Jamie Read

Note: This is part three of a multi-part series exploring elite components within the conventional British forces. During WWII, the British military required an elite airborne unit trained to fight behind enemy lines, and so the Parachute Regiment was born. The elite airborne unit, also known as the Paras, jumped into occupied Germany. Their mission […]

The 4/73 (Sphinx) Special Observation Post Battery Royal Artillery frequently deploys surveillance and target acquisition patrols, which often operate far from the primary force, behind enemy lines. They deploy fire support teams to brigade reconnaissance forces or other reconnaissance elements to aid in calling in accurate artillery strikes. The unit was established in 1982 predominantly […]

At least five British servicemen from the Special Boat Service (SBS), an elite naval counterterrorism unit, have been wounded during ongoing operations in Yemen. The proxy war in the country has left more than 60,000 dead and 13 million people subject to famine. The operators’ activities in the war-shattered region are cloaked in mystery. Around […]

Note: This is part two of a multi-part series exploring elite components within the conventional British forces. 148 Battery (Meiktila) is a unit comprised of specifically qualified men from the British Army and Royal Navy. Tasked with calling in artillery and airstrikes to support United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) and 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines. […]

Fears continue to mount in eastern Ukraine as the country nears all-out war with Russia. Reports show that Russia has prepared a large strike force on the border of Ukraine. Some would claim this is a frozen war, as all attempts at resolving the conflict with diplomacy have failed. Since the start of this year, […]

Recent reports have indicated the Russian private military firm Wagner Group has reinforced Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) with 300 personnel in Libya. The report also suggests the mercenary group has delivered artillery, tanks, drones, and ammunition to the LNA. What is the Wagner Group? Wagner Group is an unregistered Russian paramilitary company that […]

The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) has replaced its commander and chief, Abu Musab al-Barnawi, naming Abu Abdullah Ibn Umar al-Barnawi as the new region commander. The former commander’s father was none other than Muhammad Yusuf, the founder of Boko Haram. It raises the question: has the Islamic State just killed al-Barnawi? Mamman Nur and al-Barnawi created ISWAP in late […]

The booby-trapped body of a man captured and killed by jihadists last week exploded when relatives tried to bury it, killing 17 individuals and injuring many others. It’s thought the citizen went to find grass for his cattle in a forest outside of Diankabou in Koro, located in the Mopti region of Mali. He never […]

The Koulikoro Training Center (KTC), part of the European Union Training Mission (EUTM) in Mali, came under assault late last month from unknown gunmen and was rocked by a pair of suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (SVBIEDs). Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) has claimed responsibility for the attack and released  images of their “heroes” […]

Abu Iyadh al-Tunisi, a senior al-Qaeda member and the architect of the Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia, has been killed in an operation by French forces, according to Menastream. The operation took place in El Aklé, nearly 186 miles northwest of Timbuktu, Mali, on the border with Mauritania. Abu Iyadh, an Afghanistan veteran, founded […]

Current Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected last week. “Buhari, of the ruling All Progressives Congress party, secured 56 percent, or 15.2 million votes, in the February 23rd polls,” said Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as reported by TWNews24. This means Buhari, 76, gets a second four-year term as leader […]

Amadou Koufa, the senior member of the Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), is alive—despite French forces claiming to have killed him. The top militant commander purportedly died in a November 2018 raid led by French forces in the central Mopti region. French media shared the story that Koufa appeared “in a 19-minute-long video, answering […]