SOFREP Daily Brief

• Special Forces Officer speaks out about Bales’ rampage in Afghanistan

  The U.S. military’s biggest mass murder in decades happened under the watch of Dan Fields. For the first time, he opens up about the war crime—and the soldier who did it. – The Daily Beast

• Syrian Arab-Kurdish alliance is a farce

  EIN EISSA, Syria — Weeks after the Obama administration canceled a failed Pentagon program to train and arm Syrian rebels to combat the Islamic State, American officials announced a new effort to equip ground forces in Syria to fight the jihadists. But 10 days of interviews and front-line visits across northern Syria with many of the forces in the alliance, called the Syrian Democratic Forces, made clear that so far it exists in name only, and that the political and logistical challenges it faces are daunting. – The New York Times

• NFL billing American taxpayers to honor veterans

  
  Sources say sports franchises are accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars which they say is part of an advertising deal with the Pentagon. – Haystack TV

• Iranian IRGC says rift developing with Russia over the fate of Assad

  The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has hinted at a conflict of interest between Russia and Iran over the fate of Bashar al-Assad, saying that Moscow’s intervention in Syria aims to secure its own interests. Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, who claimed that most of the Syrian people support Assad, said “the northern friend [Russia] who came to Syria to [provide] military support recently [did so to serve] its [own] interests.” – Business Insider

• How El Chapo’s power extends into the United States

  

  This map is taken from the Drug Enforcement Administration’s most recent intelligence report, published in July, outlining the areas of U.S. influence of Mexico’s largest drug cartels. The orange and light-orange chunks covering nearly the entire map, including Alaska and Hawaii, represent the areas of the United States where Guzman’s Sinaloa cartel is the dominant Mexican cartel controlling the illegal trade. – The Huffington Post

[Featured image: A Kurdish militia fighter rested last week on the eastern banks of the Euphrates River. Islamic State militants fire on Kurdish bases from across the river. Tyler Hicks|The New York Times]