Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi’s recent decision to appoint two officers without media experience to key roles in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit is puzzling. Imagine for a moment that the IDF chief of staff decided to appoint an officer from the Spokesperson’s Unit to serve as the commander of …
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‘The Worst Seemed Very Far Away’: Andrew Exum on the Afghanistan War
Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden announced his decision to fully withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan by Sept.11. After 20 years and two generations of American service members fighting there, America’s longest war will come to an end. What will the legacy of that war be for the U.S. military? …
Read More »What the ‘Restrainers’ Get Wrong About U.S. Alliances
Proponents of a U.S. grand strategy of “restraint” are perhaps most well-known for advocating the end of America’s “forever wars” and reducing the country’s military footprint in the Middle East and Afghanistan. But the so-called restrainers have also questioned the rationale for maintaining the United States’ extensive networks of alliances …
Read More »How the U.S. Should Respond to Russia’s New Escalation in Ukraine
For the better part of six years since Russia and Ukraine signed the Minsk II cease-fire accord for the disputed eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass, one question has loomed: How will the U.S. and NATO respond if Russian troops again cross back over the so-called Line of Contact, dividing Ukrainian …
Read More »Russia Grants Qaterji Militia Investment in Deir-ez-Zor Oil Field
Russia has awarded the al-Qaterji militia an investment contract lasting five years, for the al-Taym and al-Ward oil wells in Deir-ez-Zor, each producing 2,500 barrels per day. Russian forces gave the investment of the al-Taym and al-Ward oil fields in the Deir-ez-Zor governorate to Arfada company. Last year, this company …
Read More »University Professor Looking to Work for Russian Militias
It is only in Bashar al-Assad’s Syria where one can find a university professor looking for intermediaries to give up his respected and prestigious profession to join the ranks of militia mercenaries and fight in foreign countries. At the core of this decision, the poor economic situation at home. Syrian …
Read More »Statement by Blinken and Foreign Ministers of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh
The following statement was released by United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and the Foreign Ministers of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS following today’s meeting. Begin text: The Ministers of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh/ISIS, reconvening in-person after two years, met today in Rome at the invitation of Italian Minister …
Read More »Moscow Opposes Draft Resolution on Second Aid Corridor
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, affirmed on Wednesday Moscow’s opposition to a new draft resolution submitted to the UN Security Council on opening a second corridor for delivering assistance to Syria across borders. “If we are actually concerned about the humanitarian situation that the Syrian people suffer from, then we …
Read More »Russian General Turns Against Daraa Residents
Russian forces deployed in the Daraa governorate, in southern Syria, have begun to modify their approach towards the residents and factions that have concluded a reconciliation agreement with the regime under Moscow’s auspices. Over the past years, Russia has acted as a mediator between opposition factions and residents on the …
Read More »Pro-Turkish Factions Confiscate Property of Displaced Persons
The pro-Turkish al-Hamza Division summoned the mayors of the villages and towns which they control – Ma’arat, Kazeh, Kfardali Fawqani, and Kfardali. The Division demanded the mayors to count the property of the forcibly displaced people from the aforementioned areas, to take full control over them. According to the Syrian …
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