SIPRI Yearbook 2019
V. Armed conflict and peace processes in the Middle East and North Africa
There were seven countries with active armed conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa in 2018: Egypt (high-intensity, subnational armed conflict), Iraq (internationalized civil war), Israel (low-intensity, extrastate armed conflict), Libya (internationalized civil war), Syria (major internationalized civil war), Turkey (high-intensity, extrastate and subnational armed conflict) and Yemen (major internationalized civil war).1 Many of these conflicts were interconnected and involved regional and international powers as well as numerous non-state actors.2 The conflicts have killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more. Security dilemmas—which occur when states attempt to increase their own security but trigger countermeasures that leave them even less secure—overwhelmed the region in 2018, shaped by three cross-cutting issues: (a) ongoing regional interstate rivalries with a shifting network of external alliances and interests; (b) continuing threats from violent jihadist groups; and (c) increasing competition over water and growing climate-change impacts.3 This section first briefly examines these three issues, and then describes developments in each of the armed conflicts and any related peace processes in 2018.
- Citation (MLA):
- Davies, Ian. "2. Armed conflict and peace processes." SIPRI Yearbook. SIPRI. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2016. Web. 12 Jun. 2025. <https://www.sipriyearbook.org/view/9780198839996/sipri-9780198839996-chapter-2-div1-017.xml>.
- Citation (APA):
- Davies, I. (2016). 2. Armed conflict and peace processes. In SIPRI, SIPRI Yearbook 2019: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 12 Jun. 2025, from https://www.sipriyearbook.org/view/9780198839996/sipri-9780198839996-chapter-2-div1-017.xml
- Citation (Chicago):
- Davies, Ian. "2. Armed conflict and peace processes." In SIPRI Yearbook 2019: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security, SIPRI. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016). Retrieved 12 Jun. 2025, from https://www.sipriyearbook.org/view/9780198839996/sipri-9780198839996-chapter-2-div1-017.xml
Please log in to access full text content, or find out more about how to subscribe.
If you think you should have access to this service, please contact your librarian.