The Coalition of the Willing

By Avi Melamed

Avi Melamed is a Strategic Intelligence Analyst and a former Israeli senior official on Arab Affairs. He is a Fellow of Intelligence and Middle East Affairs at the Eisenhower Institute, where he leads a year-long program entitled Inside the Middle East - Intelligence Perspectives. His new book Inside the Middle East: Making Sense of the Most Dangerous and Complicated Region on Earth will be published in the United States in March 2016.

The collapse or weakening of state authority in different parts of the Middle East and Africa, together with growing inner challenges and chronic instability in large parts of the region and the widening and escalating Iranian-Arab power struggle, creates a chaotic environment militant Islamic groups exploit to expand their activities and influence.

The threat of militant Islamist groups is growing exponentially due to: their access to huge amounts of weapons; the availability of advanced weapons—including chemical materials that can be weaponized; the efficient use of Internet and social media platforms for the recruitment and activation of activists and supporters; and a growing and widening global terror infrastructure—particularly in Europe stemming from the massive influx of refugees fleeing from the Middle East and Africa.

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