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Middle East and North Africa

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Intersecting conflicts across the Middle East and North Africa pose significant risks to U.S. national security and the international community. The Islamic State in particular has spawned unprecedented terrorism and chaos, helping fuel the Syrian civil war, which, in turn, has triggered a refugee crisis reverberating as far as Europe. Working on the ground with local partners, the U.S. Institute of Peace fosters peaceful outcomes in community conflicts inflamed by religious, ethnic and ideological divides. The Institute works to strengthen the rule of law and improve governance, seeing both as effective strategies to undermine the lure of extremism.

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'; // chart.legend.labels.template.interactionsEnabled = true; // Legend items //disabling legend // chart.legend.itemContainers.template.interactionsEnabled = true; // chart.legend.itemContainers.template.clickable = false; // chart.legend.itemContainers.template.focusable = false; // chart.legend.itemContainers.template.hoverable = true; // chart.legend.scrollable = true; // highlight map polygons on label hover //disabling legend // chart.legend.itemContainers.template.events.on("over", function (e) { // e.target.dataItem.dataContext.mapPolygons.each(function (polygon) { // polygon.setState("highlight"); // }); // }); // chart.legend.itemContainers.template.events.on("out", function (e) { // e.target.dataItem.dataContext.mapPolygons.each(function (polygon) { // polygon.setState("default"); // }); // }); // highlight all map polygons of a series (countries of a sub region)on hover let subRegionsSeries = document.querySelector('[aria-label="Series"]'); function over(ev) { ev.target.mapPolygons.each(function (polygon) { polygon.setState("highlight"); }); } function out(ev) { ev.target.mapPolygons.each(function (polygon) { polygon.setState("default"); }); }

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Iraq’s Lingering ISIS Challenge and the Role of Dialogue in Return and Reintegration

Iraq’s Lingering ISIS Challenge and the Role of Dialogue in Return and Reintegration

Thursday, November 21, 2024

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With conflicts raging in Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine and Sudan, concerns related to the extremist group ISIS may seem overtaken by these other conflicts. After all, Iraq declared the group’s military defeat in 2017 after the territory held by the extremists was retaken by Iraqi government forces in partnership with the United States. Yet just over a month ago, U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted a joint military raid against the group, killing nine senior ISIS leaders who were hiding in the rugged Hamrin Mountains in northern Iraq. This raid comes off the heels of the UK’s domestic intelligence chief stating that the group is positioning itself as a resurgent threat. Indeed, ISIS has conducted over 150 attacks so far this year in Iraq and Syria, more than those claimed by the group in 2023.

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Mona Yacoubian on the Middle East’s Dangerous Escalation Dynamic

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Amid the latest exchange of strikes between Israel and Iran, the Middle East is “a region that really is on fire,” says USIP’s Mona Yacoubian. “There are no guardrails anymore … all of these different players are testing and probing each other to see what they can get away with. And that’s where the danger lies.”

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