Washington’s active role is tied by analysts to the influx of foreign mercenaries in Libya and wariness about Russia’s growing role. Egypt’s involvement in efforts led by the US State Department, represented by its embassy in Tripoli and the acting UN envoy to Libya, US diplomat Stephanie Williams, has surprised …

The Mediterranean Sea is still the principal corridor for migrants trying to enter the European Union, and Italy is in effect its front door. Hundreds of thousands of people have attempted this risky maritime route, often paying a deadly toll, including well before the migrant and refugee crisis of 2015.

The Middle East is “a place that is both remarkably impervious to change…and at the same time always sort of on the verge of an explosion, where you always think that something quite catastrophic could happen,” says Robert Malley, president and CEO of International Crisis Group and a former special …