Terrorism

On this day in history: Margaret Hassan is kidnapped in Baghdad

On October 19th, 2004, an aid worker by the name of Margaret Hassan was kidnapped to be murdered weeks later. Hassan held a dual citizenship between England and Iraq, having been married to Tahseen Ali Hassan and moving to Iraq with him in the ’70s.  She taught English at the British Council of Baghdad and […]

UKSF is losing some helicopters

London—The United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) is set to lose some of its organic aviation capability. The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced that the 657 Squadron of the Army Air Corps (AAC) will be disbanded in 2018.  Under this development, the SAS, SBS, and their support elements will be down a flight of […]

GSG-9 Storms Lufthansa Flight 181 in Somalia, Frees 86 Hostages

Forty years ago today on October 18, 1977, West German counter-terrorist commandos from the GSG-9 stormed a hijacked airliner in Mogadishu, Somalia during Operation Fire Magic (Feuerzauber) and freed 86 hostages and took down the terrorists after five days of airport hopping thru Europe and the Middle East. On October 13, four terrorists onboard Lufthansa […]

Air Force CCT Receives Air Force Cross For Valor in Afghanistan

Staff Sgt. Richard Hunter, a Special Tactics combat controller with the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, was awarded the Air Force’s highest medal, the Air Force Cross, for gallantry against an armed enemy of the U.S. in combat. Hunter was a CCT assigned to a Special Forces A-Team from the 10th SFG (A) in Afghanistan in […]

Philippine Military Kills Islamists Isnilon Hapilon, Omar Maute

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 […]

Philippine Military Kills Islamists Isnilon Hapilon, Omar Maute

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 […]

Bowe Bergdahl Pleads Guilty to Walking Off Post in Afghanistan

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl pleaded guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy charges to a military judge that may land him in prison for life. Bergdahl was held captive by the Taliban for five years before President Obama struck a deal freeing five Islamic jihadi detainees from Guantanamo, Cuba in exchange for Bergdahl. In […]

Mogadishu: A history rife with violence

Somalia’s capital city, Mogadishu, has a long history stained with blood and conflict.  It’s the country’s largest city, and it seems that any headlines regarding the place always include some kind of gruesome bloodshed.  It’s like the city has never found a moment of peace to catch its breath.  Reports have just come in of […]

U.S. counter-terror official warns of Hezbollah threat to homeland

The United States is offering millions of dollars in award money for information that could lead to the arrest of two Hezbollah leaders, a senior State Department official said yesterday. Nicholas Rasmussen, head of the National Counterterrorism Center in Washington D.C., also said Hezbollah has actors within the U.S. homeland as part of its ongoing […]

The Military Reaction Force in Northern Ireland

Imagine an urban counterinsurgency in a sectarian setting.  Probably your bottom pick of conflict, as the Iraq adventure continues to show. Now imagine an army on the ropes and devoid of actionable intelligence. The ancient Sun Tzu might have been the first to wed intel and victory, but his concept still rang true in Northern […]

War in Syria Has Transformed Hezbollah Into a Regional Power

Hezbollah was borne out of a struggle against Israel and now the large organization has transformed into a much larger force since its experience in the civil war in Syria. Their success in fighting against the Islamic State, or Daesh, as they call it, have them flush with new recruits. But while they have fought […]

“What Were Green Berets Doing in Niger?” – Their Job

This hasn’t been the best of weeks for the United States. We had the largest mass shooting in our history in Las Vegas and then news came out that a Special Forces team, from the 3rd Special Forces Group working with local troops from Niger, were ambushed and suffered four dead in the firefight. There […]