How the Zetas Imposed Tyranny Inside a Mexican Prison
WIB front December 21, 2017
This article originally appeared at InSight Crime. A new study of the Zetas’ operations in northern Mexico offers a detailed examination of the roots of the organization’s power as well as the extent of its reign of terror in 2011. The paper, called El Yugo Zeta: Norte de Coahuila,... Read more
Islamic State Blasts Afghanistan’s Spy Agency
WIB front December 21, 2017
A training facility of the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan’s spy agency, came under severe attack on late on the morning of Dec. 18. 2017. The nearly five-hour assault was carried out by two heavily-armed insurgents. Islamic State’s regional group claimed responsibility. “A white Toyota full of explosives rammed... Read more
The UAE Is Getting Ready to Deploy Jets to the Libya War
WIB front December 15, 2017
New satellite imagery from Terra Server — dated Sept. 24 and Nov. 10, 2017 — show accelerating construction on Al Khadim air base in eastern Libya. And that’s strong evidence that the United Arab Emirates is preparing to intervene even more in the grinding Libyan civil war. The imagery... Read more
Iraq’s military has essentially destroyed the physical Islamic “State” which once militarily occupied one-third of the country. The effort to root out the Islamic State insurgency could take years. Iraq is now faced with the difficult task of implementing effective counter-insurgency methods as the group reverts to its origins... Read more
Syria’s Kurds Have Plenty of Territory — If They Can Keep It
WIB front November 30, 2017
In the war with Islamic State, Syria’s Kurdish forces successfully fought back and extended their territories, most notably by capturing the strategic city of Raqqa and large swathes of Deir ez-Zor province. These territories, which encompass almost all of Syria’s oil reserves, provide the Kurds with valuable bargaining chips... Read more
Drug Cartels Fight for Supremacy in Michoacán
WIB front November 29, 2017
This article originally appeared at InSight Crime. The decline of the Caballeros Templarios has left Michoacán at the mercy of a tangle of rivals, none of whom appear able to reassert the supremacy that previously imposed a limit to the violence within the state. Recent reports from Mexican outlets point to the... Read more
ISIS Fighters Hid in Tunnels to Ambush Iranian-Backed Troops
WIB front November 28, 2017
The war in Syria isn’t over. On Nov. 2, 2017, Syrian and allied troops advanced into Islamic State-controlled parts of Syria. Marching from the city of Dayr Az Zawr down the Euphrates River toward the Iraqi border, they linked-up with Iranian-supported militias and converged on the town of Al... Read more
ISIS Exploits Local Conflict and Moves Back Into Libya
WIB front November 24, 2017
After local forces booted the Libyan branch of Islamic State from Sirte and Benghazi in 2016 and 2017, the terror group reorganized and launched counterattacks targeting both the Libyan National Army and that regime’s rival, the Government of National Accord and associated Misrata militias. But ISIS’s survival in the... Read more
A Syrian Town Resisted Islamists … And Then the Regime Attacked
WIB front November 24, 2017
In September 2017, Hayat Tahrir Ash Sham, or HTS – an Al Qaeda-linked jihadist group in Syria – launched what it described as a “major offensive.” In response, the regime of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad and the Russian air force intensified air strikes on population centers in parts... Read more
In Violent Honduras, Homicides Are Falling Fast
WIB front November 24, 2017
This article originally appeared at InSight Crime. Due to a combination of factors, Honduras is on track to close out 2017 with a significantly lower homicide rate than has been observed in previous years. According to official figures, the government projects that the homicide rate will reach 42 per 100,000 citizens... Read more
