Even a cursory reading of the global map of conflict and warfare would give anyone the impression — indeed, certainty — that the Middle East is unique among the world’s regions in terms of the spread of violence and terrorism.

The region has probably been this way for a long time. Moreover, many experts in regional security affairs predict that the condition is going to grow only worse, at least for the coming period.

This is not to suggest that other parts of the world are not plagued by violence and terrorism. The French thinker Alain Gresh is a Middle East expert and editor of Le Monde Diplomatique. In an exclusive interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, Gresh said the phenomenon is connected with the problem of perceptions and definitions.

What is terrorism? Some groups are condemned as terrorist by some parties and lauded as freedom fighters by others. The most famous case in point in the Middle East are the Palestinian armed groups, regarded by many regional parties as resistance forces combating a foreign occupation (Israel) while other parties, primarily in the West, brand them as terrorist militias.

This said, there is not a shadow of a doubt that growing Islamist extremism is behind that spreading pool of blood that we see on the regional map and that extremist Islamist militias have come to epitomise terrorism.

Even the most notorious terrorist organisation currently admits as much. Islamic State (IS) has stated that its ritual beheadings are a means to “terrorise the enemies of Islam” regardless of the many fatwas (religious edicts) by respected religious authorities condemning this group’s ideas and practices.

IS, or Daesh to use the Arabic acronym, is clearly the most dangerous terrorist organisation in the region and the most widespread. In addition to its bases in Iraq and Syria, its cells or affiliates are to be found in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya and elsewhere in North Africa.

But if Iraq and Syria have the highest concentrations of terrorist organisations, as a report by the International Peace Institute in Stockholm notes, Libya has also become a breeding ground. Yemen may soon be added to the list of endangered countries.

The Yemeni specialist on radical Islamist movements, Abdel Aziz Al-Majidi, says that Yemen has become home to the “artificial” Al-Qaeda created by former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh sought to infiltrate the main Al-Qaeda organisation and also strike his enemies. This came only after Yemen had served as a base for the “original” Al-Qaeda for many years.

In the course of 2014, a group calling itself Ansar Al-Sharia has been gathering momentum in face of the mounting power and influence of Ansar Allah. The latter is affiliated with the northern Yemeni Houthi movement and is widely perceived as a means to expand this movement beyond the Zaidi sect. But here we return to the problem of definitions mentioned by Gresh.

While Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE regard the Houthi movement as a terrorist rebel movement (even if they have not explicitly said as much), the movement has received official recognition in Yemen as a partner in government after its forces succeeded in taking control of strategic locations in the capital. The same dilemma is to be found elsewhere, even within a single country.

Iraq

Some regard the Sunni militias as terrorist groups. Naturally, this view would be primarily shared by the Shia parties that currently are in power in Iraq, in what the Mosul University professor who prefers to go by his nickname, “Abu Khaled”, describes as the most glaring example of sectarian rule in the region.

Abu Khaled was of the opinion that the declaration of the so-called Islamic caliphate earlier this year marked the beginning of the redrawing of the Iraqi political map, “after it had reached a peak in Shia extremism and Iranian interventionism.” One imagines his opinion changed after Daesh massacred around 500 members of Al-Bu Nimr tribe, whose members are Sunni Muslims.

Of course, this does not refute the existence of a host of other militia factions in the field. There are the Shia militias that see eye-to-eye about holding onto power for themselves and their allies but differ over religious/political frames of reference and power sharing. Foremost among these are the Badr Brigade, Mahdi Army, Ahl Al-Haqq militia and Hizbullah-Iraq. On the Sunni side, there are the Ansar Al-Islam, which intersects with Daesh, Iraqi Mujahideen Army, Iraqi Islamic Army and, of course, IS (Daesh) itself.

In an interview with the Weekly, Ihsan Al-Shamri, political science professor at Baghdad University, said that the political players in Iraq describe the terrorist movements according to their interests. Said Al-Shamri, “The Sunnis say that the Shia militias are backed by Iran while the Shias charge that the Sunni militias are backed by Saudi Arabia. In the end, it is the Iraqi state that pays the price.”

Libya

The map of terrorism and extremism presents a very similar picture, even down to the names, although the Sunni-Shia sectarian dimension is absent from the conflict there. As the researcher Al-Hussein Karim from Derna told the Weekly, before Daesh emerged in Libya its potential bases existed in the Ansar Al-Sharia in Derna and Benghazi, the Islamic Army of Libya in Derna, and other such entities.

Then there are the array of militias that revolve around the Misrata-Muslim Brotherhood axis: the Central Libya Shield from Misrata, which is close to the Muslim Brotherhood; Al-Zawiya-based Western Shield, which is allied with the Muslim Brotherhood; and Libya Shield militias led by Wissam Bin Hamid and Boka Al-Oraibi from Benghazi, which act as partners of the Muslim Brotherhood on the battlefield.

In addition, there is the entity known as the Chamber of Revolutionaries of Libya, representing the commanders of the militias of Misrata, Al-Zawiya, Souq Al-Jomaa, various Libya Shields and extremist Islamist militias, and which are controlled by members with previous connections with Al-Qaeda.

If the sectarian dimension is missing, the military-Islamist dimension is not. Facing the abovementioned militias are the forces of retired General Khalifa Haftar, which are fighting alongside the official Libyan army. In fact, Colonel Ahmed Hijazi, the spokesman for those forces, told the Weekly, “They contributed to the reconstitution of the Libyan armed forces.”

Syria

The groups that are fighting on the side of the Bashar Al-Assad regime are, by definition, not part of the Syrian armed forces, even if they are coordinating with the military in the field. These would be primarily Shia militias that moved into Syria from all quarters of the Shia map and not just from Iran.

While Tehran recruited many of its Republican Guard regiments to the defence of Al-Assad’s regime, Arab Shia have poured in from Iraq, Lebanon (Hizbullah), Yemen (the Houthis) and Bahrain. Shia fighters have also come from further afield, notably Pakistan and Afghanistan to the east and parts of Africa to the west.

 Still, Iran is undoubtedly supervising the pro-cesses of support and funding for those groups that are recruited and mobilised on the basis of purely sectarian ideological banners, chief among which is the call to protect the holy shrines of the descendants of the Prophet. There are at least ten militia factions fighting under the Shia umbrella in Syria. They include the Ahl Al-Haqq league, Ammar Bin Yasser Brigade, Abul Fadl Al-Abbas Brigade, Kharasani Vanguard squads, Mousa Al-Kadhim Brigades, Hizbullah, Al-Hamd regiment, Waad Al-Sadeq phalanx, Dhul Fuqqar Regiment and Sayyed Al-Shuhada Brigades.

As for the groups fighting the Syrian regime, they fall into numerous categories, the first consisting of the Free Syrian Army, which is largely made up of Syrian military units that broke away from the Syrian armed forces.

The second category consists of the religious extremists and especially the Sunni jihadist groups that began to pour into the country once the revolution degenerated into sectarian warfare. Most of these groups subscribe to Al-Qaeda takfiri ideology and are dominated by Daesh and Al-Nusra Front, which have begun to fight each other due to conflicts over leadership and influence.

A third category falls somewhere between the two previous categories. It consists of groups who want to overthrow the regime and establish a “moderate” form of Islamic government. They include the Islamic Syria Liberation Front, Freemen of the Islamic Levant Movement and Islamic Front, formed in November.

In addition, there are independent groups or brigades, such as the Ahfad Al-Rusal (Descendants of the Prophet) and the Asala wa Tanmiya (Authenticity and Development) Front, a centrist Islamist alliance made up of around 13,000 fighters and civilians deployed across five fronts. Perhaps the best-known combat regiments associated with this front are the Nour Al-Din Zenki Brigades and Ahl Al-Athr Regiment.

In addition to the foregoing, there is the Shields of the Revolution Organisation, a coalition that consists of dozens of small factions primarily located in Idlib and Hama and that defines itself as a “moderate democratic Islamic alliance.” Finally, there is the Kurdish Islamic Front. With around 1,000 fighters, it is the smallest of the groups in the alliance. It is primarily involved in fighting with other Kurdish militia bent on securing an autonomous Kurdish region in the north.

Egypt

The main theatre for terrorist activity is Sinai. Here there are 15 organisations from the “international jihad”, of which four dominate: Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, Shura Council of Mujahideen, Takfir wal-Hijra and Army of Islam. There are five Salafist Jihadist groups fighting the army and police in the Sinai: Al-Rayat Al-Sud (Black Banners), remnants of the Egyptian Jihad organisation, Tawhid wa Tanzim Al-Salafiya Al-Jihadiya, Ansar Al-Jihad organisation and Galgalat Army.

The Islamist groups located in central and eastern Sinai vary ideologically. There are Salafist groups that reject violence and there are jihadist groups focused on the jihad against Israel and organisationally and ideologically linked to counterparts in Palestine. Then there are takfiri groups that are primarily concentrated near the border with Gaza, especially in the areas of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid. The most ideologically rigid and fanatic, the takfiris label everyone who does not follow or apply “God’s Law” (as they define it) as heretic.

Prime among the takfiri groups are the following:

— The Ahl Al-Sunna wal-Jamaa: First appearing in Sinai in 1979, its original name was Al-Jamaa Al-Salafiya fi Sinaa (The Salafist Group in Sinai), only changing to Ahl Al-Sunna wal-Jamaa at a later phase. It was founded by Abu Islam.

— Al-Tawhid wal-Jihad: According to one of the members of this organisation, it first appeared in Iraq and Palestine. Jamaat Al-Tawhid wal-Jihad was started in 1999 by Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and represents a combination of Jordanian and other Islamist militants.

— Al-Qaeda: This organisation has been playing the field in Sinai for some time, taking advantage of the power vacuum while using local Bedouin tribes for protection. One of the modus operandi of Al-Qaeda fighters is to intermarry with tribes and residents of the area, thereby enhancing protection and winning new supporters and recruits.

— The Salafist Calling: The largest fundamentalist Islamist affiliation in Sinai, it is based in Al-Arish. It is also the oldest of the Islamist groups in Sinai and known for the pacifist beliefs that Salafist Calling advocates throughout the country.

 — The jihadist Salafis: These, as noted above, are primarily based in Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid. They receive fairly systematic military training, transport weapons to Palestinian jihadists and include groups that espouse the ideas of Al-Qaeda.

However, two major changes have occurred in this map. The first occurred with the court ruling followed by the government decree that labelled the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. A number of other countries in the region shared Egypt’s view, notably the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, apart from Qatar. The second is the new umbrella label for the terrorist organisations in the Sinai. The IS-affiliated “Sinai State” is thought likely to attract most of the organisations based there.

The Maghreb

Algeria and Tunisia both have an Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya presence as well as other jihadist and Salafist groups. However, the most serious threat in the Maghreb in general is Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which emerged from the Algerian-based Al-Jamaa Al-Salafiya lil-Dawa wal-Qital (The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat). In 2006, Al-Jamaa Al-Salafiya declared that it had joined Al-Qaeda, led at the time by Osama Bin Laden.

The following year it officially changed its name to AQIM. Primarily based in eastern Algeria in the tribal region, it is led by Abu Musab Abdel Wadoud who had commanded the Preaching and Combat group since 2004. There are no precise figures on the number of fighters in the group, but most estimates put them at several hundred. Most are Algerian-born, but others are drawn from neighbouring Mauritania, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Mali and Nigeria.

 Structurally, AQIM divides itself into a central and southern command. The former consists of three fighter corps:

 — Jund Al-Ahwal: Consisting of the Fatah, Abu Bakr Al-Sadiq and Arqam brigades, primarily active in the Boumerdes governorate 60 kilometres east of Algiers.

— Jund Al-Ansar: Made up of Al-Nour, Othman Bin Afan and Ali Bin Abi Taleb brigades and based in the Tizi Ouzu governorate 100 kilometres east of Algiers.

Jund Al-Itisam: Comprised of Al-Farouq and Al-Huda brigades and based in Bouweira 160 kilometres east of Algiers

The southern or Sahara command is led by Yahya Jawadi, AKA Yahya Abu Ammar, and consists of Al-Mulathamun Battalion (under the command of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, AKA Abdel Hamid Abu Zaid), and Al-Furqan (under the command of Yahya Abul-Hamam).

And in Somalia there are the Salafist jihadist extensions known as the Shabaab movement, the Islamic Party and the Islamic Courts.