Terrorism

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) on Sunday attacked an isolated outpost of the Syrian Arab Army in a few neighborhoods in the north of the city of Deir al-Zor, which are surrounded by Daesh from every side. The SAA also still controls a military airfield just north of […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Istanbul explosion: overview of this year’s surge in terror attacks in Turkey

contributors

France 24 | (Video News Report) | – – “Istanbul explosion: overview of this year’s surge in violence and terror attacks in Turkey. As no claim of responsibility has been issued for the blast in Istanbul, three main suspects have been unveiled: the Islamic state group, eager to take revenge on Turkey for its harder […]

Featured

Thwarted Territorially in Ramadi, Daesh reverts to Terrorism in Baghdad

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – One of the problems Iraq and Syria will face as Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) is gradually rolled back from its territorial acquisitions is that it will demobilize its conventional forces and return to being a terrorist organization. It may be in some ways more dangerous under the […]

Counter-Terrorism

Politics, not just Bombs, will defeat ISIL/ Daesh

contributors

By Frank-Walter Steinmeier | (Project Syndicate) | – – BERLIN – The November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris – which struck at the heart of France and of Europe as a whole – have brought the terrorist threat posed by the [so-called] Islamic State [group] (ISIS) to the forefront of the foreign-policy agenda. For me, […]

Featured

Russian Strike on al-Qaeda Lair kills 51 at Prison, as US hypocritically slams Moscow

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The Russian air war against al-Qaeda in Syria (the Nusra Front or the Support Front) took a tragic turn on Saturday when a missile hit a downtown government building complex and prison in Maarat al-Numan. It left some 51 or more dead and 70 wounded. The […]

Featured

ISIL/ Daesh Threatens to attack Saudi Arabia after Executions

contributors

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) has pledged to attack and destroy the two Saudi political prisons, al-Ha’ir (Riyadh) and al-Tarfiya (Qaseem region), where Muslim radicals are typically held, and release their inmates. These prisons hold several thousand Saudis accused of involvement in terrorism. It was the organization’s first […]

Authoritarianism

Do Drug Gangs in Mexico kill more than ISIL? & other Big Security threats that will Surprise You

contributors

By Natasha Ezrow | (The Conversation) | – – This has been a remarkably violent year – and many of the worst threats to human security that have dogged people all over the globe are no less a problem than they were a year ago. Here, in no particular order, are some of the biggest […]

Counter-Terrorism

How his Syria Intervention brought Putin in from the Cold in 2015

contributors

By Carl Schreck | ( RFE/ RL | – – In December 2014, U.S. President Barack Obama fielded a question about Russia while addressing a group of American business leaders in Washington. President Vladimir Putin’s incursion into Ukraine and “backward-looking” policies, Obama said, are “isolating Russia completely internationally.” If it was Russian expansionism last year […]