In The News

Yemen Conflict Devolves Into Proxy War

Akim Alma Smari, Rory Jones, and Asa Fitch March 27, 2015
“The conflict in Yemen is quickly devolving into a wider regional conflagration, pitting Shiite Iran and an allied militant group against Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab states that came together to launch airstrikes on those militants,” reports the Wall Street Journal. Saudi Arabia is bombing the Shiite-linked minority Houthis in Yemen, a country with 65 percent Sunni and 35 percent Shia. “...

Countering the Islamic State Scourge

Riaz Hassan March 19, 2015
The Islamic State terrorists have roots in Al Qaeda and a network of Sunni jihadi groups that coalesced in the midst of the Iraq War. “After being subjected to years of political and economic marginalization, state-sanctioned repression, lawlessness and corruption in the hands of Iraq’s Shia-led government, Sunni Iraqis rebelled by joining militant groups that pledged allegiance to ISIS,” writes...

Chad, Niger Launch Offensive Against Boko Haram

Krista Larson and Dalatou Mamane March 11, 2015
Forces from Chad and Niger are crossing into northern Nigeria to join the fight against the Boko Haram extremists whose name means “Western education is forbidden.” Boko Haram, which has kidnapped and enslaved large groups of schoolgirls, has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State extremists who control and terrorize strips of territory in Syria and Iraq. Generals leading the offensive insist...

From Eastern Flank, Iran-Backed Force Advances on Tikrit

Thaier al-Sudani March 6, 2015
When the US led an invasion into largely Shia Iraq in 2003, critics warned the move would strengthen the influence of neighboring Iran, predominately Shia. The West has urged Muslim countries in the region to stand up to extremism. Iran is heeding the call, its forces fighting side by side with Iraqis against Islamic State extremists who have murdered Shia Muslims, Christians and others. The West...

Why the West Is Losing the Battle Against Radical Islam

Azeem Ibrahim February 26, 2015
The West can no longer hold its tongue on fundamentalist religious sects that emphasize piety to the point of counting a few followers worthy while dismissing everyone else in the world. Such is the case with Wahhabism, or Salafism, the state religion in Saudi Arabia that’s exported to other Muslim nations with the help of oil dollars. Azeem Ibrahim, PhD, international security lecturer at the...

Norway Muslims Encircle Synagogue to Support Jews

Kjetil Malkenes Hovland February 25, 2015
A group of young Muslims formed a symbolic ring in front of an Oslo synagogue to protest anti-Semitism, extremism and violence conducted in the name of Islam. The Jewish rabbi expressed gratitude. “Our common God is everywhere in the world, but most of all God is where rings are formed and bridges are built between people,” the rabbi said to the crowd, according to the report by Kjetil Malkenes...

What ISIS Really Wants

Graeme Wood February 23, 2015
Among Islamic State terrorists’ bizarre beliefs: The end of the world is near, and Muslims should embrace fear of God and rigid IS beliefs. As self-appointed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi claims to lead all Muslims. Despite roots with Al Qaeda, he and other leaders became frustrated with priorities that did not include a caliphate controlling the Muslim world. IS now hold strands of territory and...