Radical Islamist Groups and the Conflicts that Surround Them

 Many Moving Parts 

 

Many of the current conflicts in the middle east are quite complicated. With ideas that have conflicted for hundreds of years, superpowers in proxy wars and leaders who will not compromise there is a lot to talk about.

There is no way I will be able to give you the full overview of what is actually going on here, but I will try to give a decent summary of some major topics.

 Conflicts and Players

• Irael/Palestine - A very long-standing conflict over territory, as both groups have seemingly legitimate claims to land and the deeply religious territory on that land. This conflict has continuously become more and more heated over the past 100 years. Both sides have done wrong to each other and it really is personal opinion on who is right. The West is generally supportive of Israel, which leads to many other issues.
• Pakistan - With a highly corrupt government and deep-seeded tribal conflict in the Western regions/extremism. Mixed relations with the West. Also in a very tense conflict with India ranging back years.
• Russia - Russia is closely allied with the current Syrian government and getting increasingly involved. Russia's near-broke and the involvement has really stepped up in the past few years. Russia's involvement in the Middle East goes back quite far and I suggest anyone to read up on it.
• Afghanistan - Constant conflict in the region for the past 40 years. Russian invaded in the 80s, but fended off by the US sponsored militant groups (Mujaheddin), which included groups that Osama Bin Laden was involved with to help battle the Soviets. Eventually the US became more involved in the Middle East which led to 9/11 to which the US and western coalition responded by running in and fighting back. One of the big issues is that the country is very poor, illiterate and very tribal, many of the people in the remote regions of Afghanistan do not know much about the outside world.
• Syria - Been in a state of civil war for a while with rebels backed by the US fighting the Assad government which is backed by Russia. Extremist religious groups (ISIS) have taken a hold as well in many of the more remote regions of Syria.
• Iraq - After the major troop declines with the US pulling out, ISIS has taken over many north areas as it borders Syria.
• Iran - Not immediately involved in the current conflicts, but has been at odds with the west since the revolution in 1979. The government is very publicly anti-US and anti-Israel. They've been wanting to develop nuclear power, but the west doesn't like that, hence the recent talks and agreement. They generally keep to themselves. The country was very progressive, modern, and west-like in the 60's and 70's so many of the people within the country are not very radical themselves.

With this list I am honestly just scratching the tip of the iceberg on the various conflicts. I suggest you do your own research on these conflicts as use a multitude of sources to avoid bias. 

Osama bin Laden