SYRIA AND THE POTENTIAL FOR INSTABILITY
Since the abrupt fall of the Assad regime in Syria last December, new president (and former HTS head) Ahmed al-Sharaa has made extensive efforts to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the world – and shore up international support for his fledgling government. A major focus of Sharaa's outreach has been the Trump administration, and the White House has drawn significantly closer to Damascus in recent weeks, committing itself to a more active role in assisting the new Syrian regime against assorted domestic challenges.
Prominent among these is the network of refugee camps in northeastern Syria administered by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), where some 8,400 detainees affiliated with the Islamic State terrorist group are currently being held. "Poor conditions, overcrowding within the DP [displaced persons] camps and detention facilities, a health emergency within SDF-run detention, and challenges associated with ISIS radicalization and recruitment, particularly among vulnerable youth in the camps, present significant humanitarian concerns," a new State Department report to Congress lays out.
The Administration has "urged the Syrian government to assume responsibility for the detention facilities," the report details. It is also seeking "greater burden sharing" from international partners to shore up economic stability in Syria. "To work collectively with the Syrian government and the international community to prevent an ISIS resurgence, we must not allow ISIS to capitalize on these vulnerabilities and risk further instability in Syria," it states. (Department of State, September 2025)
ALGORITHM-DRIVEN RADICALIZATION
Last month, A 22-year-old Syrian was arrested in Berlin after local authorities in the German capital uncovered his plot to detonate an improvised explosive device. The 22-year-old suspect, German officials say, is being held for the "preparation of a serious act of violence endangering the state and the dissemination of propaganda material of unconstitutional and terrorist organizations." The case, though hardly unique, is nonetheless noteworthy because of the means by which the suspected terrorist was radicalized: social media.
"There is hardly a terrorist attack in which social media does not play a significant role," notes Hans-Jakob Schindler of the Countering Extremism Project. "The days when Al-Qaida had to approach, test and supply people in mosques over years, who then slowly became radicalized — those days are simply gone." Indeed, Schindler notes, radicalization now takes place "almost automatically," thanks to the ubiquity of social networks and the proliferation of radical content on them.
This, in turn, poses a challenge for Western societies. Large social media firms don't currently have a duty to collaborate with authorities proactively, while law enforcement agencies do not yet possess the ability to scour the online environment using artificial intelligence in order to detect incipient threats. (EuroNews, November 2, 2025)
THE MORALITY POLICE COME TO CHECHNYA
Authorities in the majority-Muslim Russian republic of Chechnya are clamping down on female dress that is deemed immodest. Meduza reports that local authorities have begun inviting local women who do not cover their heads to attend “informational talks” billed as a preventative measure. Amir Sugairpov, an aide to regional strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, told Chechnya Segodnya that the talks in question were about preventing people from crossing a line “beyond which our values are lost.” (Meduza, October 30, 2025)
RA'AM'S MURKY FUTURE
The Trump administration’s recent decision to begin the process of banning the Muslim Brotherhood is reverberating abroad – including in Israel, where the move might augur a significant change in Arab politics. Ra’am, short for the "United Arab List," is the most prominent Arab party in Israel's legislature, known as the Knesset. Under its current head, Mansour Abbas, Ra'am was the first Arab party to join a governing coalition when it became part of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid's unity government, which held power in 2021. Ra'am, however, has significant ideological baggage; the party is Islamist (though pragmatic) in orientation, and maintains connections to the Southern Branch of the Islamic Movement of Israel – which, in turn, traces its ideology back to the Brotherhood.
That state of affairs was generally accepted in prior years. But in the wake of the Trump administration's announcement, the Israeli government is refocusing on the issue. Under Israeli law, part of the Islamic Movement is already outlawed – and now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled that his government will institute a "complete" ban "soon." Ra'am, meanwhile, is scrambling to remain viable. In early December, Abbas held a press conference in which he announced that his party would separate from the governing body of the Islamic Movement, and from the broader Muslim Brotherhood. (Jerusalem Post, December 7, 2025)
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