A case study from the height of the Crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries illustrates that even the most brutal leaders can choose to compromise for stability.
Obsessional coverage of attacks plays into the hands of terrorism. Responsible reporting is what is now called for.
Shutterstock
Under the Obama administration, the US army began to recruit, arm, and finance local militias to fight the Taliban. With Trump in the White House, what remains of this strategy?
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed by the Americans on June 7, 2006. Shortly after his death, his successors fulfilled his wishes by announcing the existence of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI)
AAP Image/Yonhap
The ICC sentence against Al-Mahdi for destroying ancient artifacts at Timbuktu sends the right message that the international community will not tolerate the destruction of heritage sites.
Somalia security escort Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni’s convoy to a regional summit in Mogadishu, the first in 35 years.
Reuters/Feisal Omar
Al Shabaab is facing stress under increased pressure from the government and the regional states. But it should also be noted that predictions of its collapse have come and gone before
The gun attack at a hotel marks another bloody chapter in West Africa’s fight against Islamist militancy.
Without the perfect-storm conditions of post-invasion insurgency, this most potent expression of al-Qaedaism yet would never have risen to dominate both the Middle East and the world in the way that it does.
Reuters/Stringer
The final article of our series on the historical roots of Islamic State examines the role recent Western intervention in the Middle East played in the group’s inexorable rise.
The site of an al-Qaida attack in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in January 2016.
REUTERS/Joe Penney
Western commentators tend to see ISIS and al-Qaida attacks as fueled by ideology. But in Africa, such attacks are more often turf wars in the illicit drug trade.
A flag-waving Islamic State fighter takes part in a military parade along the streets of Syria’s northern Raqqa province.
Reuters/Stringer
How far back in history does one have to go to find the roots of the so-called Islamic State? The first article in our series on the genesis of the terrorist outfit considers some fundamentals.
On the lookout after the attack in Ouagadougou.
Reuters/Joe Penney