ISIS

Afghanistan’s premier Special Operations Aviation unit is slotted to receive an unspecified number of CH-47 Chinooks from the U.S. Established in 2005, the Special Mission Wing (SMW) is the cream of the crop of the AAF. With less than 1,000 pilots and ground personnel in its ranks, the unit was initially designed to support counter-narcotics […]

Despite numerous efforts since the 1920s, the international community has failed to define or criminalize “terrorism” in international law. There is a sizeable international disagreement on what exactly defines terrorism. This inability to come to a general agreement is the stem of many shortcomings on the international laws of terrorism. These shortcomings of international law […]

The pair of MH-60 Blackhawks roared past the target building. One of the birds came into a hover, and operators started fast-roping. Time was of the essence. They were supposed to have hit this target some minutes before. The ISIS cell leader that was inside might have already left. An MH-47 Chinook carrying the blocking […]

Three members of the al-Qaeda terrorist group were stopped and apprehended trying to fly into Dallas while using passports from Colombia. The three entered Colombia via Venezuela.  The three al-Qaeda members who are from Syria, entered Colombia in  La Guajira, in northeast Colombia. The three men were able to obtain actual passports as they had […]

Looking back, I didn’t have a clue what being Special Operations actually meant. I started my career in the Canadian Forces as a combat engineer. Out of all the careers I could have chosen, I chose to enlist as a human mine detector. Frankly, I settled for this trade because infantry seemed too hardcore at […]

Last week, Mufti Abu Abdul Bari, also known as Shifa al-Nima, was captured by Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) during an operation in Mosul, Iraq. According to Iraqi media reports, the Islamic State cleric weighs approximately an astounding 254 kilograms (560 pounds) — anyone working on his deadlift PR, here’s your chance. The Iraqi commandos […]

The United States military has resumed some offensive operations with Iraqi military units against Islamic State targets. The U.S. will also shortly resume the training of Iraqi units. (The two sides are currently trying to work out the details — we don’t currently know who the U.S. negotiators are.) This resumption of operations comes just […]

The Iranian government is facing mounting protests at home, where Iranian security forces are reportedly using live ammunition on Iranian citizens. The citizens were protesting the government shooting down an airliner that took off from Tehran. All 176 onboard, including 82 Iranians died in the shootdown. The government admitted that it “lied to the people” […]

Unidentified aircraft pounded Iranian-backed militias on Friday in Syria, near the border with Iraq. Eight militiamen were killed by the strikes, Iraqi officials reported.  The targets were two trucks carrying ballistic missiles. This latest attack comes at a time when tensions between the United States and Iran are very high after a series of escalating […]

Special Forces soldiers from the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) received dozens of combat medals, among them three Silver Stars, the nation’s third-highest award for valor under fire, for their actions during a single deployment to Afghanistan. In addition to the three Silver Stars, during the six-month deployment, the 2nd Battalion, 7th SFG operators received […]

Unfortunately, if we had such a talented general or leader, it would be difficult to identify him or her, because we have a system that is institutional in nature. But it works better than any other.

After the Iranian missile attack on the joint U.S./Iraqi bases, many are wondering what happens next. And then, will the U.S. still be forced to leave Iraq, after Iraqi lawmakers passed a non-binding resolution to kick out American troops from the country?  First of all, some of what will transpire will have to do with […]