Arab Persian Power Struggle   Two major historic struggles have played a central role in shaping the Muslim world and the Middle East. One axis is the struggle between Arab civilization and the Persian civilization. The other axis is the rivalry between Sunnis and Shi’ites in Islam. In the year 651 CE, a significant event took place in the Middle East; the four-hundred…

Sunnis & Shi’ites   Two major historic struggles have played a central role in shaping the Muslim world and the Middle East. One axis is the struggle between Sunnis and Shi’ites in Islam. The other axis is the rivalry between two large regional civilizations: The Arab civilization and the Persian civilization. There are about 1.6 billion Muslims in the world.  About…

Two major historic struggles have played a central role in shaping the Muslim world and the Middle East. One axis is the struggle between Sunnis and Shi’ites in Islam. The other axis is the rivalry between two large regional civilizations: The Arab civilization and the Persian civilization. There are about 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. About 90 percent are Sunni…

In this video Avi Melamed discusses the current situation in Iraq and how events in Iraq are linked to other Middle Eastern arenas including Syria, Iran, and the eight arenas of the Iranian-Arab power struggle.  

Click Here To Download a PDF of this Intelligence Report   August 17, 2017 INTELLIGENCE REPORT Taking the Kidnapper Hostage: The Battle Over the Sovereignty of Lebanon Information: On Tuesday, July 25, 2017, United States President, Donald Trump, held a joint Press Conference with Lebanese Prime Minister, Sa’ad Uddin Al Hariri. During that press conference, President Trump talked at length…

Click here for a PDF of this Intelligence Report    On July 16, 2017 I wrote an Intelligence Bulletin – The Attack on The Temple Mount Compound: Regional Reactions. This is an extended Intelligence Report on the issue.   *** Intelligence Report *** August 8, 2017  July 2017 Crisis over Temple Mt. Compound: Regional Perspectives   Information: On Friday July 14,…

Click Here For PDF of this post – “What Is Militant Sunni Islam?”   What is Militant Sunni Islam?   Contemporary Sunni militant Islam is rooted in the two main representatives of political Islam – the Muslim Brotherhood Movement and the ultra-conservative Salafi ideology. Since its early days, the Muslim Brotherhood had – in addition to its educational, social and…

Click Here For PDF of this post – “What Is Political Islam?” What is Political Islam?   The term “political Islam” refers to movements and parties in the Muslim world that have the following things in common: Their ultimate goal is to create a global Islamic cultural, political, and religious entity known as Khalafa / Caliphate in which no other…

ANNOUNCING MY NEW LECTURE TOUR SEPTEMBER 27- NOVEMBER 25, 2017   Game of Pawns ~ The Middle East 2017   A smoking volcano erupted into the Arab Awakening – and the aftershocks, including the War in Syria, the widening Sunni-Shi’ite rift, and the escalating Arab-Persian power struggle have brought about a tectonic plate movement that is shaping a new Middle…

Immediate Intelligence Bulletin   July 16th, 2017 Terror attack at the Temple Mount Compound: Regional Reactions (** This is an immediate Bulletin. I will publish a more detailed Intelligence Report over the next few days **) Information: On Friday July 14, 2017, three Israeli-Arabs opened fire on Israeli Border Patrol Police securing the Temple Mount Compound in Jerusalem, called Al-Haram…

June 17th, 2017 Tasting the Bitter Pill of Reality: Hamas’ New Political Pact Information In August 2014 I published an article entitled “Operation Protective Edge: Exiting to a New Space” in which  I analyzed the ramifications of the summer of 2014 war between Hamas and Israel. In that piece I wrote ”…As a result, Hamas enters a long process where…

Inside the Middle East – Intelligence Perspectives Intelligence Bulletin     March 14, 2017   A Prediction Materialized: Iranian Proxy Vows to “Fight to liberate the Golan Heights”   Information: In my January 2017 article “A Growing Whirlpool of Violence: The Middle East Legacy of Barack Obama “ I made the following prediction regarding the growing direct and indirect Iranian…

January 7, 2017 Lebanon: No Land for Beginning Politicians by Avi Melamed   On October 31st 2016, 81-year-old, General Michele ‘Aoun, former Chief of Staff of the Lebanese Armed Forces was nominated by the Lebanese Parliament as the new President of Lebanon. In December 2016, a new government was formed in Lebanon under the leadership of the Prime Minister of…

August 23rd, 2016 Jabhat Al-Nusrah Disembarking from Al-Qaeda by Avi Melamed Background: Jabhat al-Nusrah li-Ahl al-Sham (The Front for the Support of the People of Sham) is Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria. Like Al-Qaeda, Jabhat Al-Nusrah is a Sunni Salafi-Jihadist organization. The word “Salaf” means the past of something, its origin, its roots, its primal source. The origins of Salafi thought are deep in the sands of…