Story highlights Frida Ghitis: Middle East being rocked by another wave of violence

Syrian tragedy spreading well beyond country's borders, she says

Frida Ghitis is a world affairs columnist for the Miami Herald and World Politics Review and a former CNN producer and correspondent. Follow her @FridaGhitis. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) In the past couple of days, the Middle East has been rocked by yet another wave of violence.

You may think this is old news, simply more of the same. But it isn't. New conflicts and attacks are popping up all over the region as the virus of violence that has been allowed to fester in Syria has continued its relentless spread outward.

As a result, the catastrophe of the Syrian people is becoming a worsening tragedy outside that country's borders, too. And the sad truth is you need a spreadsheet these days to keep track of the warring sides and shifting calculations of all involved in one of the most complicated web of conflicts the world has ever seen.

In the early hours of Thursday, the people of Cairo were shaken awake by a powerful blast. Dozens were injured in an attack that took place in front of an Egyptian government security building. An Egyptian group affiliated with the self-anointed Islamic State, or ISIS, claimed responsibility. The blast was just the latest in an escalating war between the government and the local ISIS branch, which last month saw militants attack an Egyptian navy vessel in a missile strike that showed this is no small-time guerrilla group.

The previous day, Turkey saw the latest flare-up in tensions that look to be developing into a much larger conflict between government forces and Kurdish separatists. On Wednesday, gunmen in the heart of Istanbul opened fire on a palace popular with tourists. The same day, in the southeast of the country, eight soldiers were killed ; soon after, government F-16s struck shelters of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK.