Experts from the U.S. Institute of Peace provide the latest analysis and perspective on the world’s critical hot spots, U.S. and global security and issues involved in violent conflict, based on the Institute’s work on the ground and with key individuals, governments and organizations. They give interviews and background briefings to journalists and write for news outlets around the world.
Iran has virtually completed a “Shiite Crescent” of influence across the heart of the Middle East, using a string of battlefield successes to link a network of allies and proxy forces now spanning from nation’s border with Iraq all the way to Lebanon.
The Trump administration has decided to steer humanitarian aid funding to Christian and other minority communities in Iraq, against the advice of some officials at the State Department and others at the United Nations, who initially feared the move could backfire.
With the Islamic State defeated in Iraq, policymakers in Washington have shifted gears to focus on rebuilding communities displaced by the conflict. Yet there are already conflicts in the administration about how best to channel humanitarian and development assistance.
Earlier this week, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared that a moment eagerly awaited by the Iraqi people had finally arrived: victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Government forces had rooted out ISIL from its last pockets along the Syrian border, Abadi told the nation. The defeat of the...
Lukman Faily, Iraqi ambassador to the United States. (@FailyLukman). Sarhang Hamasaeed, senior program officer for the Middle East and Africa at the U.S. Institute of Peace. Denise Natali, fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the ...
Sarhang Hamasaeed is a senior program officer for the Middle East with the U.S. Institute of Peace. SARHANG HAMASAEED, United States Institute of Peace: The issue is entangled, the sectarianism and the divide of the Sunni and the Shia is entangled with ...
"When you conduct an air strike, it is very difficult to distinguish who you are hitting at the moment," Sarhang Hamasaeed, senior program officer for the Middle East and North Africa programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace, told Xinhua. Hitting the ...
Iran hands first death sentence to a protester but mass executions seen as unlikely. Amnesty International calls for stronger response to Iran’s killings of minority Baluchis. Committee to Protect Journalists advocates for jailed Iranian reporters. Iraqi PM tries to balance ties with Iran and U.S....
In 2017, in order to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from ISIS, Iraqi, U.S. and coalition forces bombed, shelled and razed the city to the ground. Approximately 10,000 civilians died. Their families have spent the past five years trying to bring their city back. "You will see rebuilding, you will see reconstruction. You will see decent streets, decent parks," Ali Baroodi, a photojournalist, says. "But still, war scars are not easy to erase overnight, or even in...