The Arab Spring began with a protest against police brutality. The dreams of those who took to the streets 4 years ago will not be realized until police forces change.
Mourning their Coptic brethren, murdered by ISIS.
Asmaa Waguih/Reuters
On February 16, Egypt bombed Islamic State (IS) targets in the militant-controlled Libyan city of Derna, in response to the beheading of 21 Egyptian workers. The speed with which this unprecedented military…
A Shia Houthi gunman muses on the US’s tactic of choice.
EPA/Yahya Arhab
On January 31, Harith al-Nadhari, a senior al-Qaeda figure who praised the Charlie Hebdo attackers, was killed by a US drone strike. This is the first drone strike in Yemen for a number of weeks, and it…
The aftermath of the attack on the Corinthia Hotel, Tripoli.
EPA/STR
The apparent murders of Jordanian pilot Muadh al-Kasasbeh and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto have once again drawn attention to the brutality of Islamic State fighters operating in northern Syria and Iraq…
For the first time in years, there is a new hope that the fragmentation of Libya can be averted, thanks to new rounds of UN mediation efforts. There is a danger, however, that the media coverage accompanying…
How dissent is being dealt with in Egypt
Abd El Ghany/Reuters
The deadly attack in Paris by French Islamists with ties to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) provokes several basic responses. One major response is a broad affirmation that the actions of the violent…
A French soldier on the ground in Mali.
EPA/Nic Bothma
The brutal attack on the staff of Charlie Hebdo has rightly led to powerful calls to protect freedom of expression, with large demonstrations of support in Paris and other French cities, complemented by…
It’s often said that blood is thicker than water – that family ties trump all others. But research with groups of men fighting in Libya has suggested that the bonds they formed in times of great adversity…
After the NATO-led interventions in Kosovo and Libya, many commentators argued that the Responsibility to Protect, the fashionable name for humanitarian military intervention, had finally become an established…
Urgent business: the UN Security Council discusses Gaza and the downing of flight MH17.
EPA/Jason Szenes
On Thursday July 17, 298 people lost their lives when Flight MH17 was downed in eastern Ukraine. Almost immediately accusations were made that the aircraft had been shot down by pro-Russian separatists…
The oil depot fire raging near Tripoli airport.
EPA
Libya’s already edgy security situation is suddenly in a steep decline. France has announced it is evacuating its nationals from the country by sea, and other countries are doing the same with their embassy…
Baiji oil refinery in northern Iraq under attack.
STR
David Elmes, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
Recent tensions progressing to conflict in Iraq have raised concerns that world prices for oil will rise after a period of relative price stability that’s masked significant changes in supplies. Conflict…
Professor of International Migration and Forced Displacement and Director of the Institute for Research into International Migration and Superdiversity, University of Birmingham
Leader of Research Group “The Production of Knowledge on Migration” at the Institute for Migration Research and Intercultural Studies, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück University