The Islamic Republic is not immune to social unrests. Since 2017 onward, Iran has been the theatre of several spontaneous protests and riots, illustrating the consequences of complex structural deficiencies. Despite the regime’s concerted efforts to forcefully contain the protests, often through repression or intimidation, the recurrence of unrests reveals an underlying failure to address the root causes of numerous issues.

In late December 2019, the Tripoli based-UN backed- Government of National Accord (GNA) appealed for Turkey to intervene in Libya. As a response, the Turkish Parliament held an emergency session on January 3rd, 2020, and voted to authorize President Recep Tayep Erdogan to deploy Turkish troops to Libya. Soon after, the deployment of troops materialized.

On 11 February, the BIC attended the opening of a two-day, high-level regional conference on challenges posed by foreign terrorist fighters in Vienna. The conference saw the presence of more than 400 participants from over 70 countries, including main organizers such as the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), the OSCE, and Switzerland, in co-operation with Albania’s OSCE Chairmanship.

Currently, the Iraqi security sector has relied on international assistance over the past years to combat terrorism within the country through capacity building, military trainings and financial assistance. With current tensions in the region, Iraq has called for a withdrawal of all foreign military troops, which could have widespread consequences that impact the future stability of the country.