In urban environments, the playing field is levelled between the conventional armies and insurgents BE IT ALEPPO or Damascus, Mosul or Ramadi, or even Eastern Ukraine, combatants in today’s conflicts are frequently fighting in and over urban areas. The decision to wage war in cities is driven in part by modern military technology. Frequently,…
Category: Hybrid Warfare
These are the Wars that will Rage in Africa in 2016
By Peter Dorrie With the exception of Syria, African countries currently get the worst rep when it comes to violence and conflict. Virtually every story coming out of the continent seems to showcase one atrocity or another. This narrative is both true and false. In 2014, Africa experienced more than half of worldwide conflict…
Killing Anwar: Targeting Jihadi Propagandist is Only Part of the Solution
Like dozens of others, the husband and wife team who shot up a San Bernardino community center were inspired by U.S. born al-Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in Yemen by a drone strike in September 2011. The San Bernardino shooting should serve as a reminder that killing propagandists can be an important tactical…
ISIS vs Al-Qaeda: The War Within the Jihadist Movement
Understanding your enemy and more importantly your enemies weaknesses is key to dismantling their infrastructure and eventually their organization and then plnating them in the ground where they belong.-SF The post-Arab Spring period has seen extraordinary growth in the global jihadist movement. In addition to theIslamic State seizing a vast swathe of territory spanning Syria…
Crusader Corner: PROVENCE’S BLOODY PAST, SIX LESSONS FROM A FORGOTTEN CRUSADE
For many, Provence immediately conjures up images of crisp blue skies, gently swaying lavender fields, and picturesque village markets. Immortalized by figures such as Marcel Pagnol, Jean Giono, and Lawrence Durrell — and more recently by the writings of Peter Mayle and Julia Child — southern France continues to be viewed as something of a…
Iran Accuses Saudi Arabia of Bombing it’s Embassy in Yemen
This could very well be the beginning of a World War folks…stay tuned.-SF This is a breaking story. Please check back for updates. Missiles fired by the Saudi Arabian-led coalition in Yemen have hit Iran’s embassy in the capital Sanaa, Iran claimed on Thursday. “Saudi Arabia is responsible for the damage to the embassy building and…
10 Conflicts to Watch in 2016
Pulling together a list of the wars most in need of international attention and support in 2016 is challenging for all the wrong reasons. For 20 years after the end of the Cold War, deadly conflict was in decline. Fewer wars were killing fewer people the world over. Five years ago, however, that positive…
21st Century Seapower
When the Tamil Sea Tigers, the ferocious naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was destroyed in the Sri Lankan government’s full-throttled spring 2009 offensive that put an end to the country’s decades-long civil war, few were sorry to see its demise. For while the group was a capable adversary of Sri…
The Lessons of Debaltseve: Armored Vehicles Still Matter
After nearly fifteen years of counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, American advocates of heavy armored forces interpreted Ukrainian forces’ defeat at the battle of Debaltseve as an indication that “tanks still matter.” But the key lesson of the Debaltseve fight is a broader one: Combat vehicles of whatever kind must provide the mobility, protection,…
Russia Using the 4th Dimension of Warfare (Space) to Gain the Upper Hand in the Syrian War
While Space has been called the final frontier, it is also an untapped resource in regards to warfare. Why is America always last to know in these matters while China and Russia are first in line? The answer is quite simple: BHO. -SF Russia is employing a significant portion of its space assets to gather…