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Latest Articles about Syria
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Alleged Coup Attempt Exposes Hazimite Faction Within Islamic State
As Islamic State (IS) was losing its last strongholds in Syria to the advancing, U.S.-backed, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), there were reports of a coup attempt against its leader Abu Baker al-Baghdadi. The attempted ouster of the IS leader started with reports about fighting near... MORE
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Briefs
Iran: Jaish al-Adl Attack Could See Increased Iran-India Cooperation Brian M. Perkins Iran has seen a recent surge in terrorism incidents within the country over the past year, particularly in the provinces of Khuzestan and Sistan-e-Baluchistan. Among the most notable incidents have been attacks on... MORE
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Three Conferences and a New Set of Russian Sanctions
Mid-February registered a remarkable sequence of international forums, whose participants debated and sought to counter Russia’s power politics in Europe and the Middle East. First, defense ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had their regular meeting in Brussels (February 13–14) and then proceeded... MORE
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Syrian Experience Provides New Impetus for Russia’s UAV Strategy (Part One)
On January 21, Sergey Chemezov (the CEO of the Russian arms producer Rostec) announced that, by mid-2019, Russia’s Armed Forces would receive 200 units of Pishal “radio-electronic guns” and Ratnik multifunctional infantry combat systems—elements specifically designed to deal with enemy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Among... MORE
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Hezbollah’s Salafist Ally in Lebanon: Ahmad Abd al-Karim al-Saadi
Recently, a senior Iranian national security official stated that his country would utilize its proxy forces in Lebanon and Gaza to unleash an “inferno” on Israel (Times of Israel [Jerusalem], January 29). These comments come as Israel has increased its military activities against Iran in... MORE
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Limits and Challenges to Moscow’s Military Airpower Ambitions
In recent years, Moscow has placed growing emphasis on procuring modern and advanced platforms to increase the combat capability of its Air Force, subsumed within the Aerospace Forces (Vozdushno Kosmicheskikh Sil—VKS). Many of these new aerial platforms have also been tried and tested in military... MORE
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The Syrian Predicament Turns Precarious for Russia
Foreign affairs have yielded few successes and much chagrin for Russia since the start of 2019 (see EDM, January 14, 2019). Relations with the United States are going from bad to worse, as the inevitable collapse of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signifies... MORE
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Are Russian Mercenaries Ready to Defend Venezuela’s Maduro?
Mass anti-government protests that erupted this month in major Venezuelan cities apparently already claimed the lives of at least 29 protestors. The country’s embattled president, Nicolás Maduro, has defined the events as “an attempt at forceful regime change organized by American imperialism” (Rosbalt, January 26,... MORE
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Looking Up: The Security Implications of UAV Proliferation
Introduction In the ebb and flow of the Afghanistan war, international coalition forces have historically had sole access to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has regularly used UAVs to monitor and neutralize Taliban forces (Khaama Press, May 16, 2018). Although insufficient... MORE
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Emilie König, Mayfa, Zahra Douman—The IS Women Leading The Next Frontier of Women in Jihad
With the dream of a Caliphate coming to an ignominious end, and Islamic State (IS) insurgents either being killed or fleeing from Syria and Iraq, female jihadists have been subjected to prosecution and captivity. As an increasing number of European women publicly plead for repatriation,... MORE