CounterPoint Brief: Rebels Seize Aleppo, Renewing Fighting in Decade-Long Syrian Conflict

On November 27, 2024, Syrian rebel forces advanced into Aleppo and its surrounding villages, launching the largest offensive against the Syrian government in years. Dubbed Operation Deterrence of Aggression, the rebels are led by the internationally...

CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson writes: "Thanks to a new National Audit Office report on jail capacity, we now know that prison is awful — but there’s also not enough of it. This paradox sits at the heart of the present overcrowding crisis."

Eye on Extremism: December 5, 2024

“Lebanon's Hezbollah has been significantly degraded militarily by Israel, but the Iran-backed group will likely try to rebuild its stockpiles and forces and pose a longterm threat to the U.S. and its regional allies, four sources briefed on updated...

CEP Senior Advisor Ian Acheson writes: "The news agenda has been quite chewy of late, so not many people will have noticed the publication of The Home Detention Curfew and Requisite and Minimum Custodial Periods (Amendment) Order 2024, slipped out...

Eye on Extremism: December 4, 2024

“Israel threatened on Tuesday to return to war in Lebanon if its truce with Hezbollah collapses, and said this time its attacks would go deeper and target the Lebanese state itself, after the deadliest day since the ceasefire was agreed last week. In...

CounterPoint Brief: The Fear of Blasphemy Laws in Britain

Last week, British Labour MP Tahir Ali asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer if the government would “commit to introducing measures to prohibit the desecration of all religious texts and the prophets of the Abrahamic religions.” Starmer did not...

CounterPoint Brief: The Fear of Blasphemy Laws in Britain

Last week, British Labour MP Tahir Ali asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer if the government would “commit to introducing measures to prohibit the desecration of all religious texts and the prophets of the Abrahamic religions.” Starmer did not...

"Hayat Tahrir al Sham, a terror group linked to al-Qaida, overran Syria’s second largest city this week. Counterterrorism experts indicate it’s the strongest signal in the last few years that the terror group and its allies are rapidly gaining...

"Moscow is absorbed by the war in Ukraine and Tehran by an explosive regional situation that has weakened its allies, first and foremost Hezbollah in Lebanon, after two months of war with Israel. The rebels have chosen the "ideal" moment to launch...

"Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the think tank the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), said now was the ideal time for the rebels to attack. "The Assad regime is truly not very strong," he told AFP."