In Case You Forgot, Egypt Is Still in the Midst of a Major Conflict

Over the past few weeks, attention from the government and the media has been locked on Syria—trying to figure out who used chemical weapons, and what the world could, or should, do about it. But just a month ago trouble was flaring across the Mediterranean Sea. On August 14, we learned that protests in Egypt had turned deadly. But though our eyes may have drifted east, the trouble in Egypt did not fade with our attention.

As the Associated Press reports, the past month has been bad: an “al-Qaida-inspired militant group” tried to assassinate the country’s interior minister, supposedly in retaliation for the government crack down a month ago. Groups supporting the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, also “attacked churches and police stations,” says the AP. The army, on the other hand, has waged a campaign to wipe out opposition, using tanks and helicopters to sweep “through villages in the northern Sinai Peninsula near the border with the Palestinian Gaza Strip on Monday, the third day of a major offensive against Islamic extremists, a military official said.”

The main narrative of the conflict is “rebels vs. military,” but it’s sweeping up other Egyptians, too, says Time. For example: “An Egyptian labor lawyer and a journalist have been detained, raising rights activists’ concerns that the military-led government is widening its crackdown to include non-Islamist critics of its policies.”

More from Smithsonian.com:

Three Things to Know About the Bloodshed in Egypt
Obama Isn’t the First Peace Prize Laureate to Support a War

Colin Schultz | | READ MORE

Colin Schultz is a freelance science writer and editor based in Toronto, Canada. He blogs for Smart News and contributes to the American Geophysical Union. He has a B.Sc. in physical science and philosophy, and a M.A. in journalism.