Syria

Placing visas on the open market for whoever can afford them without knowing or caring who you are selling to has become a persistent problem in Panama.

Joining the Iraqi Army in their fight to liberate the historical city of Mosul, the Nineveh Protection Units have proven to be a formidable force against Daesh terrorists.
For the Assyrians, this fight to liberate Mosul is a personal one: Daesh not only occupies their ancestral lands, but the aforementioned terrorist group has attempted to destroy much of their history.

Remotely-operated sniper rifles and machines guns are becoming a powerful weapon for rebel groups in Iraq and Syria — including the Islamic State — allowing fighters to kill with the ease of pressing a button. The remote-controlled guns — common in the U.S. military — are being adopted by the Free Syrian Army, Shia militias […]

“This is exactly what Daesh wants,” said Hamid Majeed, an Iraqi political analyst. “They want to show people that their lives would be even more miserable after they [Daesh] no longer control their territories.”

We do not retain or look for outliers, and if they’re there – they don’t have a place in the military. That sense of being just another cog in the wheel leads many to get out.

Col. Gulmurod Khalimov, a former Tajik special operations officer, police commander, and military sniper, received American counterterrorism training before joining ranks of jihadi group in May • State Department says Khalimov is a “key” ISIS leader.

HARDAN, Iraq –  Surrounded by smoke and flames, the sound of gunshots echoing around him, the young man crouched in the creek for hours, listening to the men in his family die. On the other side of the mountain, another survivor peered through binoculars as the handcuffed men of neighboring villages were shot and then […]

One of the funnier things I heard in Iraq while advising their counter-terror services and special operations forces – was when their commander lamented how difficult COIN was in comparison to tanks. He noted you could just plop tanks across from one another, and they go at it.

The role of combat controller is one of the most fascinating special operations career fields around. But info on the job is hard to find.

Russia is seeing their international plans come to fruition by employing a nuanced, yet bold approach to foreign policy — while the world watches.

GENEVA (AP) — The United States and Russia say they have resolved a number of issues standing in the way of restoring a nationwide truce to Syria and opening up aid deliveries, but were unable once again to forge a comprehensive agreement on stepping up cooperation to end the brutal war that has killed hundreds […]

Ankara views the YPG as a threat because of its close links to Kurdish militants waging a three-decade-old insurgency on its own soil. It has been alarmed by the YPG’s gains in northern Syria since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, fearing it could extend Kurdish control along Turkish borders and fuel the ambitions of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey.