The Palm Sunday bombings at two Coptic churches in Egypt's Nile Delta demonstrated a renewed determination by Islamic State to target the country's Christian minority. But to what end? Francesca Fazey unpacks the motivations for the current escalation in the group's campaign and considers its limitations.
While a sudden US military response to a chemical weapons attack in northern Syria suggests a shift in US strategy, expectations of future intervention against the Syrian government may be premature, writes Julian Karssen.
Francesca Fazey assesses the increase in wrongful detentions in Egypt over 2016 and the implications for foreign nationals going into 2017, notably journalists and NGO workers.
Julian Karssen and Francesca Fazey discuss the potential for the Islamic State militant group to revive its kidnapping operations in broader Iraq in the wake of recent territorial losses.
Shifting geopolitics and a consolidation of control by several of the Middle East's ‘strongmen' has multiple implications for the region in 2017. Francesca Fazey and Julian Karssen consider the likely effects of Russia's emergence as the region's new global power, after its decisive role in the recapture of Aleppo.
Turkey enters 2017 facing security crises on multiple fronts. Francesca Fazey and Julian Karssen unpack the terrorism risk in the country in the year ahead.
Hala Najjar explores the implications and potential outcomes of Saudi Arabia's radical new economic strategy.
Iranian fears that Donald Trump will dash US rapprochement with the Islamic Republic are well-founded, but the President-elect may yet embrace the economics of better relations, writes Felix Cook
The recent assassination of a police officer in the province of Constantine is the first confirmed attack to be claimed by Islamic State in Algeria since 2014. However, the incident is unlikely to signal a change in the group's struggle to gain momentum in Africa's largest country. Francesca Fazey explores why.
As Turkey conducts its first major offensive against Islamic State in northern Syria, the incursion threatens to introduce greater instability to an already fragile region, writes Julian Karssen
As the Iraqi army moves towards its final stage of operations against the Islamic State militant group, the controversial involvement of Shi'a militias threatens to undo the military's gains, writes Julian Karssen
A wave of security raids in Tunisia over the past week has refocused attention on the country’s domestic militancy threat as the armed forces attempt to improve the security of the country’s border with Libya.