Since the Libyan Arab Armed Forces took control of the southern region on 15 January 2019, the southwestern capital Sebha has continued to deal with several crises, including the most recent outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The first coronavirus case was recorded on 26 May and only some days later the National Centre for Disease […]

Since recapturing Eastern Ghouta, the Syrian regime has worked with its security agencies to govern its towns. Given the fragility of state institutions after nine years of war, the Covid-19 outbreak may be one of the biggest challenges the regime faces today, especially in areas recently retaken. As the pandemic spreads with 44 cases confirmed […]

Even if as a general rule authoritarian regimes might be more politically resistant than democratic ones to a high level of mortality due to the Covid-19 epidemic, they cannot prevent information from spreading, not only because of social networks but also because the population will have concrete and personal experiences of the losses. The argument […]

Epidemics, like the many plagues that have struck Europe (for example in 1347 at the start of the Hundred Years War and during the Thirty Years War in 1618-1648), have never ended a war in history, even though sometimes they have played a long-term role by weakening empires or exhausting the fighters. There are two […]

As the Chinese government showcases its success in controlling the pandemic, much media attention has called into question the accuracy of the government-reported official count of coronavirus cases in China. However, beyond the Chinese government’s campaign to downplay the severity of the pandemic in China, the lack of transparency in authoritarian regimes around the world […]

The coronavirus pandemic has now reached Libya. It threatens to further exacerbate the crisis in Tripoli and the western part of the country, which is already directly affected by the continuing war. The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) is faced with several challenges in its attempts to deal with the crisis: political divisions that […]

Aware of the fragility of the country’s healthcare system and its high risk of a rapid spread of the coronavirus due to the country’s close connection with Europe, the Tunisian authorities took early measures to prevent large-scale contamination, which they would be hard-pressed to handle at the level of medical services. While the epidemic seems […]

The spread of Covid-19 to the MENA region has coincided with a heightened period of popular mobilisation for political change in a number of countries, namely Iraq, Lebanon and Algeria. In response to the initial impact of the virus, all types of popular gatherings were put to an end in an attempt to contain its […]

A Russian Bear without Claws? It seems that Putin has forgotten to read the Art of War by Tsun Tzu, several main quotes from which should have been taken on board by Moscow advisors before hitting the market: “If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is superior in […]

For the Syrian regime, which now controls over 70 per cent of Syrian territory, the Covid-19 virus might represent one of the most significant social crises since the beginning of the war. As more and more of the population is under its domination, Damascus has been clutching at solutions to the increasing challenges with very […]