A series of bombings allegedly carried out by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria during the final weekend of May, just as newly elected President Muhammadu Buhari was being sworn into office, were a grim reminder of the pressing security challenge the jihadi group still poses to Nigeria and its neighbors. Yet the attacks should not obscure the magnitude of Boko Haram’s recent defeats. Over the course of a few months, Boko Haram has reportedly lost nearly all of the over 18,000 square miles in northeastern Nigeria that it controlled in early January 2015. While reliable data on Boko Haram casualties [...]
It’s not hard to understand what motivates local Iraqis and Syrians to fight for the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS). Most believe they are defending their community, Sunni Arabs, against repression from the Alawite-dominated Syrian dictatorship or the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government. But the motives of the estimated 20,000 foreign fighters that have joined IS are more complex, tied to deep psychological factors that make them less amenable to political solutions and more difficult to address. Every insurgent movement includes people with diverse motives. Yet the counterinsurgency doctrine of the United States and its NATO partners gravitates to political and economic grievances, [...]
He sat with his back to the camera, a black scarf over his head hiding his identity. In a 47-minute televised interview with Al-Jazeera recorded in “liberated territory” in northern Syria, the leader of the Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, said his group has no plans to attack the West. Its focus is toppling President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The choreographed media campaign by the Nusra Front and its leader, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammed al-Golani, capped the group’s rise as one the most powerful of Syria’s rebel factions. Nusra fighters played a key role in [...]
