Latest Briefs
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
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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
December 2015 Briefs
SHAYKH MANSOUR: NORTH YEMEN’S INFLUENTIAL POWERBROKER Nicholas A. Heras Yemeni militias mobilized along tribal lines and supported by the Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates-led coalition claim to be in preparations for an offensive against the capital of Sana’a. Reportedly, the anti-Houthi, anti-Saleh campaign is... MORE
BRIEFS
SOMALI ISLAMIC STATE SUPPORTERS LAUNCH REPORTED ATTACK IN PUNTLAND James Brandon Supporters of the Islamic State group reportedly carried out one of their first attacks in Somalia this month, in a potentially significant development that may presage the group spreading into other parts of East... MORE
November 2015 Briefs
THE SYRIAN REGIME’S ANSWER TO THE ISLAMIC STATE: MAJOR GENERAL MUHAMMAD KHADDOUR Nicholas A. Heras Major General Muhammad Khaddour is currently the overall commander of the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) Eastern District, which provides him with authority over the al-Assad government’s military operations in Raqqa,... MORE