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2461. The Eighth Brigade: Striving for Supremacy in Southern Syria

Author:
Abdullah Al-Jabassini
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
In June 2018, the Syrian regime forces backed by Russia launched a military offensive that aimed at terminating rebel rule and restoring control over southern Syria. By August 2018, Daraa’s rebel organisations were pushed to surrender under a “patchwork” strategy, including Russian-led negotiations between regime and opposition figures, and the Syrian regime’s use of armed force. The two fundamentally divergent approaches have demarcated three main zones in which the regime’s authority and thus the roles former rebels come to play in the post-rebellion period vary significantly. In eastern Daraa, Russia established the Eighth Brigade, a sub-division of the Fifth Corps, and entrusted Ahmad al-Oda, a former rebel leader, with its command. By incorporating former rebels in the Eighth Brigade’s ranks, Russia, in fact, intended to establish a local armed actor characterised by a wide margin of manoeuvre to handle local security affairs and inflict acceptable and monitored small-scale violence to limit the regime’s authority and to keep Iranian influence at bay, thereby limiting status quo violations. For more than two years, the Eighth Brigade has limited the regime’s authority, served as a bulwark against Iranian expansion, intervened to defuse tensions, and mediated to prevent wide-scale regime-led military offensives against several localities, all of which are Russia’s top priorities to maintain the status quo in the south. Nevertheless, the Eighth Brigade has been mired in struggles to overcome and mitigate top four interrelated challenges. First, the absence of official recognition by the Syrian Ministry of Defence. Second, the ambitions of Iran and its proxies in southern Syria. Third, the intermittent cyclical patterns of retaliations with local armed groups in neighbouring province of Sweida. Fourth, the ongoing rivalries among former rebel leaders.
Topic:
Military Strategy, Governance, Local, Peace, and Intervention
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Middle East, and Syria

2462. Turkish Strategic Alternatives for the North East of Syria

Author:
Murat Yeşiltaş
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
Turkey’s Syrian policy has been under significant transformation since the Syrian uprising erupted in the Spring of 2011. In the early stage of the crisis, Turkey’s main objective was to peacefully support the democratic transition in Syria. However, with heightened competition between regional and international actors over the Syrian crisis and intensifying militarisation of the uprising, Turkey had to adopt a security-oriented strategy to prevent potential spill-over effects of the civil war into its borders. In the post-2016 security and strategic landscape, Turkey has been following a two-dimensional military strategy. On the one hand, while Turkey has been trying to minimize the terrorist threat in northeast Syria (NES), on the other hand it has been calibrating its military strategy in NES by supporting the Syrian National Army (SNA) and the Syrian Interim Government to establish a sustainable local order. This paper aims to make sense of Turkey’s strategic alternatives in northeast Syria by presenting four different scenarios.
Topic:
Security, Military Strategy, Governance, and Counter-terrorism
Political Geography:
Europe, Turkey, Middle East, and Syria

2463. Iran’s Preferred Outcome in Syria: An Open-End or a Formal Agreement?

Author:
Hassan Ahmadian
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Geneva Centre for Security Policy
Abstract:
Iran’s security concerns drove its involvement in the Syrian crisis back in 2011. With an evolving strategy over the past nine years, Tehran has upgraded its Syria policy in accordance with the ongoing developments on the ground, moving from military training based on the Iranian Basij model, to regionalising this model (as was the case in Iraq with the Popular Mobilization Forces) and encouraging Russian military involvement. In what may be seen as the final stage, Iran is backing its Syrian ally as well as allied militias to balance against other main stakeholders. Iran is attempting to solidify military gains by continuing to back a political process that is properly representative of warring parties and ensures a smooth transition of power, and one whose outcomes will not undermine Iranian geopolitical interests in the country.
Topic:
Security, Development, Military Strategy, Regionalism, and Intervention
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Iran, Middle East, and Syria

2464. One Neighbourhood: CARE’s humanitarian response in Tripoli

Author:
Leah Campbell
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Case Study
Institution:
ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
Abstract:
'One Neighbourhood: CARE’s humanitarian response in Tripoli' is the second in a series of case studies showcasing examples of humanitarian projects operating effectively in complex urban environments. The case study examines CARE's 'One Neighbourhood' project in Tripoli, Lebanon. The project aimed to build the resilience of affected communities and people in vulnerable neighbourhoods Tripoli neighbourhoods between 2015 and 2019 through individual shelter rehabilitation projects, communal projects, awareness-raising sessions, household outreach, committees and more. By delving into the project, this case study specifically seeks to answer how the project managed to navigate urban complexity in Tripoli, how it overcame challenges and obstacles in the implementation of ways of working and what enabled the project to be successful.
Topic:
Urban, Cities, Community Engagement, Humanitarian Response, Outreach, and Assessment
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

2465. Transnational Impacts of Muslim Bans and US Sanctions

Author:
Azadeh Shahshahani
Publication Date:
10-2020
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:
This lecture focuses on the harm that US sanctions as well as the Muslim Ban have caused Iranians and Iranian-Americans, and ways in which the public can help put an end to US threats of aggression and sanctions as well as work towards repealing the Muslim Ban and other discriminatory policies.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Sanctions, Border Control, Immigrants, Discrimination, and Immigration Policy
Political Geography:
Iran, Middle East, North America, and United States of America

2466. Coups and Revolution: Mass Mobilization, The Egyptian Military, and The U.S. From Mubarak to Sisi

Author:
Amy Holmes
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:
In 2011, Egypt witnessed more protests than any other country in the world. Counter to the received narrative, Amy Austin Holmes argues that the ousting of Mubarak in 2011 did not represent the culmination of a revolution or the beginning of a transition period, but rather the beginning of a revolutionary process that would unfold in three waves, followed by two waves of counterrevolution.
Topic:
Arab Spring, Coup, Revolution, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and Hosni Mubarak
Political Geography:
Middle East, North Africa, Egypt, and United States of America

2467. The Illusory Peace in the Israeli Palestinian Conflict

Author:
Hesham Youssef
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:
A lecture by Ambassador Hesham Youssef.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Territorial Disputes, Conflict, and Peace
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Egypt

2468. Gender and Power in the Middle East

Author:
Shereen Abouelnaga
Publication Date:
02-2020
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
Abstract:
Shereen Abouelnaga is a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Cairo University and is a feminist literary critic. She has published books (Arabic & English) and critical literary articles in scholarly journals, with a focus on gender.
Topic:
Women, Feminism, Power, and Gender
Political Geography:
Middle East and Egypt

2469. The Clash of Values: Islamic Fundamentalism Versus Liberal Nationalism

Author:
Mansoor Moaddel
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Columbia University Press
Abstract:
Much of the Middle East and North Africa still appears to be in a transitional period set in motion by the 2011 Arab uprisings, and the political trajectory of the region remains difficult to grasp. In The Clash of Values, Mansoor Moaddel provides groundbreaking empirical data to demonstrate how the collision between Islamic fundamentalism and liberal nationalism explains the region’s present and will determine its future. Analyzing data from over 60,000 face-to-face interviews of nationally representative samples of people in seven countries—Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Turkey—Moaddel reveals the depth and breadth of the conflict of values. He develops measures of expressive individualism, gender equality, secularism, and religious fundamentalism and shows that the factors that strengthen liberal values also weaken fundamentalism. Moaddel highlights longitudinal data showing changes in orientations toward secular politics, Western-type government, religious tolerance, national identity, and to a limited extent gender equality, as well as a significant decline in support for political Islam, over the past decade. Focusing on these trends, he contends that the Arab Spring represents a new phase of collective action rooted in the spread of the belief in individual liberty. Offering a rigorous and deeply researched perspective on social change, The Clash of Values disentangles the Middle East and North Africa’s political complexity and pinpoints a crucial trend toward liberal nationalism.
Topic:
Nationalism, Arab Spring, and Political Islam
Political Geography:
Middle East and North Africa
Publication Identifier:
9780231550529
Publication Identifier Type:
ISBN

2470. Oil Powers: A History of the U.S.-Saudi Alliance

Author:
Victor Mcfarland
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Columbia University Press
Abstract:
Since the mid-twentieth century, the United States and Saudi Arabia have built a close but often troubled alliance. In this critical history, Victor McFarland reveals the deep ties binding the leaders of the two nations. Connecting foreign relations and domestic politics, McFarland challenges the view that the U.S.-Saudi alliance is the inevitable consequence of American energy demand and Saudi Arabia’s huge oil reserves. Oil Powers traces the growth of the alliance through a dense web of political, economic, and social connections that bolstered royal and executive power and the national-security state. McFarland shows how U.S. and Saudi elites collaborated to advance their shared interests against rivals at home and abroad. During the 1970s, as higher oil prices enriched the Saudi government, destabilized the American economy, and changed the balance of power in the Middle East, leaders of both countries responded by consolidating their alliance. Facing objections from their own people, Washington and Riyadh chose to shield their partnership from public oversight and accountability. While American support empowered the Saudi royal family and helped the kingdom expand its influence across the Middle East, Saudi elites also encouraged a rightward shift in U.S. foreign and economic policy—with profound long-term effects. Oil Powers reveals the role of the U.S.-Saudi alliance in laying the groundwork for American military involvement in the Middle East and the entrenchment of a global order fueled by oil.
Topic:
Oil
Political Geography:
United States, Middle East, and Saudi Arabia
Publication Identifier:
9780231552073
Publication Identifier Type:
ISBN