Understanding why Hizbullah refused to take over Lebanon is key not only for understanding Hizbullah but also for understanding Hamas, Fatah and the insurgency in Iraq.
A compelling answer to this question is found in David Galula’s classic work, Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice. Galula, who died in 1967, was a lieutenant colonel in the French [...]

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By George Friedman
In geopolitics, we are frequently confronted with what appears to be a great deal of movement. Sometimes it is the current geopolitical reality breaking apart and a new one emerging. Sometimes it is simply meaningless motion in a fixed geopolitical reality — nothing more than the illusion of movement generated for political reasons [...]

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by Barry Rubin
Exaggerations of Israel’s demise are greatly exaggerated, to paraphrase Mark Twain.
The question is: why is this suddenly happening now and–even more important–what is the impact of this fad going to be? The answer to the second question is very surprising so keep reading.
The suddenness of this trend is illustrated by a telling anecdote. [...]

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TEL AVIV — Israel has found that Hizbullah was financing operational cells of the ruling Fatah movement in the West Bank.
Officials said the Iran-sponsored organization has been financing and directing around a dozen cells of Fatah’s Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. They said most of the cells were located in the northern West Bank, particularly in [...]

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Divide and rule was an old maxim of Britain’s Empire. In the Middle East today, there’s certainly no shortage of division. But who is ruling as a result? Any lingering hopes of a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians evaporated last week as the Islamist extremists of Hamas seized control of [...]

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