the blockade of Gaza. Read More »
Earthquakes of the Middle East
The Middle East is experiencing tectonic and dramatic changes that are shaping its landscape into unexpected realities. Five years from now, what Middle East can we expect? It would not be adventurous to say that we will be confronted with a new map with new entities born or re-born. Read More »
The Iranian Penetration of Iraqi Kurdistan
Iran has positioned itself as a reliable military backer of Iraqi Kurdish forces, filling a vacuum the West has left as a result of its tepid support. Iranian penetration of Kurdistan allows Tehran to render it less likely that its major adversaries, including Israel and the U.S., will gain a secure foothold in a region that has a 400-mile border with Iran. Expectations of Kurdistan becoming an ally of Israel, America, and Europe may be in danger if the West continues to prioritize Iraqi and Turkish interests over those of the Kurds. The writer taught at Salahaddin University in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2012-2013. Read More »
The True Face of the Palestinians’ Leader
There is a continued perception of Mahmoud Abbas as the “moderate” representative of the Palestinian cause. This stance represents a misunderstanding of Abbas’ position, which continues to encourage terror, but not terror through means of firearms. Such encouragement is responsible for the latest wave of terror in Israel. Read More »
The Failures of the International Community since Sykes-Picot
Mark Sykes and Francois Georges-Picot divided the Middle East between Britain and France in secret in the midst of World War I in a way that did not take into account the demographic, socio-cultural and religious aspects of the local peoples. Several Arab tribes found themselves dispersed into different states. Today, across the region, authority has collapsed and people are reaching for their older identities - Sunni, Shiite, Kurd. Sectarian groups, often Islamist, have filled the power vacuum. All the unrest in the Arab world is internal, social, religious and tribal, with no link to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Read More »
A Bad Agreement with Iran Will Undermine Middle East Stability
The big winner of the international coalition’s war on Islamic State is Iran. The war is not only weakening a bitter enemy of Shiite Iran, but also strengthening Iran’s main ally in the region – Syria, as well as Hizbullah. The agreement will also likely have negative repercussions for the possibility of advancing a diplomatic process with the Palestinians.The Iranian regime will not change in nature. The subversion outside of Iran and the push to expand its influence will continue and even intensify. While some in the West speculate that the regime will moderate over time, it is just as likely that the Revolutionary Guards will keep gaining power and complete their takeover of the Iranian Revolution. Read More »
Iran’s Fortunes Rising in a Middle East Vacuum
Iran is implementing a plan to expand its influence over the Middle Eastern region. As a primary sponsor of Hizbullah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the “long arm” of Iranian influence may be attempting to establish itself as a regional power player, in the wake of the U.S.’ declining prestige. Read More »
How Nuclear Talks Help Iran Dominate the Middle East
The nuclear talks are creating an atmosphere where the economic pressure will subside as Iran gains time to fill in the missing pieces of its nuclear program. Iran’s foreign policy is gaining momentum as Gulf States are persuaded to align with Iran. Ongoing negotiations with the United States are proceeding at a relaxed pace that allows Iran to continue working towards its strategic goals. Read More »
The Fundamentals of Israel's Strategic Environment
There is a view that developments since the advent of the Arab Spring have completely altered the way Israel should look at its national security needs for many decades to come. However, while many of the essential facts of Israeli security remain the same, the changes in neighboring and hostile regimes, such as power vacuums being filled by terrorist organizations and additional weaponry being smuggled into conflict zones, result in a need for re-evaluation of Israeli strategy. Read More »
The Kurdish Awakening in Syria
Regional stability may be threatened by the rise of independent Kurdish populations in the Middle East. A “Greater Kurdistan” is no longer a remote possibility. This reality poses challenges for all of the states with large Kurdish populations: Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. Read More »