Foreign Fighters
Another Plan for Foreign Fighters Falls Apart
Jacob Schulz Wed, Apr 29, 2020, 9:28 AM
A proposal to try foreign fighters in Syrian Democratic Forces courts has been abandoned indefinitely. What now?
Title
Omphalos: Middle East Conflict in Perspective
Omphalos takes an interdisciplinary look at the contemporary Middle East, and is published jointly with two key partners: Academic Exchange, an educational non-profit that seeks to deepen understanding of Israel in the international academic community, and the Brookings Center for Middle East Policy and its blog, Markaz. Turmoil in today's Middle East today implicates a wide array of legal questions, bears huge costs for civilian populations, and poses diverse challenges to policymakers, activists, lawyers, and reformers. For the issues that Lawfare treats, the Middle East is a kind of omphalos.
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Middle East and North Africa
The Middle East Unraveling
Bruce Riedel Thu, Apr 16, 2020, 2:36 PM
A review of Kim Ghattas, “Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East” (Henry Holt & Co., 2020)
Israel
Developments in Israeli Politics: A Conversation with Benjamin Wittes and Aluf Benn
Jacob Schulz Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 4:58 PM
Join Benjamin Wittes and Aluf Benn, Editor in Chief of Haaretz, on Apr. 6 at 12 p.m ET for a webinar on the Israeli political transition and COVID-19 response.
Foreign Fighters
What Is Happening With the Foreign Women and Children in SDF Custody in Syria?
Emma Broches Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 10:54 AM
More than 10,000 European women and children affiliated with Islamic State fighters remain in local custody in northeastern Syria. So far, European governments have been reluctant to take large-scale action.
Middle East and North Africa
The Near Disqualification of Heba Yazbak: Defensive Democracy in a Divided Society?
Lila Margalit Mon, Mar 23, 2020, 9:56 AM
A recent decision by the Israeli Supreme Court highlights the complex challenges inherent in the protection of democratic norms in a situation of ongoing conflict.
Afghanistan
A Bad Deal for Afghanistan
Paul Miller Mon, Mar 9, 2020, 3:25 PM
The U.S.-Taliban peace agreement technically conditions U.S. military withdrawal on the Taliban’s agreement to deny al-Qaeda the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist safe haven. But the agreement is lopsided.
Syria Displaced
Idlib's Internally Displaced Persons Crisis
Reva Dhingra Fri, Mar 6, 2020, 8:00 AM
A government offensive in Syria's last rebel area has triggered the largest displacement of the nine-year civil war. The catastrophe in Idlib demonstrates the need for a new policy to protect the internally displaced.
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