Since the emergence in 2013 of the Islamic State of Syria and al-Sham, later Islamic State (IS), followed by its declaration of a caliphate, the British government has estimated that over 850 British citizens and residents travelled to join the group in Iraq and Syria.... MORE

Ahrar al-Sham (Ahrar) is one of the largest rebel groups in Syria. In December 2016, like other groups, it suffered a major blow at the hands of the forces of the al-Assad regime, resulting in the loss of the city of Aleppo. The defeat in... MORE

Al-Shabaab attacks are on the rise in Kenya. From concerns about threats to the recent Kenyan elections to stepped-up attacks in Kenya’s coastal Lamu county, this uptick in activity has authorities across the region concerned (see Terrorism Monitor, June 16, 2017; see Terrorism Monitor, February... MORE

Vasyl Hyrtsak, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), announced, on March 9, that a prominent public figure, in collusion with the Moscow-backed leadership of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), part of the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas, had been systematically transporting weapons... MORE

Of late, al-Qaeda's South Asia branch has been proactive and forceful in its campaign against India and its neighbors. A “code of conduct,” released by the group in June 2017, signaled an expanded geographical scope by including Afghanistan and Myanmar into its supposed domain of... MORE

The epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency has always been in Nigeria’s northeastern-most Borno State. Since 2013, however, the insurgency has spilled over the border into Cameroon. Boko Haram attacks killed nearly 2,500 Cameroonians between 2014 and 2017, according to Cameroon's defense ministry (aa.com.tr, October... MORE

Beginning in February, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and its proxies launched sequential offensives against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in the southern Yemeni governorates of Hadramawt and Shabwah. The latest offensive, Operation Sweeping Torrent, was launched on March 7 with the objective of... MORE

Libya: Tackling Foreign Fighters in the South A new offensive by the Libyan National Army (LNA) is aimed partly at expelling foreign fighters, but the capture of alleged al-Qaeda infiltrators suggests jihadist groups may be looking to ramp up their efforts in Libya. On March... MORE

During the March 14 Astana summit of the leaders of all five Central Asian states (see EDM, March 20, 21), the minister of religious affairs and civil society of Kazakhstan, Nurlan Yermekbayev, and the chairman of the Religious Affairs Committee of the government of Tajikistan,... MORE