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"Top U.S. and Russian diplomats discussed step-by-step implementation of a 2012 roadmap to U.N.-supervised elections in Syria that could allow a Syrian government “to move back into the international community,” the U.S. envoy for the war-torn country said Wednesday."

"The defense establishment is enjoying a period of bipartisan agreement on the need to prioritize strategic competition with China and Russia. Recent strategies from both the Obama and Trump administrations have articulated this direction. In light of this fact, the critical question this report asks is: Has the Trump administration put resources behind its strategy? The answer is: Yes and no."

"If we are entering an era where military forces will increasingly be called upon to operate in cities (and we are), it follows logically that the Army should begin preparing for urban terrain. But a quick scan of the global contemporary operating environment reveals the extraordinary diversity of urban landscapes. So what types of cities should we focus on?"

"Rights groups are raising concerns about the lack of due process for hundreds of suspected IS fighters in Iraqi prisons as Baghdad this week condemned six French Islamic State members to death."

"Despite a net loss of territory in Iraq and Syria since January 2016, the Islamic State carried out complex attacks in Brussels and the Philippines and inspired other attacks in Turkey and Asia during the same months. The successful attacks suggest that the Islamic State’s ability to threaten U.S. interests will likely outlast its control of significant swaths of territory."

"As the services work out of a funding and readiness hole brought on by the Global War on Terror and budget gridlock in Congress, both the Navy and the Air Force have signaled that they’d like to grow ― not just in end strength, but in ships and aircraft. But they should be wary of building that force structure without having enough training hours, maintenance dollars and quality leadership to operate them well..."

"Though the Defense Department announced Friday that just under a thousand American troops would be heading to the Middle East specifically in response to concerns about Iran, they are only meant as a show of force, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday."

"Drones are nothing new in the Middle East. U.S. intelligence agencies and the military have been using unmanned aerial vehicles in the region for well over a decade. But smaller drones have begun proliferating, and they are increasingly finding a role on the battlefield. It's the clearest sign yet, Waters says, of a new era of drone warfare."

"The U.S. appears to be stepping up airstrikes in northern Somalia’s Golis Mountains, where the country’s Islamic State affiliate and al-Shabaab have been battling for territorial control."

Continue on for links to all the articles in the CTC's latest issue of the 'Sentinel'.

"As the United States enters a new era of near-peer competition, current irregular warfare (IW) doctrine is insufficient to counter adversary irregular strategies intended to disrupt and degrade the Nation over time. China and Russia, Iran and North Korea, and violent extremist organizations (VEOs) have been using irregular methods, including information, cyber, drug, economic, and unconventional warfare, to avoid and offset U.S. conventional military advantages."

"The United States continues to be alarmed by Syrian government and Russian air strikes in northwest Syria and believes they are a “reckless escalation” of violence, the State Department said on Tuesday."

"When members of the Taliban and Afghan politicians met Tuesday in the Russian capital for talks aimed at ending the war in their country, one face in particular stood out: Abdul Ghani Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban and the head of its political office, who spoke publicly for the first time about the need for a peace deal."

The U.S. special envoy on Ukraine has called Russian activity in eastern Ukraine an “occupation” and has called on Moscow to start implementing its obligations under the 2015 Minsk accords – the international agreement aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists.

"A major human rights group has accused the Egyptian military of human rights violations on the Sinai Peninsula and is calling for the U.S. government to halt security assistance to the country, which includes arms exports and joint training between the Egyptian military and U.S. forces."

"The Taliban and Russia have jointly called for the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition troops from Afghanistan, with a top leader of the Islamist insurgent group denouncing the foreign presence in the country as a major obstacle to Afghan peace."

Somalia's militant Islamists remain relatively undiminished, despite a 12-year UN-backed campaign against them, largely thanks to its sophisticated web of spies, writes the BBC's Mary Harper.

"Blandly titled The U.S. Army in the Iraq War and based on 30,000 pages of newly declassified documents, the study recounts a litany of familiar but still infuriating blunders on Washington’s part."

"Former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has a book coming out this summer, but he warns that it will not be a "tell-all" about President Donald Trump."

"The post was shared widely and received thousands of responses. But many were probably not what the Army was looking for."

"... But as the war is waning, with Syrian regime forces reclaiming most of the territory once controlled by rebel forces, Russia and Iran seem to be vying for influence in the war-torn country."

"The head of Colombia’s army, frustrated by the nation’s faltering efforts to secure peace, has ordered his troops to double the number of criminals and militants they kill, capture or force to surrender in battle — and possibly accept higher civilian casualties in the process, according to written orders and interviews with senior officers."

"The United States will deploy about 1,500 troops to the Middle East, President Trump said Friday, in his administration’s latest step to address what it says are increased threats from Iran."

"Prominent opposition politicians from Afghanistan and representatives of the Taliban insurgency will meet in Russia on Wednesday for discussions on promoting a negotiated settlement to the Afghan war that continues to cause dozens of casualties every day."

The United States paused Monday to honor its war dead on the annual Memorial Day.