The Iran-Syria-Hezbollah-Hamas Coalition: Implications for the Middle East

ISDP FORUM with Dr. Ely Karmon

Senior Research Scholar at The International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) and fellow at the Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS) at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel

Wednesday, June 16, 2010, 10:30-12:00

The Middle East finds itself these days in a very complex and dangerous situation that could lead to a major strategic upheaval of historic dimension. If indeed, as it looks for now, Iran’s theocratic regime will achieve a nuclear umbrella, its regional and global hegemonic ambitions could aggravate the already volatile situation in the region. It seems that the expectation of Iran’s allies, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas, that it will soon achieve a nuclear capability is the main source of its present and future power projection in the region. The presentation will discuss the strategic achievements of this “Coalition against nature” and what could be the disastrous results of a nuclear Iran.

Dr. Ely Karmon is a Senior Research Scholar at The International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) and fellow at the Institute for Policy and Strategy (IPS) at The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel, where he lectures on issues of terrorism. He is Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ICSR), London. He is a member of The Atlantic Forum of Israel and is involved in NATO workshops on terrorism and on the Mediterranean Dialogue, and is member of the International Permanent Observatory on Security Measures during Majors Events at the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, Turin, Italy. He served as advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and to the Anti-Semitism Monitoring Forum of the Israeli Government Secretariat.

Dr. Karmon has written extensively on political violence, international terrorism, WMD terrorism, and strategic issues in the Middle East. His book Coalitions between Terrorist Organizations: Revolutionaries, Nationalists, and Islamists was published in May 2005 by Brill Academic Publishers (Leiden and Boston).  The Center for Strategic Leadership, U.S. Army War College, published his monograph, Iran-Syria-Hizballah-Hamas: A Coalition against Nature. Why does it Work? (May 2008).

Location: ISDP, Västra Finnbodavägen 2, Stockholm-Nacka. For a map and directions, please go here.

To attend: RSVP to Ms. Martina Klimesova at mklimesova@isdp.eu