● https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/iraq-violence-shows-folly-of-placing-hope-in-iran-reform
● https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/iraqi-protests-bring-baghdad-to-the-tipping-point
● https://nationalinterest.org/blog/middle-east-watch/abu-bakr-al-baghdadi-dead-his-legacy-lives-91536
● https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-10-24/as-turkey-and-russia-deal-iran-is-odd-man-out
Emily Estelle | AEIdeas
Eliminating key leaders such as Baghdadi is important, but a predominantly military approach will continue to fail without improving the circumstances of the communities on which Salafi-jihadi groups prey.
The Jerusalem Post
October 29, 2019
https://www.meforum.org/59707/iran-model-smash-the-protests-in-lebanon-and-iraq
The Jerusalem Post
October 31, 2019
https://www.meforum.org/59724/revolt-against-irans-system-in-iraq-and-lebanon
Tony Badran -- Al Arabiya
After two weeks of popular protests in Lebanon against the country’s corrupt political class, Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri has handed his resignation. While some see this development as a victory for the protesters, such assessments miss the mark. The same political barons will now consult to form a new government, a process in which Iran’s arm in Lebanon, Hezbollah, has final say. Far from signaling a change in the system, the episode will have marked its regeneration. Read More
David Adesnik and Nicholas Wernert — FDD Policy Brief
Iraqi protesters are lashing out at the Iran-backed militias who sought to crush the anti-government uprisings that have roiled Iraq since early October. The protesters’ slogans and choice of targets linked to the militias demonstrate the extent to which anti-Iran sentiment now animates the protest movement. Iraqis have taken to the streets to protest corruption, unemployment, and a lack of public services. Read more
FrontPage Magazine
October 29, 2019
https://www.meforum.org/59715/dead-caliph-eternal-jihad
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned on Tuesday after almost two weeks of unprecedented nationwide anti-government protests. “We have reached a deadlock and we need a shock in order to brave through the crisis,” Hariri said in a televised speech. Hundreds of thousands of people have been protesting across the country since Oct. 17 against corruption and the economic crisis.
Hariri’s resignation came hours after men armed with pipes and sticks attacked peaceful demonstrators in Beirut. Supporters of the country’s main Shiite groups, Amal and Hezbollah, beat protesters and burned down their tents.
Read More
aljazeera.com
The Jerusalem Post
October 27, 2019
https://www.meforum.org/59692/attack-that-killed-baghdadi-raises-questions
● https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-19/how-lebanon-s-unrest-is-both-new-and-more-of-the-same-quicktake
● https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/22/iran-losing-middle-east-iraq-lebanon-protests-bad-governance/
● https://www.mei.edu/blog/hezbollahs-counterrevolution
● https://news.yahoo.com/lebanons-hezbollah-under-rare-street-pressure-114903448.html
The US has a partner in eastern Syria — provided it has the will
The Trump administration inherited a number of complex problems in the Syrian file from its predecessors in the White House. In dealing with the Syrian crisis, the Obama administration had three main priorities: not disturbing Iran in Syria during the process of nuclear negotiations, working with Russia toward a ceasefire in various parts of Syria (without trusting that Russia could deliver or should have the upper hand), and, most importantly, carrying out a limited military intervention in the northeast to defeat ISIS — an issue it considered separately from the Syrian crisis.
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The Islamic State’s latest spokesman, a jihadist known as Abu Hamza al-Qurayshi, released a statement yesterday confirming Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death in an American raid and naming a new emir for the group. Baghdadi’s successor is a figure known as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi.