Fathi Nasri/AFP/Getty Images. All rights reserved.Just a few weeks ago, International Alert expressed concern that bombing ISIS positions in Libya might ‘add war to war’ in the region and destabilise its Tunisian neighbour.
Our fears were tragically confirmed last week, as ISIS militants assaulted military and security facilities in the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdane on the border with Libya, killing more than 50 people, many of them civilians.
The attack was the most devastating of those perpetrated by ISIS in Tunisia, and reveals a shift in the organisation’s tactics. Feeling the squeeze in Libya, especially following the US airstrikes on Sabratha on 19 February, the fighters are now looking for a new war front in southern Tunisia.
