For decades, the residents of North Sinai have suffered marginalization and the absence of a state presence, resulting in difficult living conditions, widespread unemployment, poverty, disease and an extremist ideology that has found fertile ground.

It is clear that the current balance of power does not allow for any one party to triumph. At the same time, this situation cannot lead to a realistic formula for peace because of the nature of the conflicting forces.

Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia denied involvement. So how and against whom will Iran retaliate? With the US policy of isolating Iran in place, it is unlikely that Tehran will seek to increase tensions with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

There is no doubt that this operation is not the same as the ones launched in the past. The Egyptian army announced that it aims to achieve four objectives: tightening control over border posts, eliminating terrorist outposts, immunizing local populations against extremist ideologies and tackling the crime rate, which has soared amid the instability.

As the number of out-of-school children looms both inside Syria and in host countries, these invisible wounds won’t be healed unless large humanitarian groups and U.N. agencies team up with local and grassroots organizations inside Syria and out. They need to address the mental health and public health challenges in parallel with educational programming.

Samah Hadid, the deputy director of Amnesty International, said that most human rights activists in the country were either in prison or on trial, their whereabouts still undisclosed. The others, she added, risk arrest at any time. MBS is clearly remaking Saudi Arabia in his image, while proving to be just as authoritarian as the rulers before him.

More than 570 people have had their Bahraini nationality revoked over the last six years, around 150 of those in 2017 alone. The country has just over 650,000 citizens. The majority of those targeted are rendered stateless, and are ultimately deported to Iraq, Lebanon or Iran.

Anxious reactions to the handover of Sawakin came as no surprise to anyone, given the current regional tensions. The war in Yemen on the east coast of the Red Sea has been ongoing for three years, with no end in sight. Turkey’s manoeuvering, which is at odds with many of its powerful neighbours, notably Saudi Arabia, has been interpreted as a threat to their position.

Since the defeat of IS, steps have to be taken to rebuild, physically and morally, a nation that has once again been shattered. These elections could be another of those steps, but all the signs indicate that they will do little more than maintain the status quo, with the real issues facing Iraqis once again going unaddressed.

If the jihadi radicalization problem in Europe does indeed get worse, it may be worth considering radical new approaches, both of the soft and the hard kind. Perhaps Europe needs to spend significantly more to improve education in immigrant-heavy areas.