ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA — The Kremlin’s control over the North Caucasus region has come under scrutiny as a massive counterterrorism operation in the area got underway. The latest counterterrorism operation took place in the republic of Kabardino-Balkaria and in some parts of Dagestan, Russian media reported Sunday. The National Anti-Terrorism …
Lebanon has been roiled by mounting political tensions in the wake of another assassination of a Lebanese leader that is widely blamed on the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. Last Friday, a car bomb killed the intelligence chief of Lebanon’s internal security forces, Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan, who was a …
Last night’s debate between President Obama and Governor Romney was supposed to focus on foreign policy. It turned into a wide-ranging conversation on everything from the Middle East to American teachers. Heritage Foundation experts were live blogging analysis throughout the night. Below are some highlights from their reactions. Join us …
Last week, President Obama joked to guests at the Alfred E. Smith Dinner in New York about the upcoming foreign policy debate: “Spoiler Alert: We got [Osama] bin Laden.” While this is indeed the highlight of the Administration’s foreign policy endeavors, President Obama’s failure to take a comprehensive approach to …
The final presidential debate, on foreign policy, is scheduled for Monday, October 22. Moderator Bob Schieffer announced that the topics will be: “America’s Role in the World,” “Our Longest War—Afghanistan and Pakistan,” “Red Lines—Israel and Iran,” “The Changing Middle East and the New Face of Terrorism,” and “The Rise of …
The efforts of United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to negotiate a ceasefire between the Syrian military and rebels for the Arab holiday Eid al-Adha are likely to be fruitless. Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) begins this year on October 26. While this holiday focuses on the prophet Abraham being …
The Middle East played a prominent part in the debate between Vice President Biden and Representative Paul Ryan, with sharp exchanges over issues related to Libya, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Ryan energetically lambasted the Obama Administration’s policies as naive and ineffective, while Biden maintained that Ryan proposed few clear alternatives. …
The Pew Forum recently released a noteworthy report demonstrating that religious restrictions worldwide are on the rise. Pew found that between mid-2009 and mid-2010, religious restrictions increased in every major region of the world. Because of this increase, in 2010, 75 percent of people worldwide lived in countries that have …
On Wednesday, Turkey retaliated against a Syrian mortar attack earlier in the day that killed five civilians in the Turkish border town of Akcakale. Turkey responded in kind with limited artillery attacks against Syrian army outposts. Whether planned or not, Syria’s shelling of Akcakale is just another step in the …
A Syrian defector, who was formerly involved in Syria’s chemical weapons program, charged that the Assad regime has mulled using chemical weapons against opposition forces and predicted that the regime would not hesitate to do so as a last resort. Major General Adnan Sillu, who defected to the opposition three …
