Mohamad Bazzi (Continuación)

On May 30, Iraqi special forces stormed the southern edge of Falluja under U.S. air cover, launching a new assault to recapture one of the last major Iraqi cities under the control of Islamic State militants.

Iraq’s elite forces who are leading the fight have been trained by U.S. advisers, but many others on the battlefield were trained or supplied by Iran. It’s the latest example of how Washington has looked the other way as Iran deepened its military involvement in Iraq over the past two years.

In recent weeks, thousands of Iraqi soldiers and Shi’ite militia members supported by Iran assembled on the outskirts of Falluja for the expected attack on the Sunni city.…  Seguir leyendo »

When a United Nations tribunal began trying those accused of the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister, a prosecutor struggled to paint a portrait of the main suspect.

“He has never been issued a passport or a driver’s license. He is not the registered owner of any property in Lebanon. The authorities have no records of him entering or leaving Lebanon,” the prosecutor said in January 2014 of the defendant, Mustafa Badreddine, who was being tried in absentia. “He passes as an unrecognizable and virtually untraceable ghost throughout Lebanon, leaving no footprint.”

Last week, the Lebanese Shi’ite militia Hezbollah announced that Badreddine, its top military commander, had been killed in a “huge explosion” near the Syrian capital, Damascus.…  Seguir leyendo »

On March 5, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister announced that the kingdom would complete a $4 billion arms deal with France, but instead of sending the weapons to Lebanon — as was first planned — the arms would go to the Saudi military.

The kingdom cancelled the grants to arm the Lebanese Army and security forces with French weapons after the Lebanese government failed to condemn an attack in January against the Saudi embassy in Iran. Saudi officials blamed the Shi’ite group Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most powerful militia and political movement, for exerting too much control over the Lebanese government and moving the country closer to Iran.…  Seguir leyendo »

On Jan. 16, the United States and Europe lifted sanctions on Tehran after the six-month-old Iran nuclear deal reached its most important milestone: the United Nations verified that Iran has dismantled much of its nuclear infrastructure.

The agreement between Iran and six world powers was a victory for international diplomacy over the threat of war. With the agreement in force, Iran now has the potential to transform itself from a pariah state to a regional power broker. The United States and European nations lifted oil and financial sanctions, and released about $100 billion of Iran’s frozen assets. These steps will pave the way for international companies to invest in Iran, and for Tehran to increase its oil production and access world markets.…  Seguir leyendo »

Saudi Arabia’s execution on Jan. 2 of an outspoken Shi’ite cleric who called for the overthrow of the Saudi royal family triggered international condemnation and set off protests throughout the Middle East. Demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and set the building on fire. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ratcheted up the rhetoric, declaring: “God’s hand of retaliation will grip the neck of Saudi leaders”. By Jan. 3, the kingdom cut off diplomatic relations with Iran, a move followed by several Saudi allies.

How did the execution of a cleric escalate so quickly into a diplomatic crisis between two regional rivals that have been fighting a cold war for over a decade?…  Seguir leyendo »

On Oct. 18, Egypt began the first phase of parliamentary elections, but many voters shunned the balloting and turnout is estimated at a measly 15 percent. Most Egyptians seem to have decided that the election results are a foregone conclusion, with a new parliament that will kowtow to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s iron-fisted regime in the absence of any meaningful opposition.

When Sisi and the Egyptian military ousted the country’s first democratically elected president two years ago, they promised a quick return to democracy and civilian rule. But like much else in Egypt’s modern history, those promises did not materialize. Instead, Sisi has turned into a strongman.…  Seguir leyendo »

Riot policemen stand in front of protesters during demonstration against the poor quality of basic services, power outages and calling for trial of corrupt politicians in Baghdad, Iraq, August 28, 2015. REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani

On August 16, an Iraqi parliamentary report named Iraq’s former prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, among dozens of officials responsible for the collapse of security forces and the fall of Mosul to Islamic State militants last summer. In his eight years as premier, corruption thrived and Maliki repeatedly purged the Iraqi security forces of those he suspected of disloyalty.

Iraqis now hope that Maliki and other officials will stand trial and be held to account for why militants were able to capture the northern city with so little resistance. (Maliki dismissed the parliamentary investigation as “worthless,” and he blamed Mosul’s fall on a conspiracy by Turkish and Kurdish leaders.)…  Seguir leyendo »

A woman burns a portrait of ousted President Mohamed Mursi at the funeral of Egyptian public prosecutor Hisham Barakat, on the second anniversary of the June 30 protests, in Cairo, Egypt, June 30, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

On June 29, Egypt’s top prosecutor was killed in a car bombing as he left his home in Cairo. He was the most senior official to be assassinated since Islamic militants launched an insurgency two years ago after the Egyptian military ousted Mohamed Mursi, the country’s first democratically elected president.

The assassination of the prosecutor, Hisham Barakat, is a tragedy but it’s not surprising. Egypt spiraled into a cycle of state-sanctioned violence, repression and vengeance as soon as the military removed Mursi from power in July 2013. The new military-backed government launched an aggressive campaign to suppress all political opponents, hunt down leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood who fled after the coup and undo many of the gains made during the 2011 uprising that toppled then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.…  Seguir leyendo »

Lebanon’s Hezbollah members carry Hezbollah flags during the funeral of their fellow fighter Adnan Siblini, who was killed while fighting against insurgents in the Qalamoun region, in al-Ghaziyeh village, southern Lebanon May 26, 2015.

On May 25, Lebanon marked one year without a president — the longest stretch where the country’s top post has been vacant since the Lebanese civil war ended in 1990.

Since former President Michel Sleiman’s term in office ended last year, the Lebanese Parliament, which is responsible for appointing the president, has met 24 times and failed to elect a new head of state. The Lebanese political system functions on deals struck between its many political parties and religious sects — and their foreign backers. But consensus has been elusive as the most powerful blocs lined up behind opposing sides in the civil war in neighboring Syria.…  Seguir leyendo »

Shi’ites chant slogans during a rally following Friday’s suicide attack at a Shi’ite mosque, at Qatif, in east Saudi Arabia May 23, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

As Iran and major world powers race toward a June 30 deadline to reach a final agreement on limiting Tehran’s nuclear capability, Saudi Arabia is so furious that it is threatening to develop its own nuclear program. The Saudis are hinting that, along with other Arab states, they would match whatever nuclear enrichment capability Iran is allowed to preserve.

“Whatever the Iranians have, we will have, too,” Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former Saudi intelligence chief, warned at a conference in South Korea last month. Under the emerging deal, instead of ending Iran’s nuclear program outright, Tehran might be allowed to keep up to 5,000 centrifuges to produce nuclear fuel for energy and medical purposes.…  Seguir leyendo »

When Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif announced on April 2 that his country tentatively accepted an agreement limiting Tehran’s nuclear program, he made a point of praising his boss, the supreme leader, for his “heroic flexibility.”

After two years of negotiations with the United States and five world powers (France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany), Zarif could be expected to thank Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all Iranian political and national security matters — as he emphasized with his comments on Thursday demanding an end to sanctions as soon as Iran signs a final agreement.…  Seguir leyendo »

Saudi-led coalition against Yemeni rebels

In the early morning of Mar. 26, Saudi Arabia went to war against the Houthi rebels in Yemen. In doing so, Saudi leaders opened the latest chapter in a long history of meddling and influence over their southern neighbor.

Since Saudi Arabia was founded in the 1930s, its leaders have tried to keep a friendly regime in power in Yemen and to prevent it from posing a threat to Saudi interests. That often meant meddling in Yemen’s internal politics, keeping populist movements in check, using guest workers as leverage, buying off tribal leaders and occasional military interventions.

This time, the stakes are higher for both Saudi Arabia and Yemen.…  Seguir leyendo »

Assyrians hold banners as they march in solidarity with the Assyrians abducted by Islamic State fighters in Syria earlier this week, in Beirut, Feb. 28, 2015. Militants in northeast Syria are now estimated to have abducted at least 220 Assyrian Christians this week, a group monitoring the war reported. The banner (R) reads, “We are not afraid of whom kills the flesh, we are not afraid of who destroys the stone. Assyrians and victorious.” REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

The past year was a particularly cruel one for minorities in the Middle East. Since Islamic State militants seized parts of Iraq and Syria, they have relentlessly persecuted the region’s religious minorities. In doing so, the militants are trying to eradicate ancient cultures and religions that date back to Mesopotamia.

After Islamic State and its allies captured Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, in June, they gave Christian residents an ultimatum: convert to Islam, pay a religious tax or be driven out of their homes. Many Christians fled to Turkey or the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq. The extremists drove out a Christian population that had lived in Mosul for two millennia.…  Seguir leyendo »

If there is one regional player that gained the most from America's gamble in Iraq, it is Iran. With its invasion in 2003, the United States ousted Tehran's sworn enemy, Saddam Hussein, from power. Then Washington helped install a Shiite government for the first time in Iraq's modern history. As U.S. troops became mired in fighting an insurgency and containing a civil war, Iran extended its influence over all of Iraq's major Shiite factions.

Today, the Iranian regime is moving to exert influence beyond its Iraqi proxies, and is comfortable taking overt military action. There is no one to restrain Tehran, and the rise of ISIS, which views Shiites as apostates, threatens the interests of all Iraqi Shiite factions and of the Iranian regime.…  Seguir leyendo »