“In early 2011, as the Arab Spring revolutions were just beginning, a New York Times article concluded that for most analysts, ‘the past few weeks have the makings of an epochal disaster for Al Qaeda, making the jihadists look like ineffectual bystanders to history while offering young Muslims an appealing alternative to terrorism.’ The vast majority of terrorism experts believed the revolutions sweeping the Middle East and North Africa were the death knell not only for regional despots, but also for the jihadist movement.”
Source: Spike in African Terrorism Highlights the Importance of Jihadist Innovation – War on the Rocks