The protracted and ongoing civil conflict in Yemen has brought to the fore a range of regional threats, both old and new. Most prominently, Yemen’s multisided battle space has already allowed al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and its locally branded affiliate Ansar al-Shari’a to... MORE

The militant underground movement in the North Caucasus suffered large losses in Chechnya and Kabardino-Balkaria at the start of August 2015. On August 2, special forces of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the military and the police clashed with a group of militants in the... MORE

Events at the end of 2014 appeared to indicate that the end of the Caucasus Emirate (CE) was near. That was when the leaders of the CE regional branches in Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia switched sides by taking an oath of allegiance to Islamic State... MORE

The financial intelligence services of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine have been intensively cooperating to prevent the financing of illegal armed groups, according to Vyachaslaw Reut, the head of the financial monitoring department of Belarus’ State Control Committee (KGK) (TASS, July 22). “Despite the existing political... MORE

Russia’s policy toward the Islamic State (IS) group in the Middle East is controversial. On the one hand, involvement in IS activities officially became a crime in Russia in February 2015 (Rossiyskaya Gazeta, February 27). On the other hand, Russia does not seem to have... MORE

Russia continues to surprise observers by its actions to counter the threat of the Islamic State (IS). Notably, Russian authorities recently updated the list of Islamic organizations that could harm the Russian Federation. The list is interesting because it includes organizations that disappeared more than... MORE

In May 2014, Nagieb Khaja, a Dutch filmmaker and journalist reporting on the ground in Syria for al-Jazeera, began to negotiate with Jabhat al-Nusra (JN) members about conducting an on-camera interview with a JN official. After months of negotiations, JN gave him permission to interview... MORE

Much has been written already about the stunning number of Belgian fighters in Syria and Iraq. With estimates ranging from 380 to nearly 500 individuals, Belgium has the highest per capita figure of all Western countries. The average Belgian fighter is a 25-year-old man of... MORE

Javed Ibrahim Paracha, a former member of Pakistan’s National Assembly (the lower house of parliament), has a history of assisting al-Qaeda in Pakistan. Paracha first entered the public eye for his consistent efforts to free al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistani government custody, going so far as... MORE

Mohamed Kuno, a former madrassa teacher in Garissa, Kenya’s main northeastern city, is the latest hardline militant leader to emerge from al-Shabaab. Until recently, Kuno was a typical Islamic preacher in Garissa mosques, where Muslims came to listen to his sermons. This religious figure has... MORE