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The past year has been incredibly tumultuous for the Middle East. Political upheaval is still roiling throughout the region since the Arab Spring, and wars have continued to grind on in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Libya. But despite the conflict, life continues in this region where 257 million people call home.

Across the region, protesters took to the streets in fury threatening to re-ignite worsening sectarian tensions in Lebanon, Iraq and Bahrain. This video talks about the Middle Eastern crisis between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Yazidi religious minority community in Iraq says 3,500 of its women and girls are still being held by the so-called Islamic State (IS), many being used as sex slaves. A few have managed to escape and here tell their harrowing stories. One day in August, Hannan woke to find her family frantically packing.

It is crazy to think that as horrible as Osama Bin Laden was, he may not have been as bad as ISIS is right now. The new documents released showed directives from Bin Laden to behave in manners opposite to what ISIS currently does.

Women and girls as young as 11 have been systematically raped by fighters for the Islamic State, which has made sex slavery a pillar of its self-proclaimed caliphate. The New York Times interviewed 21 women and girls in Iraq who recently escaped Islamic State captivity, examined the group's communications and talked to terrorism and religious experts for a chilling report by Rukmini Callimachi, a correspondent who covers Islamic extremism.

According to the author, there are six reasons Iran has not directly intervened in Yemen through military action. Among these is that launching a military campaign in Yemen is not a priority considering the conflict in Syria and Iraq.

This op-ed piece by the Hindu, an Indian publication, states the obvious that has been discussed in my blog posts and bookmarks for weeks. It describes how ISIS, due to the relentless bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria, has taken advantage of a weak government in Libya and has begun to move its operations to areas of Libya essentially free from the watchful eyes of Western forces.

This article explores the border changes in the middle east. Specifically, Syria border changes which are still being effected from the two World Wars. There could be a large implosion in the Middle East from the ineffectiveness of the borders.

Islamic State's information office in Iraq released a slick pictorial report on Saturday showcasing an advanced new tool acquired by the so-called caliphate: Fingerprinting. The Muslim extremist group announced it had acquired microscopes and magnifying glasses and was in the process of recruiting forensics-minded foreign fighters, according to the MEMRI Jihadism and Terror Threat Monitor website. ISIS wants to show that they are a sophisticated unit, and not just a war minded group.

This article reveals some chilling facts about ISIS and what is going on behind the lines thanks to the western journalist that was able to enter. They were also believed to have been led by Jihadi John.

Strategic Retreat The self-proclaimed Islamic State has lost at least three Syrian cities and towns in the past six weeks, including one over the weekend, each time by walking away from the fight. And yet the Pentagon is not sure whether to celebrate ISIS's losses or brace for even bigger fights against the group than it already anticipated for key ISIS cities like Mosul and Raqqa. Isis has learned over the course of their history in Syria that they must choose their battles, and defend key properties that they must have to survive.