Eighteen-year-old Egyptian student and photographer Yasser Alaa has been documenting his country's recent revolution from behind the lens of a camera, most recently attending protests that sprang up after the country's longtime dictator, Hosni Mubarak, stepped down.

Parts of the Middle East and North Africa were historically considered the Fertile Crescent, but this region of abundance is now in decline, and some analysts say it's no coincidence that there is unrest growing in its place.