Since May 5, 2017, over the period of the last month, there have been 147 terrorist attacks worldwide. The preponderance of these have taken place in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa plus Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nigeria. A dozen of these attacks have entailed mass fatalities.
The attacks haven’t been restricted to those countries, however. Among the continents only Australia and Antarctica have been spared.
Several hundreds of people have been killed in these attacks and many more injured.
At Geopolitical Futures Kamran Bokhari outlines the bloody history of Ramadan which began May 26:
Given this history, Ramadan is viewed as more than a religious holiday; it has always had a geopolitical dimension. Groups like the Islamic State, al-Qaida, the Taliban and others invoke this history to further their agendas. Having accused the Muslim regimes and most Muslims of abandoning Islam, the jihadists claim to be the rightful heirs to this legacy. Their narrative is infused with historical references, which the jihadists use to galvanize their fighters during the holy month. This explains why, since 9/11, jihadist attacks during Ramadan have spiked.
Ramadan has also been politicized by those representing the Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam. The two principal players in this struggle, Saudi Arabia and Iran, use this month to energize their supporters. The Saudis, who are the leaders of the Sunni Islamic world, encourage their supporters to defend their faith from the “deviant†Shiites, while Iran, which leads the Shiite sect, tries to incite hostilities as well.
To my eye terrorist attacks do not appear to have spiked this Ramadan. They’re continuing at about the same rate we’ve seen for the last year. Most just take place safely out of sight in Iraq, Syria, or Libya where we don’t notice them.
