, nationalism, and socialism. Ibn Khaldun's analysis was based on his native North Africa, but it can be adapted to the conditions of the Mashreq, or Levant-where similar historical conditions prevailed. As Albert Hourani explained in his magisterial History of the Arab Peoples (1991), 'asabiyya is a forc

s can see that Alawite leadership will not leave power without a long and bloody fight. Recreating a sphere of Turkish-modeled Sunni influence in the Levant may be a long-term goal for Ankara, but the Turkish government is certainly not prepared to pay the near-term cost of civil strife in Syria spilling

do not know what Israel is?! The new Caliphate does not hide that he want to empower Israel more and more, to cover from Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, all the Levant, Arabian Island and Persia lands. Therefore, he is going to leave from the lands of Hijaz to the Palestinian occupied lands before leaving to Vatican

icy over nearly 3,000 years. For convenience, we will use the term "Israel" to connote all of the Hebrew and Jewish entities that have existed in the Levant since the invasion of the region as chronicled in the Book of Joshua. As always, geopolitics requires a consideration of three dimensions: the intern

rned with the fall of the Syrian regime. Syria has been Iran's one significant ally, one strategically positioned to enhance Iranian influence in the Levant. Its fall would be a strategic setback for Iran at a time when Tehran is looking to enhance its position with the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Iran, wh

itional name for the Central Asian and South Asian area that Afghanistan is part of, similar to the name al-Sham that the group used to refer to the Levant. Unlike the Afghan Taliban, whose focus remains on Afghanistan, Isis-K has repeatedly articulated its desire to attack the United Nations and wester