My latest: US policy in Syria and what it really means for Kurds across the region.
www-aljazeera-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.alja...
04.02.2026 19:22
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My latest: US policy in Syria and what it really means for Kurds across the region.
www-aljazeera-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.alja...
the same states that invested billions in building the PVE research and policy architecture over the past two decades.
about the continued relevance of much of the global PVE literature to policy and practice. Much of this research remains detached from the political economies of violence and the realities of armed governance, even as violent extremist behaviors are increasingly normalized or instrumentalized by...
could integrate into other armed or extremist formations aligned with the Syrian Arab Army. This sheds light on the nature of armed authority, state formation, ideology, and institutional legitimacy in Syria, with long-term implications.
Taken together, these developments raise serious questions..
to Syria’s present and future: why would armed groups affiliated with the Syrian Arab Army seek to free ISIS prisoners, & why would prisoners attempt to escape & reintegrate into these territories?
Field-based evidence suggests that, despite individual disagreements, many former ISIS affiliates...
Syria raise important analytical questions. Even where some ISIS members appear dissatisfied with Al-Sharaa or other armed factions, and may confront them, this shouldn't be read as ideological rupture or evidence that violent extremism has been managed.
This leads to a broader question central..
but represented a wide spectrum of ideological commitment and behaviour. Some were not only radicalised towards outsiders but also violently intolerant of fellow ISIS members they deemed insufficiently radical. Many intra-ISIS killings occurred, including within Al-Hol.
Recent developments in....
Is what is happening in Syria signaling the end of the preventing violent extremism research and policy programme?
Over the past several years, I’ve conducted extensive research on violent extremism in Iraq and the region. This work shows that those who joined ISIS were never a monolithic group,...
Join us for the launch of Dr Malika Zeghal's latest book, The Making of the Modern Muslim State: Islam and Governance in the Middle East and North Africa.
🗓️ 28 January
⏰ 7:00-8:30 pm
📍 Wolfson Theatre, LSE
https://www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-centre/events/2026/the-making-of-the-modern-muslim-state
Iraq’s system endures not because of its structural efficacy but through the interaction of three mechanisms operating over time: Identity Reconfiguration, Legitimacy Erosion, and Priority Divergence.’ By Kamaran Palani
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
I was quoted in this piece by Winthrop Rodgers: “The region has never really escaped the legacy of dictatorship, and in Syria, it has worsened. The old Baathist denial of Kurdish rights is back, now reinforced by ethnic chauvinism and religious extremism.”
The discussion is no longer about whether Tehran can destabilise the region, but about whether the regime itself can withstand sustained pressure at home. Iran is now facing a challenge it did not choose, one that runs directly against the foundations of its long-standing survival strategy.
It is unlikely that Iran will restore its regional deterrence anytime soon. Hezbollah has been degraded, the Houthis are constrained, Iraqi allies and proxies are contained, and Syria is already lost.
This is why the prospect of protests inside the country is different this time.
Two years ago, the fear of confronting Iran centered on its capacity to destabilise the wider region, from Beirut and Baghdad to Sanaa and Damascus. Today, the fight against the Islamic Republic is happening at home, in its very streets, exactly what the authorities worked for decades to prevent.
Join us on Saturday, February 14, for PeaceRep Iraq's final conference, 'Reframing Iraq: Power, Politics, and Paths to Inclusion'.
@lsemiddleeast.bsky.social @peacerep.bsky.social
www.lse.ac.uk//middle-east...
NEW from me in @thenewarab.bsky.social: Kurds around the world are watching events in Aleppo and Iran with outrage and trepidation. They reinforce both the centrality of Kurds in the changes taking place in the Middle East and the precarity of their position.
www.newarab.com/analysis/ale...
What happens to refugees when they can finally leave the camp? For PeaceRep–Iraq, @kamaranpalani.bsky.social examines the challenges residents of Syria's Al-Hol camp face attempting to integrate in Iraq blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2025/10/...
2) 'Why Kurds in Syria Are Unlikely to Follow the Iraqi Kurdistan Path to Autonomy' by @kamaranpalani.bsky.social
blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2025/02/...