At the end of December 2019 and the beginning of January 2020, the US and Iran came to the brink of war (شفا الحرب). The escalation (التصعيد) followed a series of events in the region that began with the killing of an American contractor (متعاقد) in Iraq, culminated in the assassination (اغتيال) of Qasem Soleimani and ended tragically in the accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger jet over Tehran. The lessons for this course will prepare you to read and watch Arabic media reporting on the event and is heavily focused on military, security, and foreign policy vocabulary. Samples of the vocabulary for this course include: حطامها – its debris; انفجارات عنيفة – violent explosions; اقتحام السفارة الأميركية – storming of the American embassy; الصلات الوثيقة – the close links; القوات عثرت على – the forces found
