Middle East

Refreshed by a fleeting journey of the soul across time and space, I found strength in the shared silence between stars, and returned to the desert ready to march again.

Having walked the dusty camps of Gaza and the corridors of Israeli power alike, one can conclude that this conflict isn’t about religion—it’s about land, politics, and the human cost of indifference.

In a dusty courtyard outside Taji, surrounded by curious children and cautious sheiks, we built fragile bridges with bottled water, schoolbooks, and the stubborn hope that kindness could hold back the war.

On July 18, the world saw Israel and Syria shake hands after a week of bloodletting, the EU slam Russia with its harshest sanctions yet, and Trump’s DOJ crack open the Epstein vault—three headlines that read like a geopolitical fever dream, but here we are on Saturday morning, July 19, 2025. This is your SOFREP morning brief.

You can’t claim to offer humanitarian relief when the entrance to safety is guarded like a fortress—unless, of course, your idea of peace is a gated community built on someone else’s ruin.

Some heroes wear medals—Alwyn Cashe wore fire, pain, and the lives of his men on his back, and still kept going defining the “never quit” ethos.

In the stillness between IED craters and ambush points, barefoot children in sunlit fields reminded us—without knowing—that peace still dared to exist.

As Ukraine mourns a fallen F-16 pilot, Trump burns the midnight oil pushing for peace in Gaza, and 140,000 Serbs flood Belgrade demanding change—one thing’s clear: the world isn’t sleeping, and neither are its people. Welcome to Sunday, June 29, 2025. Here is your SOFREP Morning Brief.

As Iran buries its war dead, Israel pounds Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the U.S. Air Force fast-tracks the A-10’s retirement, and Republicans hit a wall trying to deregulate gun suppressors—reminding us that whether it’s on the battlefield or Capitol Hill, the fight never really ends. Here is your SOFREP Saturday Evening Brief for June 28th, 2025.

President Trump’s blockbuster week saw him torch Iran sanctions after Khamenei’s victory lap, ink a rare earth-packed trade deal with China, and dodge a Senate bid to curb his war powers—all while reminding Washington who’s calling the shots. Welcome to Saturday, June 28, 2025. This is your SOFREP Morning Brief.

President Trump calls it a knockout blow, but early intelligence suggests Iran’s nuclear program may have only taken a standing eight count.

At 7,181 miles from the front lines, the United States must resist the temptation of ground entanglement and instead wield its influence through precision airpower, steadfast alliance, and diplomatic pressure that leaves Iran increasingly boxed in.