Executive Summary: Islamic State in Greater Sahara (ISGS) recently lost three major commanders, Souleymane Ag Bakawa (“Soldat”), Abrahim Boubacar (“Oubel”), and Abu Daḥdāḥ. ISGS’s losses are expected to reduce the tempo of the group’s attacks and potentially cede ground in the region’s jihadist ecosystem to... MORE

Executive Summary: General Sultani Makenga has led the Rwanda-backed March 23 Movement against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for many years. Makenga currently stands at the height of his power, having seized the eastern DRC’s two main population centers, Goma and Bukavu, in early... MORE

Executive Summary: Mazloum Abdi is the commander-in-chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and a major player in Syria’s new political environment. Abdi is expected to continue to use his support among the country’s Kurdish population and close relationship with the United States as leverage... MORE

Executive Summary: Saw Chit Thu is a warlord active in Karen State in southeastern Myanmar. Thu’s Karen Border Guard Force controls a stretch of the Thai–Myanmar border. Once an ally of the ruling junta, Thu appears to have switched sides after witnessing the rebels’ military... MORE

Executive Summary: Thadiyantavide Nazeer is a key Islamic extremist associated with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan and India’s homegrown jihadist group, Indian Mujahedeen (IM), and has been under arrest since 2013. Nazeer has managed to use his time in prison to radicalize others and was... MORE

Executive Summary: Captain Rahman Gul, the Baloch Liberation Army’s second-in-command, is thought to be behind the group’s turn toward sophisticated suicide attacks in recent years. A poet and former member of Pakistan’s security forces, Rahman Gul provides his group with both military training and effective... MORE