4. Prospects for International Cooperation in the MENA Crises: The Cases of Lebanon and Syria

The author argues that while the pandemic may conceivably have stolen the spotlight from the civil war, and shifted the focus of the international community away from the terrorism threat, the latter has certainly not disappeared. [...] In a setting similar to that of the Syrian civil war the author makes the argument that, although the pandemic did negatively affect the Libyan population, it was not one of the root causes of the conflict nor did it have a considerable impact on the evolution of the pre- existing crisis. [...] The establishment of a ceasefire between GNA and LNA, as well as the development of mechanisms for uniting the country together with the establishment of unified institutions of power, could be the first and most important steps in combating the terrorist threat in the region. [...] After the removal of the government of Mohammed Morsi in 2013, the group began to actively act against the Egyptian security forces, and in 2014 swore allegiance to the Islamic State.10 The Islamic State carries out the vast majority of terrorist attacks in Egypt, including blowing up a Russian passenger plane in October 2015. [...] The terrorist organisation partially justifies its activities by protecting women from the arbitrary rule of the State, in particular from the brutal suppression of peaceful protests.12 The group’s concern about the lives of civilians and the safety of women leads to two compelling assumptions.