ISIS is still holding nearly 2,000 Yazidi women as slaves

ISIS is still holding nearly 2,000 Yazidi women as slaves

The Islamic state still holds nearly 2000 Iraqi women as slaves, most of them Yazidis, and more than 300,000 Yazidis are still displaced almost two years after the group swept into the northern Iraqi district of Sinjar, according to a new United Nations report. Sinjar district was home to more than 300,000 people — mostly Yazidis […]

Can Cartoons Save Pakistan’s Children From Jihad?

Can Cartoons Save Pakistan’s Children From Jihad?

LAHORE, Pakistan — “How do we prevent the 5-year-old in Pakistan from becoming a radical?” U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan asked in an April interview. Imran Azhar has a ready answer: “You make him a hero. And you redefine what it is to be a hero.” Azhar is part of a small group of Pakistani artists, activists, […]

Why was a folded ISIS flag placed on the casket of a fallen Delta operator?

Why was a folded ISIS flag placed on the casket of a fallen Delta operator?

In a recent article titled, “Inside the Real US Ground War on ISIS” by Mike Giglio, new details about Delta Force‘s collaboration with Kurdish counter-terrorism units is detailed, including the Hawija prison rescue in which Delta operator Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler was killed. The well researched article mentions Wheeler’s bravery under fire and the admiration […]

China to begin train, advise, assist mission in Syria to back Assad Regime

China to begin train, advise, assist mission in Syria to back Assad Regime

A few years ago, relatively early on in the war against ISIS, I was smuggled into Northern Syria along a PKK re-supply route.  Taking a small inflatable boat across the river which acted as the border between Syria and Iraq, my first stop in the Kurdish held areas of Syria (known as Rojava) was a […]

CENTCOM’s new mission statement: Truth is an option

CENTCOM’s new mission statement: Truth is an option

Last week, the Daily Beast reported, fifty CENTCOM intelligence analysts filed a formal complaint with the inspector general after they felt like their reports were being altered by senior officials in order to downplay the strength and capabilities of ISIS and al Qaeda. The article alleges, that the senior officials, to include the director of intelligence and […]

ISIS leaves behind booby-trapped hospitals in liberated town

ISIS leaves behind booby-trapped hospitals in liberated town

Even after its liberation from the so-called Islamic State, this city in northern Syria remains draped in jihadist black banners. Anything and everything might be rigged with explosives, and often it is, so people don’t rip down flags without thinking first. As I visited the scene of battle repeatedly over the weekend, the sound of […]