Category: Middle East

Shaffer quoted in Voice of America on why foreign governments should be involved in the Israel-Hamas War

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Hezbollah’s assertive posture in south Lebanon places UNIFIL in a difficult position

The recent revelation that Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon has constructed a 3,937-feet (1,200-meter) asphalted runway at one of its military bases is the latest example of the party’s increasingly brazen pattern of behavior, especially in the southern border district where a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping force has been deployed for the past forty-five

Tracking mercenaries

In Season 1, Episode 7 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by the Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins. They discuss the importance of Libya to the genesis of Bellingcat, the events which led to Eliot being personally sued by the mercenary leader Yevgeny Prighozin, and how anyone with a bit of

Semtex teddy bear: The mercenary build-up in Libya

In Season 1, Episode 6 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by her Atlantic Council colleague Emadeddin Badi. They discuss the surge of African, Syrian and Russian mercenaries in Libya since 2019, the major value-add of Wagner Group contractors in terms of mortar and sniping capabilities, and how mercenary recruitment

The Western Sahara conflict: A fragile path to negotiations

The long-dormant conflict over the disputed territory of Western Sahara has experienced a resurgence in recent years, posing new challenges to regional stability. The 2020 collapse of a 1991 cease-fire brokered by the United Nations (UN); US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the territory that same year; and a series of diplomatic tit for tats

Libya: Back to the future?

The current Libyan situation is undoubtedly the product of many factors that would be too long to list and discuss in this paper. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the conditions in which the 2011 Libyan revolution occurred are among the main causal determinants. That the revolt was considered a revolution of a whole people

Mercenary bloodline: The war in Sudan

In Season 1, Episode 5 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by two guests. She speaks with Cameron Hudson, the former US government expert on Sudan, about the mercenary pedigree of one of the two main belligerent parties, the Rapid Support Forces, and the determinative impact this has had on