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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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Shifting Zarqawi
Osama bin Laden’s push for attacks in the United States by Zarqawi highlights several weaknesses in the current state of al Qaeda; a lack of experienced operatives and military and political pressure have forced the organization to modify its operations.
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Dealing with the Devil
The Tel Aviv terrorist attack threatens to destroy the most recent truce between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Islamic Jihad has taken credit for the suicide bombing, and Israel believes the order to conduct the attack was given from Syria. Israel indicated it would not retaliate at this time in order to give the Palestinian Authority the chance to hunt for the murderers. The door remains open for Israeli action inthelikely event the Palestinian Authority does not act in good faith. Palestinian Authority President Abbas believes Hezbollah is involved: Abbas angrily accused a “third party” of orchestrating Friday’s attack to…
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The Syrian Keystone
“It’s strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq. I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world. The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it.” Walid Jumblatt, a Druze Muslim Leader of the Lebanese Opposition Walid Jumblatt succinctly explains why Iraq is the political keystone, as well as the geographic keystone, to addressing the…
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The Sunnis’ Cards
As reported yesterday, the Sunnis are frightened over the prospects of being frozen out of the new Iraqi government, and now wish to participate in drafting the new Iraqi Constitution, which is one of the main tasks of the newly elected Iraqi Assembly. Control of the Assembly and the appointment of the Presidency Council requires a supermajority of two-thirds of the Assembly, and the passage of the Constitution requires the approval of the Iraqi people. The Shiite factions (which should not be looked at as a homogenous voting block) took about 50% of the vote, and the Kurdish factions about…
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The Blitz
The recent wave of violent attacks, which killed over a hundred Iraqi Shiites, has inspired fear in a segment of the Iraqi population. It isn’t the Shiites shaking in fear, however. Reality is beginning to dawn on the Iraqi Sunnis, and it is a reality they were not prepared to face: As the Shiite majority prepared to take control of the country’s first freely elected government, tribal chiefs representing Sunni Arabs in six provinces issued a list of demands – including participation in the government and drafting a new constitution – after previously refusing to acknowledge the vote’s legitimacy. “We…
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The Grip on the Levant
Lebanese politics gets interesting in the wake of the assassination of former Primer Minister Harari. Mr. Harari was a wealthy and influential Lebanese politician and businessman who positioned himself as an opposition leader to the existing pro-Syrian Lebanese government. While a previously unknown terrorist group (“The Organization for Victory and Jihad in the Levant”) has claimed credit for the murder, Syria is strongly suspected to have murdered Mr. Harari. But the Arab and European media refuses to rule out the usual suspect: let’s blame the Jews! The Lebanese government refuses to sanction an international investigation, even though it is believed…
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Courting Indian Country
Russia has indicated that it will continue with assisting Iran’s nuclear program, increasing the likelihood of a nuclear-armed Iran. Between the soft efforts of the European Union 3 (EU-3) to stop the Iranian nuclear program and Russia’s encouragement and support, the Mullahs of Iran are sure to continue their quest to become a nuclear power. The impact of Russia’s support of Iran’s nuclear program is both far-reaching and short sighted. Russia is indicating that it is separating itself from the West by co-opting the theocratic regime of Iran. Russia’s myopia is clear: they do not recognize the interrelated threat from…
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Motivations
Please accept my apologies for not living up to my promise of posting here regularly while working at Easongate. I have written a post over at Easongate to explain why I have devoted so much time to such a seemingly insignificant topic many would not understand to be related to the war. It is titled “Motivations”, and I expound further on the “information war”, which I mentioned the other day, and how we can fight it. Justin will be filling in for me when he can (I greatly appreciate this) and I will attempt to post as well if time…
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Stalling for Time
The Islamic Republic of Iran has indicated it has no intentions of halting or dismantling its nuclear program. In fact, the negotiations with the European Union 3 (EU-3) are merely designed to ensure that Iran retains its nuclear program. Ali Agha Mohammadi, the spokesman of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has stated as such: “Iran will never scrap its nuclear program, and talks with Europeans are intended to protect the country’s nuclear achievements, not negotiate an end to them, an Iranian official said Wednesday.” Despite a recent agreement with the EU-3 to suspend its enrichment programs, Iran is testing crucial…
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The Nature of the Beast
One of the most appalling reported acts of exploitative terrorism was perpetrated during last Sunday’s election in Iraq. Stymied by the Coalition and Iraqi security restrictions in place to reduce violence at the polls, the Iraqi “resistance” used a wheelchair bound child with Down’s Syndrome as a suicide bomber to murder Iraqis hoping to vote (hattip Free Will Blog via Chester): The official, Falah al-Naqib, said a handicapped child was used to carry out one of more than three dozen suicide attacks on election day. “A handicapped child was used to carry out a suicide attack on a polling site,”…
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No Delay
Election Day in Iraq is a little over a month away, and the violence against the Iraqi people and interim government increases. Last week, two election workers were gunned down in cold blood. Today, Muhammad Abd al-Hussein, a secular Iraqi politician critical of Syria was murdered, and Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the most influential Shiite party narrowly missed an assassination attempt which killed over a dozen people. Critics of the upcoming election on January 30 state that more time is needed to establish security in the Sunni regions, give the Sunni political parties time to enter the election…
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Cutting Costs
Belmont Club looks at the mortar attack on the mess hall in Mosul, and the media and European inclination to misrepresent, and in some cases ignore wholesale the nature of the Islamofascist enemy and the deeds of Saddam’s regime. The goal of the enemy in Iraq is to reduce our will to fight and push for the withdrawal of American troops, and the media’s portrayal of the Islamofascists as a legitimate ‘resistance’ only helps their cause by weakening support for the Iraqi people both domestically and internationally. The price American would pay for abandoning Iraq would be steep; however the…
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Terror TV
Charles Johnson of little green footballs links to an article on the banning of Al-Manar (The Beacon), the satellite television station of Hezbollah. The United States government has officially designated Al-Manar a terrorist organization, and the broadcast of Al-Manar will not be allowed to be carried on American satellites. Any persons or companies collaborating with Al-Manar would be subject to American laws and sanctions. The designation of Al-Manar as Foreign Terrorist Organization/Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity was a long time coming, as the network has a history terrorist activities. Samples of Al-Manar’s “programming” include hatred towards America and Israel, the…
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The Chain Gang
As the Iraqi elections approach, the interim government has decided to press forward with the trial of members of Saddam’s former Ba’athist regime. Twelve senior leaders will be the first to be tried, including Ali Hassan al-Majid (AKA Chemical Ali) and Tareq Aziz. These men wielded great power in Saddam’s Iraq. Tareq Aziz was Saddam’s Foreign Minister who circled the globe meeting with foreign leaders, and was accustomed to the finest comforts the world had to offer. Chemical Ali was Saddam’s cousin and hatchetman, the secretary of the Ba’ath party who was responsible for the gassing of the Kurds and…
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The Persian Approach
Dr. Kaveh Afrasiabi, professor of political science at the University of Tehran has published an article outlining Iran’s strategy against a possible confrontation with the United States. As Colt stated in Thursday’s Winds of War Briefing, the article is a “rather optimistic (from the mullahs’ perspective) look at how Iran would fight back” , but if this is the best face Iran can put on its ability to fight the American military, it should not be very comforting to the mullahs. Dr. Afrasiabi begins the article by discussing a recent Iranian military exercise that ‘mesmeriz[ed] foreign observers, who have described…
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Osama Speaks to Saudi Arabia
(This post will be updated with a link to the full transcript when it is available.) Osama bin Laden has released a new videotape where he praises the attacks in Jeddah, calls for the overthrow of the Saudi government and exhorts his followers to attack the lifeblood of the Middle East – oil and the infrastructure used to extract, refine and deliver it. The full transcript is not yet available, however the excerpted portions are quite revealing. On the attack on the U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Al Qaeda has already claimed credit for this attack, bin Laden merely…
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The Philadelphi Warren
Last November Belmont Club reported on the scope of the Palestinian’s subterranean war along the “Philadelphi Route”, the border between Gaza and Egypt controlled by the Israeli Defense Force. While tunnels are typically used for smuggling of weapons, ammunition, drugs and terrorists, the IDF believed a tunnel pointed at one of their outposts in Rafah collapsed before it could be used in an attack. This Sunday, Palestinian terrorists succeeded in using a tunnel to strike at Israeli soldiers. Five Israeli-Arab Bedouin soldiers were killed and six wounded after two suicide bombers (a curious waste of manpower, why no remote detonation?)…
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Assyrian Problem
Iraqi Interim President Ghazi al-Yawer, Jordan’s King Abdullah and United States intelligence officials have accused Syria of funding and supporting the Iraqi insurgency. President al-Yawer is blunt in his accusation against Syria,”there are people in Syria who are bad guys, who are fugitives of the law and who are Saddam remnants who are trying to bring the vicious dictatorship of Saddam back.” Syria is said to be harboring Saddam’s Ba’athist allies, freeing up funds for insurgency, providing material support such as weapons, as well as facilitating the movement of jihadis into Iraq. Syria’s actions should come as no surprise, as…
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The Credibility Gap
The Democratic Leadership Council, the purportedly moderate wing of the Democratic Party which includes members such as Evan Bayh, Joe Lieberman, Blanche Lincoln and former President Bill Clinton, recently published an article that seemingly called for the resignation of United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan due to his complicity in the Oil for Food scandal. It is interesting that the DLC has weighed in on the Oil for Food debacle at this point in time. What took them so long to recognize the corruption in the UN? This story has been public knowledge for quite some time; the Wall Street…
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The Keystone State
A common misconception about the Global War on Terror is that Iraq is completely unrelated to the war effort, that it is a distraction. This could be seen in polling questions during the presidential election. When pollsters asked about the issues most important to voters, the “War on Terror” and “Iraq” was listed as two separate issues. Despite the vast resources available to the mainstream media, they have failed to properly analyze the situation in the Middle East and grasp the strategic significance of Iraq in relation to the Global War on Terror. Part of this problem is the liberal…
