ISIS & Al-Qaeda fight it out in the Sahel as security forces hammer both

The Sahel remains a hot spot, particularly in Mali where violence continues unabated. Malian troops and jihadist militants have been clashing as militant attacks on civilians and small towns persist.  In a recent raid, Malian troops killed about 30 militants. Mali’s armed forces posted on Twitter that they had killed “about 30 terrorists” near the […]

Mexican military to perform police duties for four more years

Mexico’s President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, published a decree on Monday authorizing the Mexican military to participate in civilian law enforcement for four more years, until March 2024. The policy was first implemented as the Mexican government was struggling to curb the violence that plagues the country. Obrador ordered the armed forces to participate “in […]

Russian & Syrian forces have committed war crimes, report finds

The ongoing, brutal civil war in Syria has been the scene of acts that may constitute war crimes, according to Amnesty International. These acts have been perpetrated both by Syrian and Russian elements. The findings of Amnesty International are detailed in a recently published 39-page report. The U.K.-based human rights group has detailed 18 cases […]

Iranians strike their own ship in a friendly-fire incident, 19 dead

An Iranian warship was “accidentally hit by a missile” fired by another Iranian ship during an exercise in the Gulf of Oman. The accident killed 19 Iranian sailors and wounded 15 more.  The stricken support ship Konarak was hit by a new anti-ship missile being tested by the frigate Jamaran during an exercise on Sunday. […]

North Korea: COVID-19 or not?

Despite their best efforts to cover themselves, North Korea couldn’t hide from the coronavirus. It sealed its borders in late January and shut off business with China, which accounts for nine-tenths of its external trade. North Korean authorities have told citizens that there have been confirmed cases of the coronavirus. This is in contrast to […]

Israeli fighters attack chemical weapons lab inside Syria

Heavy airstrikes struck the Scientific Studies and Research Center, a Syrian government defense laboratory, as well as a military base and warehouse that housed Iranian troops and proxies in Syria. The airstrikes took place at the beginning of this week, according to Syrian state-run media SANA.   Syrian military sources initially told the media that their […]

Did the Colombian military spy on US citizens using American equipment?

SOFREP recently published a piece about the alleged spying by Colombia’s military against political opponents. Semana, the magazine that broke the news, reported that, “In those missions, using computer tools and software, [the military] carried out searches and massively and indiscriminately collected all the information possible about their objectives to prepare military intelligence reports.” Those […]

Sinkhole where ISIS dumped scores of bodies is uncovered

Human Rights Watch (HRW), has uncovered evidence that the Islamic State used a gorge in northeast Syria as a mass grave for the bodies of people it had abducted and executed.   The HRW drone flight and investigation was conducted at the al-Hota gorge located 85km (53 miles) north of Raqqa city. HRW reported that the […]

In a historic move, Germany bans all Hezbollah activities

Germany designated the Lebanese militant and political group Hezbollah a “Shiite terror organization.” This will ban all of Hezbollah’s activities in Germany where about 1,000 Hezbollah members and supporters are located. The ban will also impact the terror group’s transnational ability to raise and launder money for its operations. “As the authority responsible for issuing […]

Israeli helicopters attack Iranian positions in the Golan Heights

Israel is maintaining pressure on Iranian-led units in Syria trying to establish bases near the Israeli border. It conducted two more air attacks on Friday after a deadly airstrike earlier this week.  In the first operation, a warehouse used by the terrorist group Hezbollah in Homs was reportedly struck by Israeli missiles just after midnight […]

Massive fuel tanker bomb kills scores in Afrin, Syria

A massive bomb blast in the northern Syrian town of Afrin killed at least 46 people including 11 children and wounded another 50 in a crowded downtown street. Officials expect the death toll to rise. The bomb was detonated using a fuel tanker to increase the lethality of the explosion. Turkey’s defense ministry blamed the […]

Iraqi armed forces conduct large counterterrorism operations against ISIS

In a large combined operation carried out over two different directorates and from four different axes of advance, the Iraqi military is attacking ISIS in an attempt to root out the terrorist group from their last remaining areas in the country.  ISIS (or Daesh, as they’re locally called) terrorists tried to take advantage of the […]