On Oct. 18, Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi renewed the state of emergency for three more months. The state of emergency has been imposed since Nov. 25, 2015, in the wake of a suicide attack on a bus carrying members of the presidential guard. The Tunisian presidency said in a statement, “Following consultations with the prime minister and parliament speaker, the president decided to extend the state of emergency nationwide.”

The decision was issued despite the fact that the security situation has improved in the country. This raises questions about the motives behind it, particularly since the state of emergency, according to Tunisian law, allows the authorities to impose a curfew and ban labor strikes and public gatherings without judicial permission.

Political analyst Nizar Maqni told Al-Monitor that this renewal can be interpreted at both the security and social levels. He said, “First of all, this renewal is designed to counter terrorism and terrorist operations, particularly since the threats have persisted. This is in light of the dormant cells’ suspicious moves in the country, especially those affiliated with the Islamic State [IS], which acts to retaliate and respond to IS defeats in Libya at the hands of the Libyan presidential and national accord government forces, or in Syria and Iraq, especially under the Iraqi army’s campaign against IS in Mosul. Also, the jihadi cells are still moving. Recently [Oct. 17], a plan was disclosed to assassinate the interior minister and target sovereign centers. This is added to the security services’ fears about the return of Tunisian fighters from the battles, at a time when the authorities are aware that they failed to control the border entirely, which has raised security concerns in this regard.”

Since early October, Tunisia’s security services have dismantled several jihadi cells, some of which are affiliated with Ansar al-Sharia, which has been banned since 2013, while others are affiliated with IS. According to media reports, security forces arrested IS’ emir in Tunisia, Iskandar Freij, also known as Abu al-Bara al-Tunisi. On Aug. 24, Tunisian authorities extended the military buffer zone along its eastern border with Libya for another year. The buffer zone was created in August 2013 to prevent the smuggling of arms and ammunition from Libya to Tunisia.