Blowing up the Al-Nusra Front

In the past two years, Western media coverage has focused on the growing popularity of Salafist jihadi groups like the Al-Nusra Front (Jabhat Al-Nusra) in Syria. These groups have become both an argument to intervene militarily, as well as a reason to stay out. While this fear has some basis—especially as Al-Qaeda has purportedly announced links with the Al-Nusra Front—it is also colored by post-9/11 counter-insurgency narratives. This has prevented policy makers from situating groups like J...

Read more »

Driven to Distraction

On May 11, two powerful car bombs ripped through the Turkish town of Reyhanlı on the Syrian border, killing at least 51 people. This was not only the worst cross-border spillover of the Syrian conflict to date—it was also the deadliest terror attack in Turkey’s recent history. But if you were watching Turkish television or reading the national papers the next day, you could be forgiven for thinking that nothing had happened in Reyhanlı. Dominating the airwaves instead were the seas...

Read more »