Libya’s UN-brokered unity agreement is fragile at best and could fracture in the event of a stepped-up Western intervention against Islamic State forces, says expert Mary Fitzgerald.

Post-Qaddafi Libya is riven along regional, economic, and religious lines, and may descend into civil war despite a recent flurry of international diplomacy, says journalist Mary Fitzgerald.

The Arab Spring severely weakened the narrative of Islamist extremists but they are now stirring anti-U.S. sentiments in fragile new democracies, says Mideast expert Ali Soufan.

Violence against U.S. diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt highlights the difficult road ahead for U.S. relations with these struggling states, says CFR’s Robert Danin.