Islamic State

Coalition-Backed Syrian Troops Kill 20 ISIS Fighters at Tanf

U.S.-led coalition and its Syrian partners killed more than 20 Islamic State fighters and captured 17 others Wednesday in fighting outside U.S. base at Tanf, the coalition said Thursday. It was the second combat action around that key US base and coalition officials took issue with what they described as ISIS has been able to […]

Iraq Executes 38 ISIS/al-Qaida Fighters on Terrorism Charges

Iraqi government officials said that Iraq hanged 38 jihadists, 37 Iraqis, and one Swedish citizen, belonging to the Islamic State group or Al-Qaida for terrorism offenses on Thursday in the southern city of Nasiriyah. It was the largest number of executions in Iraq on a single day since September 25 when 42 people were put […]

SOFREP Exclusive: Marawi Commander details what really happened in his country’s largest terrorist attack and how his men fought back

On May 23rd, 4th Light Reaction Company operators alongside a company of Scout-Rangers quietly approached the hideout of terrorist leader Isnilon Hapilon.  The Philippine armed services had been conducting a long-term surveillance operation on the terrorist safe house, located among a small cluster of homes along a road on the outskirts of Marawi.  The U.S. Special Forces-trained […]

Southern Syria faces more uncertainty as US pulls funding for anti-Assad militias

AMMAN – In the coming weeks, between 10,000 and 20,000 men in southern Syria will get their last month’s pay from the US government. The men are part of the Southern Front, a loose collaboration of dozens of anti-Assad, Western-vetted militias operating in Daraa and Quneitra provinces. For close to four years, they have been paid, […]

Russia claims first interaction between F-22 and Su-35… CENTCOM calls it a fairy tale

The Russian Ministry of Defense released a barrage of statements to state-owned media outlets this week, claiming that an American F-22 fighter was chased away from Russian bombing runs in Syria by the Kremlin’s advanced Su-35s fighter.  There’s just one problem: according to U.S. officials in CENTCOM, this first interaction between these two storied fighters […]

Pentagon Doubts Russian Withdrawal From Syria Claim

The Pentagon isn’t buying into the claims by Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Russian are pulling a “significant part” of their troops from Syria after their mission in the war-torn country has been completed. Putin visited the country on Monday and it is estimated to have 10,000 active duty troops and private contractors currently […]

Casualty Toll In Somalia Conflict Rises to 4500 in Somalia Since 2016

The United Nations Human Rights Office and the U.N. Assistance Mission in Somalia have said that more than 4,500 civilians have been killed or wounded in the conflict in Somalia since the start of 2016. And their report has pointed the finger at the guilty parties responsible for the majority of the violence plaguing the […]

Kurds Criticize Abadi For Not Mentioning Their Role in Defeating IS

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi publicly announced that the three-year war aimed at driving the Islamic State out of Iraq was successful and has come to an end. But what he didn’t do was acknowledge the role the Iraqi Kurds played in the defeating of ISIS. And that has the peshmerga forces rightfully mad. “Our […]

Iraqi Prime Minister declares victory over ISIS

Three years after militants from the Islamic State captured nearly a third of the nation, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has declared final victory over ISIS in a televised address to his nation on Saturday. Haider al-Abadi’s speech comes two days after Russia announced victory over the same terrorist organization in Syria, where their military […]

Chronicler of Islamic State ‘killing machine’ goes public

The historian carried secrets too heavy for one man to bear. He packed his bag with his most treasured possessions before going to bed: the 1 terabyte hard drive with his evidence against the Islamic State group, an orange notebook half-filled with notes on Ottoman history, and, a keepsake, the first book from Amazon delivered […]

Defector says thousands of Islamic State fighters left Raqqa in secret deal

A high-level defector from Kurdish-led forces that captured the Syrian city of Raqqa from Islamic State has recanted his account of the city’s fall, saying thousands of IS fighters – many more than first reported – left under a secret, U.S.-approved deal. Talal Silo, a former commander in the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the SDF […]

US Slams Russia, Syria Over Halfhearted Attempts to Oust IS

The White House and the Pentagon have publicly blasted the Russians and Syrians for what is viewed as a weak attempt to oust the Islamic State and ISIS from the Syrian borders. In a scathing statement, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning said, “The Syrian regime and Russian Federation’s actions have thus far demonstrated that countering […]