EGYPTIAN ARMY’S KILLING OF TOURISTS HIGHLIGHTS WESTERN DESERT THREAT James Brandon The Egyptian military, on September 15, killed 12 civilians, including at least two Mexican tourists, in an attack on a tourist convoy in the country’s Western Desert (al-Ahram, September 14). According to reports from... MORE

AL-SHABAAB ATTACK ON PEACEKEEPERS CANNOT HIDE GROUPS’ DISARRAY James Brandon The Somali Islamist militant organization al-Shabaab carried out one of its most lethal attacks in years on September 1, when it bombed a Ugandan military base in the Janale district of the lower Shabele region,... MORE

HAMMOUD SAEED AL-MIKHLAFI LEADS THE FIGHT AGAINST THE HOUTHIS IN TAIZ Nicholas A. Heras Yemen’s third-largest city of Taiz, which has a population of more than one million people and is located in the southwestern region of the country, 180 kilometers northwest of Aden, is... MORE

LIBYA FACES DEEPENING CHAOS James Brandon Overshadowed by events in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere in the Middle East, Libya has slipped deeper into chaos in recent weeks. This trend was accentuated in mid-August when the Islamic State in Libya, a group that has pledged allegiance... MORE

BOKO HARAM SURVIVES REGIONAL OFFENSIVES AND STRIKES BACK James Brandon Rumors of the demise of the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram appear to have been greatly exaggerated, as indicated by a series of fresh attacks by the organization in Nigeria and surrounding countries in recent... MORE

ALEPPAN FOLK HERO MUHANNA JAFFALA LEADS KATA’IB ABU AMARA DESPITE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT Nicholas A. Heras On July 2, several of the most influential militant Salafist and Islamist rebel organizations in the region of Aleppo in northwestern Syria, among them the important Aleppo city-based rebel organization... MORE

ALGERIAN ATTACK UNDERLINES THREATS ARISING FROM INTER-JIHADIST COMPETITION James Brandon At least nine Algerian soldiers were killed in an attack on July 17 when their patrol was ambushed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM) militants in Souq al-Attaf in northwestern Ain Defla province (Algeria... MORE

HOUTHI INCURSIONS, IRANIAN PROPAGANDA TARGET SAUDI ARABIA’S NAJRAN PROVINCE James Brandon During the last month, a series of developments in Najran, both a province and its capital city in southwestern Saudi Arabia, close to the Yemeni border, suggest Saudi Arabia’s ongoing conflict with Yemen’s Zaydi... MORE

BEATING ON ASSAD’S DOOR: SYRIAN MILITIA FIGHTER ABD AL-NASR SHMEIR Nicholas A. Heras Damascus’ suburban region of eastern Ghouta is a site of ongoing and vicious conflict between the Syrian military and several rebel factions. Inter-rebel fighting is common there, particularly between the Islamic State... MORE