Isa Abd al-Majid Mansur is the leader of the southern Libyan ethnic political and militant movement the Tubu Front for the Salvation of Libya (TFSL). He is in his early-40s and is a native of the Libyan oasis town of Kufra in the southeastern Cyrenaica... MORE

The Department of State designated Ahmed Abdullah Saleh al-Khazmari al-Zahrani (a.k.a. Abu Maryam al-Azdi) a “global terrorist” on January 24, describing him as a senior member of al-Qaeda. Al-Zahrani has been on a list of extremists wanted for extradition by the Saudi Interior Ministry since... MORE

Jemal Oukacha (a.k.a. “Yahya Abu al-Hammam”) is a new commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). As the “Emir of the Sahara,” Oukacha has control over a brigade of AQIM fighters responsible for an area stretching from the Azawad region of northern Mali to... MORE

During the rule of the late Mu’ammar Qaddafi, Libya’s Sabha Oasis was an important regional security center, dominating Libya’s remote Fezzan region and the ancient trans-Saharan trade routes that connect sub-Saharan Africa to the Mediterranean coast. The Libyan airbase and garrison at Sabha gave Qaddafi... MORE

As oil theft in southern Nigeria’s Niger Delta region reaches up to an unprecedented 250,000 barrels per day, there are signs that al-Haji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, the man who helped found the militant movements of the Delta and perfected the practice of “bunkering” (as tapping the... MORE

While kidnapping has long been the signature tactic of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the tactic’s introduction into northern Nigeria since 2011 is a new phenomenon. Historically, kidnappings in Nigeria were common only in the Niger Delta where insurgents sought ransoms in order to... MORE

Though it lacks the compelling and convenient images produced in Cairo’s Tahrir Square during Egypt’s dramatic January, 2011 revolution, Egypt has been plunged into what has been variously described as a counter-revolution, a continuation of the 2011 revolution or an attempt by Islamist forces to... MORE

After more than two months of the French-led operation against Islamic militants in northern Mali, there are signs that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is starting to feel the heat. AQIM has not only suffered heavy losses among its top leaders in Mali, but... MORE

A string of high-profile kidnapping incidents in recent months in combination with an increase and geographic expansion of pipeline attacks in the Lagos region (outside the traditional zone of militant activity in the Niger Delta) has raised questions about stability in Nigeria’s south and, by... MORE

The Lebanese state and Lebanon’s most powerful political actors are increasingly challenged by the ongoing conflict in Syria. Lebanon’s feuding anti-Assad March 14 and pro-Assad March 8 political blocs continue to follow distinct strategies of opposition or support for the Assad government that are contrary... MORE