Small Wars Journal

Blog Posts

SWJ Blog is a multi-author blog publishing news and commentary on the various goings on across the broad community of practice.  We gladly accept guest posts from serious voices in the community.

by Voice of America | Tue, 03/05/2019 - 9:29am | 0 comments
"Hundreds of Islamic State fighters and family members fled the northeastern Syrian village of Baghuz, taking advantage of a pause in ferocious fighting with the U.S.-backed forces that have surrounded the last patch of the terror group's self-declared caliphate."
by CNN News | Tue, 03/05/2019 - 7:48am | 0 comments
"The final battle to end ISIS's caliphate is now underway as US-backed forces push into the group's last stronghold in Syria. But the predicted victory may be short-lived for Western countries, which will be forced to confront the problem of what to do with their citizens who went to Syria or Iraq to join the militant group."
by SWJ Editors | Tue, 03/05/2019 - 6:57am | 0 comments
Continue on for the latest revision. Includes War on the Rocks and Small Wars Journal.
by Associated Press | Mon, 03/04/2019 - 4:14pm | 0 comments
"Columns of black smoke billowed from the last small piece of territory held by Islamic State militants on Sunday as U.S.-backed fighters pounded the area with artillery fire and occasional airstrikes."
by The Washington Post | Mon, 03/04/2019 - 2:27pm | 0 comments
"White House national security adviser John Bolton was detailing the U.S. government’s hard line against the government of 'dictator' Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela on Sunday morning when CNN’s Jake Tapper posed a tough question: How can President Trump oppose Maduro when he has close ties to authoritarian governments in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates?"
by The Wall Street Journal | Mon, 03/04/2019 - 1:53pm | 0 comments
"Opposition leader Juan Guaidó returned to Venezuela on Monday after he defied a court-ordered travel ban last month by leaving the country, testing an authoritarian government that has threatened to arrest him."
by SWJ Editors | Mon, 03/04/2019 - 1:38pm | 0 comments
The National editorial - "The group still poses a threat and leaves a brutal legacy to the territory it once dominated."
by The New York Times | Mon, 03/04/2019 - 11:54am | 0 comments
"The chief of Russia’s armed forces endorsed on Saturday the kind of tactics used by his country to intervene abroad, repeating a philosophy of so-called hybrid war that has earned him notoriety in the West, especially among American officials who have accused Russia of election meddling in 2016."
by The Washington Post | Mon, 03/04/2019 - 10:54am | 0 comments
"In North Africa and the Middle East, conditions for upheaval remain, but the contexts vary."
by Voice of America | Mon, 03/04/2019 - 10:19am | 0 comments
"The United States and its allies are not winning the counterterrorism war for the Sahel, the head of U.S. special operations forces in Africa told VOA Thursday."
by Associated Press | Sun, 03/03/2019 - 1:04am | 0 comments
"The ground assault into the last area held by the Islamic State group intensified Saturday as U.S.-backed Syrian fighters made “remarkable progress” amid heavy clashes, including the capture of a hill overlooking a tent encampment for the extremists, officials with the Kurdish-led forces said."
by Voice of America | Sun, 03/03/2019 - 12:50am | 0 comments
"Iranian military advisers in Syria are reportedly forming a new militia in the country under their supervision with the aim of boosting an Iranian agenda in the region, a rights group said in a recent report."
by Voice of America | Sun, 03/03/2019 - 12:12am | 0 comments
"The U.S. and South Korea announced late Saturday the two countries will end annual large-scale joint military exercises as part of diplomatic efforts to “achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” In a statement, the Pentagon said acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and South Korea Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo in a phone call Saturday decided to end the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of exercises."
by Voice of America | Sat, 03/02/2019 - 2:56pm | 0 comments
"A U.S. government decision this month to deny an American-born Islamic State bride's request to return home has renewed debate over the fate of American citizens who have traveled to join IS in Iraq and Syria, with some experts saying the case could set a precedent for preventing U.S. citizens who joined jihadists from returning home.
by Voice of America | Sat, 03/02/2019 - 2:25pm | 0 comments
"Pakistan confirmed Saturday that two of its soldiers have been killed in ongoing military skirmishes with India across the disputed Kashmir border, known as the Line of Control (LoC)."
by The New York Times | Sat, 03/02/2019 - 6:56am | 0 comments
"Two years ago, American Marines battled Al Qaeda militants in western Tunisia along the border with Algeria. A Marine and a Tunisian soldier were wounded and two other Marines were later commended for their valor in the gunfight. Yet many details of the February 2017 clash remain murky."
by Voice of America | Sat, 03/02/2019 - 6:18am | 0 comments
"The Taliban is hoping ongoing negotiations with the United States will lead to the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan, allowing Afghans themselves to peacefully negotiate an end to years of hostilities, a senior member of the group says."
by Associated Press | Sat, 03/02/2019 - 5:20am | 0 comments
"U.S.-backed Syrian forces on Friday resumed military operations to liberate the last piece of territory held by the Islamic state group in Syria after evacuating thousands of civilians and hostages who have been besieged inside, a spokesman said."
by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | Sat, 03/02/2019 - 4:51am | 0 comments
"Afghan forces repelled a Taliban attack at deadly cost after the militants assaulted a large military base in the southern province of Helmand late on February 28."
by The New York Times | Sat, 03/02/2019 - 4:10am | 0 comments
"Mexican officials are carrying out the Trump administration’s immigration agenda across widespread stretches of the border, undercutting the Mexican government’s promises to defend migrants and support their search for a better life."
by Voice of America | Fri, 03/01/2019 - 4:47pm | 0 comments
"Islamic State militants are being as vicious at the end as they were at the start when they rolled out their caliphate."
by Marine Corps Times | Fri, 03/01/2019 - 3:47pm | 0 comments
"Early Friday morning Taliban fighters attempted to storm a major Afghan military base in southern Afghanistan that houses Afghan forces and U.S. Marine advisers, according to military officials."
by The New York Times | Fri, 03/01/2019 - 3:23pm | 0 comments
"President Trump has ordered most American troops to withdraw from Syria. He wants to bring home thousands more from Afghanistan. Now hundreds of United States commandos and other forces are leaving West Africa — despite an onslaught of attacks from an increasingly deadly matrix of Islamist fighters."
by Voice of America | Fri, 03/01/2019 - 3:08pm | 0 comments
"U.S.-backed forces in Syria moved to retake the very last patch the Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate in Syria, advancing on the terror group’s remaining fighters late Friday."
by Associated Press, by The Washington Post, by Military.com | Fri, 03/01/2019 - 12:16am | 0 comments
"President Donald Trump asserted on Thursday that the Islamic State group has lost 100 percent of the territory it once controlled in Syria, but U.S. officials in Washington and accounts from people in Syria said a sliver of land remains contested."