When the Israeli military seized control of the border crossing at Rafah, the Egyptian government seemed to be taken by surprise. Egypt’s government has stopped cooperating with aid shipments into Rafah. It’s also joined South Africa’s effort at the International Court of Justice to bring charges of genocide against Israel. Experts say the 45-year-old Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty is being put at risk.
When the terrorist group ISIS emerged in Syria in the last decade, some 30,000 foreign fighters went to Syria to fight for the group. Most were from Europe and Asia. About 300 Americans joined or attempted to join ISIS, including one woman who was married to an American ISIS fighter.
ISIS still conducts large-scale attacks like the one in Russia last month that killed about 130 people. In Syria, where the group originated, it continues to be active. One strategy to contain ISIS has been to hold thousands of people in detention camps in northeastern Syria.
“They make me bleed inside every time I talk to them,” says Saber Askar, a US citizen from Yemen, with family still in the war-torn country. “I don’t know what to do. Every time I call, I’m afraid they’re not going to answer anymore.”