In recent months, a number of incidents have brought attention to the possible threat to Italy from cells or individuals linked to the Islamic State. For instance, since mid-April, some pictures of self-proclaimed Islamic State supporters have been circulating on the web, in which Italy... MORE

The Shi’a Houthi rebels’ advance on Yemen’s capital Sana’a from late 2014 was a slow burning conflict that led to the resignation of President Abdu Rabbu Mansur Hadi on January 22, which prompted chaos in Sana’a and has since spread to much of the rest... MORE

An attack on South Sudan’s military in a relatively peaceful part of the country in January of this year propelled a hitherto unknown army officer, Major Losuba Wongo, into the limelight in Africa’s newest state. Six soldiers were allegedly killed in the attack and several... MORE

A little more than a year after a French and African Union military intervention drove an Islamist coalition from their bases in northern Mali in early 2013, Prime Minister Moussa Mara ignited the seething tensions in the area with an ill-advised visit to the Kidal... MORE

Making sense of the political turmoil and the potential threat of the Islamic State in Libya is becoming increasingly difficult. At the beginning of March 2015, delegations from various Libyan factions met in the Moroccan coastal town of Skhirat, to negotiate under the auspices of... MORE

A series of attacks by the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (ABM) jihadist group against military checkpoints and facilities in northeast Sinai on January 29 killed at least 32 Egyptian soldiers and policemen, making this among the deadliest attacks in Egypt in decades (al-Ahram, January 30). The... MORE

At the end of December, the Tunisian Interior Ministry reported that during 2014, 23 security force members (mostly soldiers and members of the National Guard) had been killed during the past year by Islamist militants. The ministry also said that government counter-terrorism operations during the... MORE

In the midst of the political turmoil that has divided Libya since the Qaddafi era there is a religious scholar and academic with a taste for Islamist politics. Grand Mufti Sadiq al-Ghariani is in many ways a product of the turmoil; he was simultaneously praised... MORE

In June, Tunisia’s interior minister said that at least 2,400 Tunisian jihadists are fighting in Syria. The majority of them, about 80 percent, are allegedly fighting within the ranks of the Islamic State organization, previously the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), although some... MORE