Middle East Strategy at Harvard

From Daniel Byman

Middle Eastern governments have long supported terrorist groups as part of their foreign polices. States funded Palestinian militants, sheltered violent opposition groups confronting rival governments, and otherwise bolstered substate groups that regularly used terrorism. Regimes supported terrorists to fight Israel, demonstrate their revolutionary credentials, and weaken one another in their deadly geopolitical competition.

While state sponsorship of terrorism remains a tremendous problem in the Middle East today, the phenomenon is quite different than in the past. Not only have the names of the sponsored groups changed; the relationships are often fundamentally different as well. A particularly dangerous trend for the United States is the emergence of “passive sponsors” of terrorism: countries that deliberately look the other way as terrorist groups recruit, raise money, and otherwise sustain themselves. Saudi Arabia, before 9/11 (and even before the May 2003 attacks in the Kingdom), allowed Sunni jihadists to flourish with only limited interference. Today, Pakistan, Syria, and Yemen all knowingly tolerate Sunni jihadist activity on their soil. These states use jihadists and other terrorists to fight their enemies at home and abroad, and also fear confronting popular anger and powerful interest groups that back the terrorists.

Some governments, like Lebanon’s, can do little against terrorist groups operating on their soil. Indeed, even in cases where governments are stronger, many terrorist groups are now partners rather than proxies. Even groups like Hezbollah, which has long worked closely with Iran and Syria, are emerging as actors with considerable independence. The terrorists’ growing strength, and the importance of domestic politics as part of the decision to support the groups, has increased the chances of “blowback.” Countries like Pakistan now are buffeted by the very violence they helped midwife.

I’ve authored a new monograph, published by the Saban Center at Brookings, that looks at the activities of major state sponsors today, and critiques U.S. policy towards them. In the monograph, I call for a number of significant changes to how the United States handles this problem. However, even if all these changes are made, state sponsorship will still pose a danger to the United States in the years to come.

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