What Happened When Daesh Decided To Poke The Bear?

This morning I saw the current operations of the United States against Daesh referred to as “Desert Drizzle.” I nearly spit out my drink in amusement, because it’s absolutely the truth. In the twenty-four years since Operation Desert Storm, the decisive application of United States combat airpower has gone from the devastating force of a […]

New U.S. Airstrikes Target Daesh Fuel Trucks

As we alluded to yesterday, the U.S. Department of Defense is sharing targeting data and other intelligence with the French Ministre de la Défense about Daesh targets in Syria. An official at the Pentagon stated, “We will continue [cooperating] with a combination of coalition targets and specific French requested targets for the foreseeable future…We are […]

Understanding Paris: Why Was Paris Attacked?

From the Bataclan Theatre in Paris, one of the first quoted attackers was overheard saying, “I am from ISIS” and IS on Twitter is saying that this is France’s September 11th. If this is Daesh, or simply another reckless claim from them, it is unclear and will be for some time. Daesh, or IS and Al […]

Why Killing Jihadi John Doesn’t Matter For America

Early reports are indicating that British citizen Mohamed Emwazi, AKA Jihad John, has been killed by a US drone strike in the so-called Islamic State’s capital city of Raqqa, Syria.  Jihad John was used as an ISIS frontman, a sort of Cobra Commander figure, in propaganda films in which hostages such as John Foley were beheaded. […]

CIA Funded and SOF Trained: The New Syrian Army Hits the Ground

A new video has emerged showing the so-called New Syrian Army in action, kitted out with American weapons and equipment.  The train and equip program is a funded and run under the auspices of the CIA but the actual military training which the New Syrian Army receives is conducted by US Special Operations personnel.  The New […]

USAF MQ-9 Reaper Intercepted Over Syria

In a video released today, a General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9 Reaper drone is seen as it is intercepted over Syria by a Russian Air Force fighter, presumably a Sukhoi  Su-30SM. As we have alluded to before, the airspace over the shores of the eastern Mediterranean Sea is a very busy place: the American-led Operation […]