Pieter Van Ostaeyen
Pieter Van Ostaeyen studied Medieval History with a specialisation in the history of the Crusades (KULeuven 1999) and Arabic and Islamic Studies, focusing on the history of Salah ad-Din al-Ayyubi and the Assassins (KULeuven 2003). Van Ostaeyen has been analysing the conflict in Syria since the outset in 2011. In 2012 he began reporting on foreign fighters and extremist groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar as-Sham, Jund al-Aqsa and The Islamic State. Since September 1st 2016 he is a PhD applicant at the University of Leuven researching the usage of social media in the ideological strife between al-Qaeda and The Islamic State.
This original report is published by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and project CRAAFT. Post-Qadhafi Libya has played a pivotal role in the proliferation of small arms and light weapons (SALW) not only in the Middle East and North Africa but also in other regions, as far as West Africa and the Horn of […]
This perspective analyses potential SADC interventions and private military companies to combat Islamic State terrorism in Mozambique.
Since the end of 2016, Britain and the US have taken unprecedented steps to proscribe post-war radical right groups; National Action, Sonnenkrieg Division, and Feuerkrieg Division by the former, and the Russian Imperial Movement by the latter. While these groups are serial purveyors of online extremism and often celebrate terrorism in their fora, deeper similarities […]