Latest Briefs
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


October 2015 Briefs
THE IRGC’S IRAQI POINT MEN IN SYRIA: SHAYKH AUWS AL-KHAFAJI AND SHAYKH AMMAR AL-LAMI Nicholas A. Heras The Liwa Abu Fadhil al-Abbas network, including its affiliated organization Quwat Abu Fadhil al-Abbas, is an important component of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-coordinated militias supplementing the... MORE

BRIEFS
BANGLADESH ATTACKS SHOW INCREASING ISLAMIC STATE INFLUENCE James Brandon In the last six weeks, Bangladesh has been hit by a near-unprecedented series of Islamist militant attacks targeting foreigners and local Shi’a Muslims. On September 28, an Italian NGO worker, who was residing in the country,... MORE
September 2015 Briefs
SYRIAN OPPOSITION LEADER ALLIED WITH MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD POSITIONS HIS GROUP TO RECEIVE U.S. AID Nicholas A. Heras Mustapha Berro (a.k.a. Saqr Abu Qutaiba) is the overall leader of Tajammu Fastaqim Kama Umirt (Be Upright as Ordered Gathering), a leading constituent faction within Jabhat al-Shamiya committed... MORE

BRIEFS
EGYPTIAN ARMY’S KILLING OF TOURISTS HIGHLIGHTS WESTERN DESERT THREAT James Brandon The Egyptian military, on September 15, killed 12 civilians, including at least two Mexican tourists, in an attack on a tourist convoy in the country’s Western Desert (al-Ahram, September 14). According to reports from... MORE

BRIEFS
AL-SHABAAB ATTACK ON PEACEKEEPERS CANNOT HIDE GROUPS’ DISARRAY James Brandon The Somali Islamist militant organization al-Shabaab carried out one of its most lethal attacks in years on September 1, when it bombed a Ugandan military base in the Janale district of the lower Shabele region,... MORE

August 2015 Briefs
HAMMOUD SAEED AL-MIKHLAFI LEADS THE FIGHT AGAINST THE HOUTHIS IN TAIZ Nicholas A. Heras Yemen’s third-largest city of Taiz, which has a population of more than one million people and is located in the southwestern region of the country, 180 kilometers northwest of Aden, is... MORE

