Tunisia is in the middle of a political transition but the internal debate is still monopolized by the quarrel between Islamists and secularists. The stalemate is presenting an opportunity for the Salafist movement Ansar al-Shari’a Tunisia (AST) to enter directly into the political fray. Confrontation... MORE

The cycle of calamity plaguing Syria continues to intensify with no end in sight. Syria’s predicament today is far removed from the initial outburst of mass dissent witnessed in March 2011 that saw the Ba’athist regime violently suppress demonstrations demanding political change and reform. This... MORE

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry has warned the nation’s largely Shiite political opposition against following through with plans for massive Egyptian-style pro-democracy street demonstrations planned for August 14. The opposition is calling for free elections in the Sunni-dominated monarchy and an end to the authoritative rule of... MORE

Over the last three years, Muslim Brotherhood deputy guide Muhammad Khayrat al-Shater has gone from being a political prisoner in Egypt’s prisons to a controversial role as the alleged “power behind the throne” in the Muhammad Mursi presidency and back again to prison, where he... MORE

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) confirmed the death in mid-June of one of its most senior leaders Abd al-Hamid Abu Zeid. Abu Zeid was a key commander on AQIM’s North Africa branch who was killed while fighting against French-led forces in northern Mali (Jeune... MORE

Self-declared jihadist Gilles le Guen (a.k.a. Abdel Jelil) was arrested on April 28 by French forces in Timbuktu, questioned and handed over to Malian authorities. He was extradited back to France on May 14 and faces charges of criminal conspiracy under a French anti-terrorism bill... MORE

Over the last month, Tunisia has seen an escalation of the violence and tensions between security forces and the Islamist movements that emerged after the fall of President Zine al-Abdin bin Ali in January, 2011. Attention focused primarily on the violent May 19 clashes in... MORE

The Soviet Union conducted a robust policy toward Africa, but that ended with the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. As Russian analysts today admit, Africa, relatively speaking, fell off the map of Russian foreign policy after 1991. It is only in the... MORE

Summary   Abd al-Wahhab Muhammad Qaid, the elder brother of a top al-Qaeda commander killed in an American drone strike in Pakistan last summer, has emerged as a strong candidate in the upcoming election for Libya’s top political job president of the General National Congress (GNC).... MORE

Introduction  In the remote regions of South Sudan’s Jonglei state, a failed politician, former theology student and military neophyte has managed to turn his personal dissatisfaction with the administration of the newly created South Sudan into an insurgency that draws on tribal rivalries, external interference... MORE