Operation Olive Branch: Patterns of Violence and Future Turkish Offensives

As Turkish and allied Syrian faction violence has decreased after their March 2018 capture of Syria’s Afrin border region from Kurdish forces, questions remain about Turkey’s plans for further operations in Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria.…

Recent Trends in Jordanian Demonstrations

On 27 January 2018, the Jordanian government approved a new budget which removed subsidies on wheat and imposed a tax hike on over 100 common items. However, protests in the kingdom were less attended and less widespread than anticipated due to the same factors that limited protests during the Arab Spring.…

Rebel Infighting in Northern Syria: The War of Abolition

Rebel infighting is not a new phenomenon in Syria’s civil war and is endemic of the weakness and disunity of the rebel and Islamist camp in the Syrian civil war. ACLED data shows a major increase in infighting over the past months in the north of the country as the “war of abolition” escalates.…

Turkey’s Air War in Iraq

Since the beginning of 2017, Turkish military forces have been responsible for the vast majority of the remote violence reported in the Iraqi governorates bordering Turkey. This is largely due to their ongoing conflict with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which maintains bases in northern Iraq (Iraqi News, December 25, 2017).…

Regional Overview – Middle East 30 April 2018

The number of political violence events recorded in Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine dropped this week, while the number of events in Bahrain and Turkey rose considerably. Meanwhile Syria is seeing a renewed focus by various forces on fighting the Islamic State, while fighting remains roughly static in Yemen.…