Syria

CENTCOM established an intelligence “fusion center,” a specially equipped JIC facility staffed around-the-clock, to serve as a “focal point” for Daesh-related intelligence. Interviewees recalled only informal communications noting the center’s establishment, and some were also uncertain about the center’s organizational structure, responsibilities, and how it was determined which JIC analysts would participate.

It was April 13, just past noon, and Hasan al-Araj was behind schedule as he left an underground hospital for his next rounds. He was usually careful to check the skies above him in Hama, where he was the last surviving cardiologist in the province’s rebel-held territory, for the Russian and Syrian warplanes that regularly […]

However, what is known – is that Syria has become a kind of hell on earth and has created the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II. World War II is legendary is world lore – but likening the current catastrophe has little effect on the audience. Why is that? How is this not front and center in the presidential debate?

U.S.-backed fighters have liberated the Syrian town of Manbij from ISIS, observers and Syrian-Kurdish officials said Saturday as dazed residents reportedly described their terror at the hands of militants. The northern town “is under full control” of rebels, Nasser Haj Mansour of the predominantly Kurdish Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) told the Associated Press, adding that […]

In one fell swoop, a series of aerial strafing and bombing runs destroyed 83 oil tankers belonging to ISIS forces in Syria. USA TODAY reports that after a pilot witnessed a gaggle of vehicles in the oil-rich, ISIS-held region of Deir ez-Zor province, US-led coalition forces sent a surveillance aircraft to provide intelligence on the area. After confirming […]

Hezbollah first used drones in attack missions during the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, loading Ababil drones with explosive material and sending them to crash into Israeli targets, according to a new research paper written by former Washington Institute analyst Nadav Pollak

U.S.-led coalition aircraft destroyed an estimated $11 million worth of oil and trucks. It is the largest single airstrike this year against the Islamic State’s black market oil trade in Syria. Coalition forces continue to hit petroleum and oil targets in Syria in an effort to disrupt the Islamic State’s cash flow. An estimated 83 […]

When I deployed to the Middle East in 2014, Daesh was just starting to really get America‘s full attention. I was fascinated with getting the opportunity to meet them in battle, and wanted to know everything I could about them. But first, I wanted to know what to call them. ISIS, IS, ISIL? So I […]

We could be looking at an attack as devastating, if not more than 9/11, while bypassing all security measures.

It’s not just U.S. troops battling ISIS. Now the Army is sinking millions of dollars into private intelligence contractors for the fight. Every day at 5 p.m., the Pentagon releases a list of that day’s contracts worth more than $7 million. On July 27, buried in the daily email was an eye-catching detail: Military contractors would be […]

The Syrian military was foundering last year, with thousands of rebel fighters pushing into areas of the country long considered to be government strongholds. The rebel offensive was aided by powerful tank-destroying missiles supplied by the Central Intelligence Agency and Saudi Arabia. Intelligence assessments circulated in Washington that the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, was losing his grip […]

Prisoners in the sweltering, overcrowded Adra prison on the outskirts of Damascus were presented in June with an unusual offer from the Syrian regime, which promised amnesty if they agreed to fight on the front lines. About 200 inmates decided to risk their fate on the battlefield rather than serve out long sentences in dismal […]