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Generation Jihad | China, Russia, Iran, North Korea: Inside the Axis of Aggressors
China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea aren’t just aligned in rhetoric—they’re actively coordinating to erode American military, economic, and cyber dominance. In this episode, Generation Jihad’s Bill Roggio sits down with Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power, and Ryan Brobst, CMPP deputy director, to unpack the real-world mechanics behind this dangerous authoritarian convergence.
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Fighting in Yemen escalates, raising concern of a return to civil war
The Houthis launched drone and missile attacks on Yemeni forces and civilian infrastructure across three of Yemen’s governorates on August 6. The attacks have escalated fighting in the country while the Iran-backed terror group is simultaneously targeting Saudi Arabia and ships in the Red Sea.
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IRGC-Qods Force commander Qaani travels to Iraq amid pressure over militia weapons
Gen. Esmail Qaani, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF), traveled to Iraq as Baghdad moves forward with legislation to place all weapons under state control. The visit came amid continued Iranian drone and missile attacks on Kurdish opposition groups in the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq.
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From Guantanamo Bay to ISCAP: The case of Jamal Kiyemba
In 2002, Jamal Kiyemba, a Ugandan national living in the United Kingdom, was arrested in northwest Pakistan after allegedly attempting to join Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and was sent to the US prison facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Released in 2006 and sent to Uganda, Kiyemba has since been in and out of prison, most…
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Generation Jihad | Losing ground: Somalia and Mali’s jihad problem
The US is losing leverage in Somalia as frustration with Mogadishu threatens critical African Union support and risks strengthening Al Shabaab’s hold. In Mali, renewed US airstrikes against JNIM raise a parallel concern—whether air power alone, without a ground strategy or political reform, can contain the group’s advance. Bill Roggio and Caleb Weiss examine these…
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Analysis: North Korean missile deployment raises urgency of Ukraine’s Starlink plea
North Korea is reportedly dispatching as many as 120 additional ballistic missiles to Ukraine as the embattled country searches for ways to destroy Russian missile launchers.
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Sudanese Armed Forces gains in civil war force strategic adjustment from paramilitia rival
The Sudanese military’s recapture of the Al Sadarat highway marks its most significant success against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the fourth year of the Sudanese civil war. However, the RSF’s shift toward tribal mobilization and the growing role of foreign-backed drone warfare suggest the conflict’s broader cycle of adaptation and attrition will continue.
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Afghan United Front commences operations against Taliban
The Afghan United Front has emerged as the first major Pashtun-led resistance organization to launch operations against the Taliban. The group’s likely focus on operations in southern Afghanistan would expand resistance organizations’ historical focus in the country’s north.
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Houthis escalate attacks in Red Sea and on Saudi Arabia, Riyadh evaluates options
Yemen’s Houthis claimed attacks on eight Saudi-linked vessels as well as energy facilities and an airport to enforce its blockade of the kingdom. Saudi Arabia is reportedly pursuing a diplomatic path to de-escalate the conflict or military options if necessary.
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Iraq pressured by regional countries to rein in Iran-backed militias as new data on extent of attacks released
Iraq faces mounting pressure to rein in the militias while balancing tensions with neighboring countries, the US, and Iran. The Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq has come under nearly 1,000 drone and missile attacks by Iran and its proxies since late February, underscoring the growing threat posed by Tehran’s network of militias.
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Board of Peace announces Hamas disarmament agreement, IDF reports 32 Gaza ceasefire violations July 10–31
US President Donald Trump announced a 15-point Board of Peace roadmap transferring Gaza’s governance and security responsibilities. The plan links verified Hamas disarmament to phased Israeli withdrawal, but sequencing remains disputed.
All Articles
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The Brain Drain in Qaim
Saudi Arabian security forces bagged the latest leader of al Qaeda in the Kingdom. Younus Mohamed Al-Hayari has been killed in a raid Riyadh, and three unnamed members of the organization have been captured and are undergoing “questioning” – no doubt a bit more severe that those asked at Gitmo. Al-Hayari, a Moroccan, was al Qaeda in Saudi Arabia’s leader, as the domestic variety appear to be in demand these days. A Saudi professor goes so far as to boldly state “The group which calls itself Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been brain dead since the killing of Muqrin,…
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Flypaper and al Qaeda in the Magic Kingdom
Another member of al Qaeda has been arrested in Iraq. While Abdullah al-Romyan is not a major leader in al Qaeda, the accompanying information in the article on his arrest in the Khaleej Times provides some insight on Iraq’s centrality in the War on Terror and its attraction to foreign terrorists. Abdullah al-Romyan was arrested by Kurdish troops in northern Iraq. He was on Saudi Arabia’s new list of 36 most wanted terrorists, the country’s second third such list [hat tip to John Burgess of Crossroads Arabia]. The second list is essentially completed after 23 of the 26 members were…
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Red Wing Down
US forces suffered a tragic blow in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. A MH-47 Night Stalker was shot down while conducting a support mission for a special operations observation team working in the mountains at about 10,000 feet above sea level, alone in perhaps the most harsh and dangerous territory on the planet. The MH-47 serves in the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and is a specialized helicopter designed for “overt and covert infiltrations, exfiltrations, air assault, resupply, and sling operations over a wide range of environmental conditions.” The ground team came under heavy fire from al Qaeda/Taliban fighters and…
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Flies on the paper
The Flypaper theory has come under much derision since it was proposed, but it is difficult to deny the US presence in Iraq has attracted important and hard to detect members of al Qaeda. Many al Qaeda members have been killed or captured in Iraq while to engage the US Army and Marines on conditions disadvantageous to the jihadis. Iraq has forced al Qaeda to commit its limited resources to the battle, and experienced leaders and operators have thrown themselves against US and Iraqi forces with reckless abandon. The Coalition has netted some very important jihadis the past couple of…
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Another Failed Attack
The insurgency tries its hand once more at a massed assault, this time on an Iraqi police station in Baghdad. Omar from Iraq The Model directs us to an article in the Guardian on the assault, and rightly points out the negative slant in the article (hat tip to Soldier’s Dad). The Guardian titles this one “Iraq insurgents snatch victory from defeat“, but it is clear this attack was a massive military defeat. There are no indications if this was al Qaeda, but I suspect they likely planned this with elements of Ansar al-Sunnah, the Islamic Army in Iraq and…
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Dispatches from the Jihadi Belt
Martyrdom, Denial, Success and Reorganization The latest releases from al Qaeda in Iraq and Saudi Arabia provide some insight on the mindset of the organizations and the need to continue to communicate with the faithful on the status of martyrdom, the denial of Coalition successes and the status of the operations. The first communiqu
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The Taliban’s Springtime Offensive Wilts in the Summer Heat
The Taliban and al Qaeda have stepped up their springtime offensive in Afghanistan in an attempt to thwart the upcoming elections this fall. So far the results have been abysmal. Operations in Afghanistan are netting Taliban bigwigs. Two commanders have been captured, and two more are said to be surrounded. Another has surrendered. The Afghani Army and police forces are taking an active role in the hunt. US and Afghani forces have met the challenge and well over 150 Taliban fighters have been killed and 150 have fled the country in the past week. Twenty Taliban were killed during a…
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Training Grounds, Magnets, and Hunters in Iraq
A CIA report leaked to the press indicates Iraqi is becoming a training ground for terrorists on par with or exceeding that of Afghanistan in the 1990s. This isn’t news, however, as the National Intelligence Council came to a similar conclusion in January of this year. The latest report indicates that terrorists are gaining “a broad range of skills, from car bombings and assassinations to coordinated conventional attacks on police and military targets” and are likely to take their skills with them to their home countries, and even infiltrate Western societies “once the insurgency ends.” This fact is often used…
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Abandoning Iraq (Again)
The calls for timelines for withdrawal from Iraq, as well as the drop in public support for the mission forces us to reassess the implications of leaving Iraq in the lurch prior to defeating the insurgency. In yesterday’s post “US public opinion and Iraq” , Dan Darling touches on some of the issue of the real costs of abandoning Iraq to al Qaeda and the Baathist insurgents. If Iraq fails, it won’t be bad for the right or the left, it’ll be bad for everyone. You want to see al Qaeda recruiting skyrocket, you wait till bin Laden and Zarqawi…
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Red-on-Red
The brutal acts of violence directed at civilians and Iraqi police is losing favor among some of the members of the Iraqi insurgency. During Operation Matador, we saw examples of the local tribes, some of whom are sympathetic or even participating in the insurgency, rise up to fight the foreign jihadis after their attempts to impose a Taliban-like rule of law in Western Anbar. Today’s New York Times reports further cases of ‘red-on-red’, AKA the enemy fighting amongst themselves. The Marines gladly watched as insurgents duked it out along the Syrian border. Late Sunday night, American marines watching the skyline…
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A Springtime of Ops in Iraq
Over the course of the past week, Coalition forces conducted four separate battalion size plus operations in Iraq, two in Anbar – Spear in Karabilah and Dagger near lake Thar Thar, one south of Mosul in Tal Afar (Operation Veterans Forward), and one south of Baghdad – White Shield. Force estimates for Spear and Dagger are at about 1,000 combined Coalition and Iraqi forces each, about 4,000 troops for the Tal Afar operation and 2,000 troops, split between American and Iraqi forces for White Shield. The past week of operations follows a spring of military offensives designed to disrupt the…
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Operation Spear in Anbar Province
US Marines and accompanying Iraqi troops return to the Qusaybah/Qaim region on the Syrian border, and launch Operation Spear in the city of Karabilah. This region is the main hub of the southern ratline from Syria, which has been inaccurately compared to the Ho Chi Minh Trail of the Vietnam War. Spear explains the reports of US troops massing on the Syrian border. Via CENTCOM: Approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors from Regimental Combat Team-2, 2nd Marine Division and Iraqi Security Force soldiers are conducting combat operations in northwestern Al Anbar Province. Operation Spear (Romhe) began in the early morning hours…
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Operation Spear
Bill Roggio at Winds of Change has an exceptional analysis of Operation Spear on the Syrian border, by making the link between the facts on the ground coupled with the larger diplomatic picture of events in Iraq.
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US forces capture key Zarqawi commander
Coalition forces captured a senior al Qaeda in Iraq leader during a raid in Mosul. Following on the heals of the arrests of middlemen Abed & Raed Suleiman, Hussayn Ibrahim and Jassim al-Bazi, and 11 Zarqawi operatives in Spain, the Coalition special operations forces nabbed Abu Talha, a senior aide to Zarqawi. . Abu Talha is one of the major leaders of the al Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Islam, a senior commander in al Qaeda in Iraq, and has been thought of a possible successor to Zarqawi. According to CENCTCOM; “Talha never stayed more than one night at any one residence, and…
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Saif al-Adel, Zarqawi, al Qaeda and Iran
News on the Zarqawi front has gone cold; however the Coalition continues its efforts to dismantle his organization by attacking the middlemen. Abed Dawood Suleiman, Zarqawi’s military aide, and his son Raed, a former captain in Saddam’s army, have been captured outside of Baghdad. Jassim Hazan Hamadi al-Bazi, a bomb maker who “built and sold remote-controlled bombs used in roadside attacks from an electronic repair shop in Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad” has also been detained. While the hunt continues for Zarqawi and his murderers, Dan Darling points us to interesting information on the relationship between Saif al-Adel, Zarqawi,…
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Few Iraqi Battalions Are Operational?
In Yesterday’s post, Training the Iraqi Army, we took issue with New York Times characterization of the Iraqi units as not being ‘operational’: The article documents the current and projected manpower in a section misleadingly titled “Few Battalions Are Operational” … It appears the author is referring to combat readiness, defined as “a unit’s ability to perform in combat. Includes the status of personnel, logistics, morale, and training.” A deficiency in any of the areas mentioned would make a unit less than ‘fully operational’, however this does not mean the units cannot perform certain duties such as patrols, garrison or…
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Training the Iraqi Army
The training of the Iraqi military and security services is a crucial element to the defeat of the Iraqi insurgency and the establishment of a secure Iraqi nation. The New York Times weighs in on the issue of the status of the training of the Iraqi military, and estimates it will take upwards of two years or more for Iraqi forces to be able to operate independently from Coalition forces. This should not be surprising as building a competent fighting force, particularly in a nation subjected to over thirty years of oppressive rule, is a slow and difficult process. The…
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The Political Fight Against the Iraqi Insurgency
The current offensive against the Iraqi insurgency consists of both military and political components. Both are crucial to Iraq’s fledgling democracy, and achievement in one area spills over to the other. Military successes in securing Najaf, Fallujah and other sections of Iraq led to the successful execution of the January election. The election has led to the fitful yet democratically negotiated creation of a legitimate Iraqi government with the mandate to establish security and defeat the insurgency. Operations in Western Iraq, the Sunni Triangle and Baghdad have the consent of the Iraqi people through their elected government. These operations are…
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The Syrian End of the Ratline
Syria’s involvement in facilitating the Iraqi insurgency has been apparent for some time. Recent intelligence indicates al Qaeda in Iraq has conducted a meeting within Syrian territory. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has accused Syria of “allowing its territory to be used to organize terrorist attacks against innocent Iraqis.” Syria responded by severing military and intelligence ties with the United States and claiming that they have arrested or deported over 1,200 jihadis who were attempting to enter Iraq. The United States is just ungrateful for the efforts, according to the Syrian government. The situation along the Syrian-Iraqi border has…
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Progressing in Iraq
Operation Thunder has temporarily put a dent in the car bombings in Baghdad. Mohammed from Iraq the Model provides a situation report based on the local Iraqi media, and states “The last 24 hours or so resulted in arresting some 300 terrorists and suspects in addition to confiscating amounts of weapons.” The number of arrests stemming from Thunder is well over a thousand. The insurgency appears to have pulled up shop and moved north, executing a series of four attacks directed at Iraqi Security Forces. The Coalition is conducting an offensive in Tal Afar, and as mentioned last weekend, an…
