Chapter Three: Middle East

Abstract

As President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi strengthened his control of Egypt throughout 2015, the security situation in the country deteriorated significantly. Wilayat Sina (Sinai Province), an insurgent group that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) in November 2014, posed a severe security threat, launching deadly attacks and challenging the security forces’ tenuous control over Sinai. Egypt concurrently faced a medium-level insurgency led by radicalised individuals linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. The complex security environment was used by the Sisi-led government as a pretext for restricting space for political participation. Many of the government’s policies, however, appeared to be slowly generating discontent and undermining the president’s support base.