Islamic State

Although celebrations within Iraq have been ongoing for more than a week, the Pentagon waited until this Monday, when Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared victory, to offer the Iraqi government a tentative congratulation on their victory over the Islamic State in Mosul. “I announce from here the end and the failure and the collapse […]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy Rod Rosenstein toured the facilities at the military prison located at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, this weekend. This lead observers to speculate on a potential Trump administration effort to revive the detention center’s use for detainees from the Islamic State group. According to a statement released by a Justice […]

This is a tough pill to swallow. Since 2003 we’ve seen the troubled city of Mosul in northern Iraq change hands numerous times.  From Saddam, to the coalition, to the government of Iraq (GOI), to ISIS, and now the city appears to be back under the nominal control of GOI, at least on paper.  Many […]

Germany has followed through on threats to withdraw its military forces from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey after months of diplomatic tensions with the Turkish government. The forces in question composed Germany’s contribution to the coalition against ISIS, and will remain out of the fight for at least another two months as they are moved […]

The Marine Corps hadn’t had a Special Operations unit since World War II, but all of that changed in 2003 when on June of that year, the Marine Corp and USSOCOM formed Marine Corps Special Operations Command Detachment One (MCSOCOM Det 1) to explore unit level Marine Corps participation in USSOCOM. Prior to this, Marine […]

The governments of China and Russia have used the precarious position of Pakistan and its weakening ties to Washington to make serious inroads in their influence. The government of Pakistan, once a considered a key ally in the U.S. war on terrorism, has had to face allegations that it harbors more than a dozen terrorist […]

The brutal fighting for the Iraqi city of Mosul, once the “caliphate” for the Islamic State is almost at an end. Iraqi forces have broken thru the ISIS lines to reach the Tigris River and have symbolically planted the Iraqi flag there. But the battle is far from done. Even while Iraqi Prime Minister Haider […]

The day before President Trump is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued a statement indicating that the United States is prepared to discuss joint operations with Russia in the embattled state of Syria. Those joint operations, Tillerson explained, could include adherence to no-fly zones, cease-fire observers, and […]

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are strictly those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SOFREP.com nor any of the writers and editors that work for it. I had an interesting conversation the other day with someone I know and it broached the uncomfortable […]

The armed conflict between the government forces of the Philippines and the Abu Sayyaf and other Islamist militant groups during the siege of Marawi has drawn the interest of other Muslim-majority countries in the region. The other Muslim nations are looking for signs that extremist activity is on the rise in their own countries Isnilon […]

The last vestiges of what just a few years ago was proclaimed as the Islamic State’s new ‘caliphate’ is crumbling under constant attack from Iraq’s forces as they push to retake Mosul. Iraqi military spokesmen say that the ISIS fighters remaining in what is left of their stronghold of Mosul are in a “fight to […]

The last vestiges of what just a few years ago was proclaimed as the Islamic State’s new ‘caliphate’ is crumbling under constant attack from Iraq’s forces as they push to retake Mosul. Iraqi military spokesmen say that the ISIS fighters remaining in what is left of their stronghold of Mosul are in a “fight to […]