Marawi

The U.S. military beefing up support for the Filipino military fighting their own counterterrorism fight against the Islamic State, making operations there eligible for the same funding used to finance the long-running wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The decision by the Trump administration to elevate the U.S. mission to an Overseas Contingency Operation, or OCO, […]

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 […]

With the fighting in Marawi is drawing to a close, as Filipino military forces rout the remaining Islamist fighters holding onto the last footholds in the city, the military killed two of the leaders of the terrorists who have held Marawi since May 23. According to sources, army snipers killed both Isnilon Hapilon and Omar […]

With the fighting in Marawi is drawing to a close, as Filipino military forces rout the remaining Islamist fighters holding onto the last footholds in the city, the military killed two of the leaders of the terrorists who have held Marawi since May 23. According to sources, army snipers killed both Isnilon Hapilon and Omar […]

Gerald Anderson stars in a new movie set in the Philippines about a Special Forces soldier gone “absent without leave” to take on the criminal underworld in his home country.  While the revenge tale is a familiar one to movie-going audiences, what makes AWOL particularly unique is that it is set in an unfamiliar setting, […]

The fighting continues to rage in the embattled Philippines city of Marawi as government military forces have killed nine fighters from groups that have joined the Islamic State. The Filipino army continued to push their offensive against these armed groups who are holed up in the once bustling college town on the island of Mindanao. […]

NBC News recently cited two anonymous defense officials who stated that as early as tomorrow there could be a named program to begin conducting airstrikes in the Philippines, most likely with Predator drones.  While this is certainly one possibility, it is highly unlikely.  First, this would mean a new escalation in American military involvement in […]

In many ways the battle for Marawi has been a curious event which has seen bandits belonging to the allegedly ISIS affiliated Maute Group attacking a Muslim city in order to raise their public profile and demonstrate their power to the Philippine government.  Philippine SOF units and Marines worked hard to cordon the enemy into […]

As the fighting in the Philippine city of Marawi continues, the Islamist rebels have been accused of decapitating civilians. The military has reported that they’ve recovered five civilians who were murdered by rebels and reports that more atrocities are bound to occur as the military wrests control back from the insurgents. Philippines military members discovered […]

The battle on-going in the Philippines has taken an ugly turn as the rebels holding the city of Malawi are resorting to tactics that have been seen in other places. Local residents are being forced to fight government troops, loot homes of valuables and serve as sex slaves for the rebel forces. On Tuesday, military […]

The Philippine Armed Forces may have cordoned off Marawi, but tough urban fighting looms ahead even as the Scout-Rangers and Light Reaction Regiment have cleared buildings on the outskirts of the city.  With the Maute Group having press ganged civilians into service, the enemy numbers somewhere around 300 armed fighters who are holed up in […]

The usual breathless media reports have emerged from the Philippines latest security crisis in regards to American Special Operations units present in the area.  To be sure, the siege of Marawi has spun into a serious attack which bares some resemblance to the 2013 siege of Zamboanga.  Philippine SOF units such as the Light Reaction […]