Countering Terrorism

In this week's Monday Briefing, MEI experts Marvin G. Weinbaum, Charles Lister, and Gerald Feierstein provide analysis on recent and upcoming events including the placement of Pakistan on a global terrorist financing "gray list," the ongoing assault on eastern Ghouta following a UNSC cease-fire resolution, and diplomatic efforts on the war in Yemen.

The United States has no closer Arab counterterrorism partner than the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Military and intelligence relations between the two countries date back to the 1950s. In recent decades, the two countries have worked closely to address shared security threats, shore up Jordan’s stability, and strengthen the kingdom’s capacity to confront terrorism at home. The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria all strengthened these bonds, but the rise of the Islamic State group (IS) in 2014 saw bilateral security cooperation enter a new and even deeper phase of cooperation.

Looting and trafficking of antiquities in the Middle East and North Africa has reached unprecedented levels since the rise of ISIS. In a region with tens of thousands of archaeological sites, antiquities are as easily accessible as oil for terrorist groups.

Syrian civil society groups have faced seemingly insurmountable challenges in the five-year war, and can count few friends among the violent actors on the ground. Nevertheless, their work and determination continues unabated, with little external attention, recognition or support. Syrian civil society will have an important role to play in any post-war settlement. Two Syrian civil society activists, Salma Kahale and Oula Ramadan, were recently hosted by the Middle East Institute during their visit to Washington and shared their insight into the tireless, and often unnoticed, efforts of Syrian civil society.