Latest Briefs
BRIEFS
BELGIUM: THE SCALE OF THE THREAT FACING EUROPE Alexander Sehmer Belgian counterterrorism forces are under particular scrutiny following the attacks in Brussels that left at least 31 people dead and hundreds more injured. The attacks on the morning of March 22— which consisted of three... MORE
March 2016 Brief (Free)
REBEL LIBYAN COLONEL SALAH AL-DIN BADI EMERGES AS KEY OPPONENT TO UN-BROKERED UNITY GOVERNMENT Nicholas A. Heras The United Nations brokered a national unity government in Libya, formed with the intention of ending the bitter political divisions in the country and coordinating the country’s disunited... MORE
BRIEFS
PAKISTAN: MILITANT SYMPATHIES AMONG THE MIDDLE CLASS Alexander Sehmer Pakistani police arrested a Karachi-based dentist named Usman Khan on February 14 in connection with last year’s Safoora bus attack, which killed 45 and wounded 13 more. Under interrogation, Khan reportedly told the authorities that he... MORE
February 2016 Briefs (Free)
LIWA FURSAN'S MODERATE SYRIAN FIELD COMMANDER LT. COLONEL FARES AL-BAYOUSH Nicholas Heras The cessation of hostilities agreement between the al-Assad government and its allies and the Syrian armed opposition began on February 27 with low optimism for success. However, several U.S.-backed, Syrian armed opposition organizations... MORE
BRIEFS
AL-SHABAAB ATTACKS IN SOMALIA SUGGEST NEW HARDLINE STRATEGY Al-Shabaab, the Somali Islamist militant group, has conducted a range of attacks during the last few weeks, significant both in their scale and their increasingly direct targeting of civilians that suggest the group may be undergoing a... MORE
BRIEFS
CAN TUNISIA'S JIHADISTS CAPITALIZE ON COUNTRY'S ECONOMIC CRISIS? Two militants were killed and at least one member of the Tunisian security forces was injured on February 1 during clashes in Gabes province (al-Bawaba, February 2; al-Arabiya, February 2). The clashes began after three militants armed... MORE
January 2016 Briefs (Free)
POWERFUL TURKMEN IRAQI LEADER, ARSHAD AL-SALEHI Nicholas A. Heras Predominately ethnic Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are reportedly preparing to stage a major offensive against Islamic State forces in areas south of the strategic, oil-rich central-northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. It is believed that ethnic Turkmen militias,... MORE
BRIEFS
AL-SHABAAB ATTACK KEEPS PRESSURE ON KENYAN MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT On January 15, the Somali militant group al-Shabaab carried out one of its most significant attacks on the forces of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), when it attacked a remote Kenyan military forward operating... MORE
BRIEFS
FRESH MILITANT VIOLENCE IN PHILIPPINES ILLUSTRATES CONTINUING JIHADIST PRESENCE James Brandon Armed members of Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) kidnapped and killed nine Christian farmers in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao on December 24 (Manila Bulletin, December 27, 2015). On the same day, also... MORE