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After the ousting of the Gaddafi regime the country pivoted into civil chaos. Because of the deficiency of structure and state autonomy, armed militias have become the dominant force in determining Libya's future governmental system. While the UN has internationally recognized the NTC as the interim government to ultimately turn the country into a democratic one, militias have taken things into their own hands tipping the country towards the brink of civil war. General Khalifa Haftar launched his Operation Dignity campaign accusing congress of allowing terrorists flourish in Libya and vowed to wipe them out, gaining much support from the regular armed forces and nationalist militias. The opposition to Haftar insist that his attacks are aiming for a military coup. This article was helpful in highlighting the armed groups and dividing them by Pro-Haftar and Pro-Congress sections. 

The Canadian government on Tuesday said it would expand its military mission against ISIS by launching air strikes against positions in Syria.

The Canadian government on Tuesday said it would expand its military mission against ISIS by launching air strikes against positions in Syria.

The Canadian government on Tuesday said it would expand its military mission against ISIS by launching air strikes against positions in Syria.

This article focuses primarily on the Muslim Brotherhood's legitimate political party in the U.S. It expresses how the ignorance of American people towards terrorist groups let this happen and how due to this ignorance the political party has the potential to grow.

In this article for Al Monitor, a news site launched during the Arab Spring which brands itself as "the pulse of the Middle East", a physician from Hamburg talks about her more than 20 years in the Kurdistan Workers Party in a rare interview.

In this article for Al Monitor, a news site launched during the Arab Spring which brands itself as "the pulse of the Middle East", a physician from Hamburg talks about her more than 20 years in the Kurdistan Workers Party in a rare interview.

This article illuminates the aftermath of Gaddafi's reign from a first person perspective of a citizen fleeing the country due to its devastating chaos. He offers a short version of the conflict and the rise in militant groups. The root of the issue is the fact that when the GNC took power, the factions funded the militant groups for their own insurance rather than working towards their disbandment. The Islamist coalition dominated parliament, and as chaos deepened when they realized they would loose the election so they just delayed having one. This is where General Khalifa Haftar chimed in, launching his offense against islamic insurgency by storming the capitol in Tripoli leading the country to slip into civil war. The Author says "We are like a class of kids where the bad teacher is suddenly dead," he said. "Now we all fight each other." When the light finally comes to a country that was for so long in the dark, its blinding. 

Millions of dollars of US provided military equipment has been destroyed by saudi airstrikes against the Houthi rebels. The power vacuum in the area has allowed AQAP to rebuild itself. U.S. officials said that the CIA's armed drones are still flying over Yemen, prepared to launch strikes against AQAP members.

Millions of dollars of US provided military equipment has been destroyed by saudi airstrikes against the Houthi rebels. The power vacuum in the area has allowed AQAP to rebuild itself. U.S. officials said that the CIA's armed drones are still flying over Yemen, prepared to launch strikes against AQAP members.

Gender Based Violence campaign began Nov. 25. The campaign was launched by the Cairo Center for Development and Tadwein.

Gender Based Violence campaign began Nov. 25. The campaign was launched by the Cairo Center for Development and Tadwein.

"Activists in the UK have launched a campaign to have Hezbollah officially proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the British government. The Israel-Britain Alliance is leading the campaign to have Hezbollah officially proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK government. Nearly 20 different organisations, both Jewish and Christian, have thrown their weight behind the initiative so far."

After Western powers suspected that the Syrian government used chemical weapons against the Syrian people, tensions grew against them and Russia, China, and Syria. The Eastern Powers believe that Western powers are overstepping their bounds for their need of power but the Western powers think that they need to interfere to help the people. 

The use of chemical weaponry has been reaffirmed in Syria, even though an effort was launched in 2013 following the Damascus attack to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons. There have been numerous eye-witness reports of helicopter sounds, bomb spotting, and the smelling of chlorine gas. The hope is to destroy all chemical weapon production facilities by June of 2015.

Tunisia will take delivery of eight Black Hawk attack helicopters from the United States to help it in the fight against al-Qaeda. There are going to be useful to carry troops and launch attacks. The rise in Islamist has reached an extreme since the revolution that ousted veteran strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

"Armed groups and militias are running amok, launching indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas and committing widespread abuses, including war crimes, with complete impunity"

This article touches on an array of ideas but for the sake of my research I focused on the "Thirty Years War" section. Douglass Murray from The Spectator conveys the perspective that the Middle East is likely to be going through a similar 17th century European 30 years war, when Protestant and Catholics launched a full fledged war against one another. This means that religious war in the Middle East is so much bigger than just al-Qaeda and similar groups. The conflict will re-align the region, but also the entire religion of Islam. Douglass says the outcome would call for a Treaty of Westphalia-style solution, redrawing boundaries of a region where they've been bursting for decades.  For the time being the drivers of the conflict is a standoff between the two regional powers and their affiliated proxies, Saudi Arabia and Iran. 

Britain has launched its first drone strike against Islamic State (Isis) fighters in Iraq. An RAF Reaper drone fired a Hellfire missile at Isis forces laying improvised explosive devices near Bayji, the site of Iraq's biggest oil refinery, north of Baghdad, over the weekend, the Ministry of Defence said on Monday.

Scientific analysis of the soil in the areas of suspected chemical warfare attacks on Syria have proven the use of chlorine and ammonia gas. With the proof of the soil as well as the evidence of the clear gas poisoning symptoms on the victims, it is now proven that the Assad regime is using chemical warfare on civilians, including children. This link also gives some useful but disturbing videos.

Iran is developing a new cyberstrategy to protect against the intrusion of important government programs, and to oppose any anti-iranian cyber warfare and fight back. Under their new strategy they have already launched attacks on Saudi Arabia and companies in the U.S. such as Bank of America and Citigroup which gives the U.S. reason to concern on Iran's cyber warfare development.

After the killing of Israeli teenagers, Israel was able to launch a justified assault on Gaza. Specifically targeting Hamas, the Israelis want nothing more than the safety of their neighboring Jews and Arabs.

Fours years after the Arab Spring, Tunisia is arguably the region's strongest democratic success story. Economic growth is still slow to develop, recognizing this lag, Tunisia has announced it will launch an emergency economic plan. Tunisia is moving in the right direction but for a long-term guide they should look to their neighboring democracy, Turkey. There is two lessons Tunisia should take away from Turkey: integration into the global economy and inclusion of the rich and poor.