Latest Articles about Military/Security
Pro–Islamic State Militants Carry out Attacks in Dagestan
North Caucasian militants who recently pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his so-called Islamic State (see EDM, January 8) have experienced their first losses. It happened during a counter-terrorist operation conducted on March 31 in the city of Khasavyurt, near the administrative border with... MORE
Chechen Militants Fighting in Middle East Remain Split in Their Loyalties
Many Chechen supporters of the Islamic State have flocked to the Middle East. And as their numbers and fervency have grown, this has placed at a disadvantage other Chechen commanders in the Middle East who have refused to subordinate themselves to the self-styled new caliphate.... MORE
Russia Increases Military Capacity in the South Caucasus
Recent geographically broad, intensive and large-scale military exercises of the Russian army, including those in the North Caucasus (Russia’s Southern Military District—MD), have again raised concerns about Vladimir Putin’s possible attempts to hinder the development of Georgia’s cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)... MORE
Continued Confrontation With the West Will Prop up Putin’s Regime for Years
A fragile ceasefire is partially holding in Donbas (eastern Ukrainian region encompassing Donetsk and Luhansk provinces). Massive offensive operations have ceased and some heavy weapons have been withdrawn from the front line. But the truce is constantly broken by gun battles and bombardments. The Organization... MORE
Russian and Uzbek Soldiers Reportedly Now in Turkmenistan to Counter Afghan Threat
In a measure of just how frightened Ashgabat is of the possibility that Afghan radical forces will invade Turkmenistan, it has reportedly allowed Russian and now Uzbekistani military personnel to provide help in fortifying its border and has appealed to the United States for military... MORE
Russia Reinforces Crimea as Military Conceals Underlying Conventional Weakness
Russia’s recent “snap inspection” military exercises in Western and Southern Military Districts (see EDM, March 19) and the defense ministry’s plans to reinforce conventional deployments in Crimea (see EDM, March 27) generate an impression of revived Russian military power. However, Russia’s relatively careful and low-scale... MORE
One Country, Two Governments, Plenty of Chaos: Portraits of Libya’s Competing Prime Ministers Abdullah al-Thinni of Tobruk and Omar al-Hasi of Tripoli
Libya is experiencing a very critical phase of its post-revolutionary era. The country is engulfed by a civil war in which a number of local conflicts and fault lines overlap (Terrorism Monitor, March 20, 2015). The international community, namely the UN, has stepped up efforts... MORE
A Post-Mortem Profile of AQAP Shari’a Official Harith bin Ghazi al-Nadhari
On January 31, a U.S. drone strike in Shabwah, a province in south Yemen, killed Shaykh Harith bin Ghazi al-Nadhari, a high-ranking jihadist scholar and one of the most prominent members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) (Yemen Times, February 2; al-Sharq al-Awsat, February... MORE
Zekerija Qazimi—Kosovo’s Imprisoned Imam and Ideological Mentor to Albanian Jihadists Fighting With Islamic State
Since August 2014, more than 100 individuals have been arrested or questioned by the security services in Kosovo, including a number of leading religious and political figures. These arrests stem from charges and allegations of recruiting young Albanian men and women from Kosovo to join... MORE
Islamabad’s Umme Hassan: Female Mobilizer and Jihadist Inspirer at the Red Mosque
In a video statement on November 24, 2014, burka clad students of Islamabad’s Lal Masjid-affiliated (Red Mosque) female seminary, Jamia-e-Hafsa, pledged allegiance to Islamic State amir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It was shocking, as the all-girls madrassa had long been known for supporting al-Qaeda and the... MORE