Trends in global terrorism and the return of state sponsorship

Abstract

The operation launched by the United States in July 2022 that resulted in the death of Ayman al-Zawahiri served as a reminder that jihadist groups remain active and are being pursued by Western security services. But in recent years, more global terrorist attacks have been politically rather than religiously motivated. Extremist groups focused broadly on far-right political issues have grown in size. Meanwhile, there has been an increasing number of state-sponsored assassinations, terrorist attacks, shadow operations and proxy wars, a trend that is likely to continue.