Islamic State

America goes to war with Iran… what would it look like? 

Well, in an earlier piece, I tried to tell you that open war with Iran is a really, really remote possibility. Now we’ll flip-flop it a bit (that’s the beauty of the internet) and assume that war between the United States and Iran isn’t only possible, but we will attempt to outline how it might […]

Are US and allied units in Iraq in danger of insider attacks?

As tensions with Iran remain high, the Pentagon and NATO have paused the training of Iraqi police and military units over concerns of insider attacks. Military officials are concerned that fighters from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs), Shia militant groups and Iranian proxies, might have infiltrated the ranks of the Iraqi police and military. (Historically, […]

Quds Force: A mix of CIA and Special Operations

The United States conducted an airstrike that not only took out the Iranian Quds Force (also known as Qods) commander General Qassem Soleimani, but also Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis the deputy head of the Iran-backed Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). President Trump said that the United States decided to order the drone strike after they learned […]

The ugly details behind a Navy SEAL’s court martial go live

Editor’s Update: After this article was published, Timothy Parlatore, Chief Gallagher’s lawyer, contacted SOFREP about some factual errors in the NYT article — which we had quoted. With respect to the stabbing incident, Parlatore said that SO1 Corey Scott didn’t change his testimony on the stand. Additionally, Chief Gallagher’s lawyer stated that SO2 Ivan Villanueva, […]

Terrorists In Burkina Faso attack town and military base, kill 31 women

Islamic terrorists attacked the town of Arbinda and its military base in the northern Soum province of Burkina Faso. The attack resulted in the killing of 35 civilians — 31 of them women — who were fetching water at the time of the attack. After several hours of fighting, the military was able to successfully […]

The Afghanistan Papers: Lessons learned or lost?

The Washington Post spent a lot of time and made many of Freedom of Information Act requests to dig up what they hoped would shed some light on what we’re doing in Afghanistan, why we’re still there and whether it is worth the lives of 2,400 — and counting — American military members and the […]

Erdogan threatens closure of US military bases in Turkey

The handwriting was on the wall and now the ongoing flap between the United States and Turkey over the U.S threatening to impose sanctions on Ankara, for buying a Russian missile system, is reaching a tipping point. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to close two strategic U.S. airbases at Incirlik and Kurecik over these […]

Deadly attack on Niger military base leaves at least 73 dead

At least 73 Nigerien soldiers were killed in an attack on a military base in western Niger, according to reports from the Ministry of Defense.  The attack took place at the military base at Inates, along the southwestern part of the country, which borders Mali. Defense Minister Issoufou Katambe said that the troops had been […]

Report: Marine Raider killed by enemy not friendly fire

A Central Command (CENTCOM) investigation has found that a highly decorated Marine Raider, who was killed in Iraq earlier this year, died from enemy and not friendly fire. Gunnery Sergeant Scott A. Koppenhafer, a Marine Raider assigned to the 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion (2nd MSOB), was killed on August 10 during combat operations in […]

Raid on al-Baghdadi and the targeting of terrorist leaders: The best way?

Is this the best strategy in the War on Terror? Like everyone else, we watched riveted as the Pentagon released video of the Special Operations Forces from the 1st SFOD – Delta, commonly known as Delta Force, taking down the compound of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.  And as much as everyone complained about President Trump’s comments, […]

Spec Ops Forensics: Everything you need to know about Sensitive Site Exploitation (SSE)

The recent raid of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s compound in Syria by members of the United States Special Operations Command was highlighted by the military, which stated that they had taken “information and material from the compound that will be exploited moving forward.” With terrorist organizations operating out of cells and using coded communications, […]

Just weeks after Syria pullout, US troops return to defend oil fields

Just weeks after President Trump ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Northern Syria, troops have returned to defend oil facilities from falling into the hands of the Islamic State. There were approximately 1,000 American troops in Northern Syria when President Trump announced, “It’s time to come back home,” earlier in October, but with this […]