Middle East

An Iranian surface-to-air missile downed an American drone over international waters in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz. This act of aggression follows in the wake of last week’s unprovoked damaging of two oil tankers by Iranian limpet mines. Navy Captain Bill Urban, CENTCOM’s spokesperson, said in a statement that “U.S. Central Command can […]

The Trump administration made headlines all over the world Monday with the announcement the U.S. government has designated Iran‘s elite military unit known as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “foreign terrorist organization.” While this specific designation has been discussed a number of times in the past, many media outlets have pointed out […]

According to last year’s Program on Extremism Pentagon report, at least 64 Americans have left the United States for Iraq or Syria in order to join the terror group known as the Islamic State. As compared to the thousands of Europeans that have left their homes to join ISIS, that figure is rather modest, perhaps […]

As the United States begins its draw-down of combat forces in Syria, Iraq’s air force has been given permission by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to commence combat operations against the remaining ISIS terrorists in the Levant. With this agreement, Iraqi air commanders will be able to plan and execute their own missions without seeking Syrian […]

Sailors from The Royal Navy Portsmouth-based HMS Dragon intercepted a suspicious vessel in the gulf waters while on patrol in the area of the Middle East known as the Hash Highway. On board they found 148 bags of hashish weighing 3,048kg. A Royal Navy spokesman said: “Swooping into action, sailors and Royal Marines from HMS Dragon […]

Have you ever wondered what motivates ordinary people to commit acts of unthinkable violence? The last decades have been dominated by images of destruction: New York, London, Madrid, Nice, Baghdad, Kabul, and countless other cities. Now, a British filmmaker is endeavouring to describe the incentives behind these attacks in a new documentary called Path of […]

Before the Iranian Revolution, which began in 1978, Iran was a steadfast U.S. ally. Consequently, the Iranian military arsenal was packed with American-made weapons. Iranian infantry carried M-16s; Iranian tankers drove M-60 Pattons; Iranian pilots flew F-4 Phantoms and F-14 Tomcats — a superb airframe, that was immortalized by the movie Top Gun. Since that […]

Six men were pushed before the watching eyes of countless men, women, and children — they were thieves and murders, and they were set to be executed in public. The style of execution? Beheading. One might expect such a scene from medieval England or ancient China, but this particular anecdote? Early June 2017 in Saudi […]

On Monday, Jordanian Prime Minister Hani Mulki resigned in the wake of nationwide anti-austerity protests by Jordanian citizens who are distraught over price inflation of general goods and rising unemployment rates; the protests went on for five straight days. The protests were in the thousands and eventually drew the attention of King Abdullah II who in turn summoned […]

A Kurdistan government official was recently abducted by armed men in Baghdad who demanded the remains of fallen Hashd al-Shaabi be returned to Iraq. The demands were about the events of October last year, when Iraqi supported paramilitary forces took over the city of Kirkuk from Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Several casualties were had by both sides […]

The U.S. Department of Defense has announced the commencement of the annual training exercise known as “Exercise Eager Lion 18” from April 18-26, 2018. Approximately 3,600 service members from the U.S. will work alongside their Jordanian counterparts in order to better train cooperatively for any future engagements the countries may endure together. This culminating exercise […]

According to the Kurdish Regional government’s Secretary General of the Ministry of Peshmerga, Jabar Yawar, the United States has begun paying the Peshmerga’s monthly salaries with an allocated fund of $365 million. Yawar told local media during a press release, “This year, the US will assist the Peshmerga with $365 million contribution. It’s expected these funds […]