US strike in Iraq eliminates top Islamic State leader
A March 13 airstrike in Iraq’s Anbar province by US Central Command (CENTCOM) eliminated Abdallah Makki Muslih al Rifai, a senior leader of the Islamic State (IS) who may have served as the...
Iraqi security forces
The Islamic State and Iran remain determined to attack the US
Despite the recent successes of federal law enforcement agencies, the number of attempted attacks underscores these adversaries’ determination. Since the October 8 arrest of an Afghan man...
Op-eds
US and Iraqi forces kill Islamic State leaders
The US military and Iraqi Security Forces killed four Islamic State (IS) leaders during an August 29 raid in western Iraq that resulted in the wounding of seven American soldiers. One of the IS leaders...
Op-eds
Iraqi-US raid on ISIS shows group is still a threat
The recent US raid on ISIS in Iraq highlights the group's ongoing threat and the crucial role of coalition forces in maintaining regional stability.
Op-eds
The Islamic State claims responsibility for Omani Shia mosque attack
The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for a July 15 evening attack on the Shia Ali bin Abi Talib Mosque that killed six people in the Wadi Kabir area of the Omani capital of Muscat. IS’s...
Op-eds
David Petraeus Is Wrong: Counterinsurgency Won’t Work in Gaza
When you only have a hammer. . .
Op-eds
Islamic State wages desert-based insurgency in Iraq and Syria
The Islamic State is far from dead in Iraq and Syria. Despite losing its physical caliphate, the group maintained enough manpower and resources to continue waging an insurgency in both countries. And America’s...
Op-eds
Pompeo’s Encouragingly Tough Words for Iran
‘We win and they lose” is how Ronald Reagan once summed up his policy toward the Soviet Un...
Op-eds
Hopes hinge on perilous and long-awaited Mosul assault
The early stages of the campaign to liberate Mosul are revealing exactly why it took so long to seize the city from the bloody grip of ISIS. ... “The delay in libe...
Op-eds
Iraq’s Grim Prospects Post ISIL
Co-written by Sterling Jensen. In the coming months, and possibly weeks, the Iraqi Security Forces, with the help of a diverse group of fighters spanning the Iraqi politic...
Op-eds
One Of The Most Important Forces Fighting ISIS Hasn’t Been Paid For Months
The Kurdish Peshmerga, one of the premier forces fighting Islamic State in northern Iraq, is buckling under budget deficits to the point it hasn’t been able to pay its troops for months....
Op-eds
Can the Pentagon Still Save the U.S. from Obama’s ISIS Failure?
It's about time. More than three weeks after the massacres in Paris, four days after the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11, and only after he’d completed a foreign jau...
Op-eds
Obama Will Even Defend Anti-Semitism to Spin His Iran Deal
It’s not every day that you hear President Barack Obama explain away rank bigotry. But in a recent ...
Op-eds
Iran is Exporting its Islamic Revolution into Syria, Iraq and Yemen Just as it Did in Lebanon
At a rally last month on the occasion of the 36th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani gloated: “We are witnessin...
Op-eds
U.S. Needs To Avoid Alliances With Iranian Proxies In Middle East, FDD Scholar Tells Congress
WASHINGTON – Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday that Iran’s interest in becoming a Middle...
Press Releases
An Iranian Proxy Still Holds All The Cards In Lebanon
During his recent visit to Beirut, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Matthew Spence reportedly told Leb...
Op-eds
The Fight Goes on in Anbar: ISIL vs the World
Over the past week, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been able to build on its previous...
Op-eds
Desperados
Al Qaeda is Having a Bad Reaction in Diyala Province.
Op-eds
Operation Phantom Strike
How the U.S. military is demolishing al Qaeda in Iraq.
Op-eds
The Watchmen
In Anbar, the Marines do what they've always done.