Hundreds of Iran-backed Iraqi fighters crossed into Syria on Monday to help the government fight rebels who seized Aleppo last week, while Lebanon’s Hezbollah has no plans for now to join them, according to sources. Iran’s constellation of allied regional militia groups, aided by Russian air power, has been integral …

Drone strikes by Mali’s military regime killed eight Tuareg rebel leaders in the town of Tinzaouatine in the north of the country, a rebel spokesman said Sunday. It was the first time since the start of the rebellion in 2012 that so many Taureg leaders have been killed in a …

He urged NATO ministers to support full Ukrainian membership, rejecting territorial exclusions, while expressing hope for US influence despite German and Hungarian skepticism. On 1 December, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed Ukraine’s NATO membership prospects during a press conference with European Council President António Costa.Ukraine’s NATO bid faces mixed reactions, …

Russian President Vladimir Putin approved budget plans, raising 2025 military spending to record levels as Moscow seeks to prevail in the war in Ukraine. Around 32.5% of the budget posted on a government website Sunday has been allocated for national defense, amounting to over $145 billion, up from a reported …

The Syrian military rushed reinforcements to the northwest and launched airstrikes Sunday in an attempt to push back insurgents who seized the country’s largest city of Aleppo, as Iran pledged to help the government counter the surprise offensive. Iran has been a key political and military ally of Syrian President …

The U.S. Navy is transforming a costly flub into a potent weapon with the first shipborne hypersonic weapon, which is being retrofitted aboard the first of its three stealthy destroyers. The USS Zumwalt is at a Mississippi shipyard where workers have installed missile tubes that replace twin turrets from a …

Biden Administration Eases Restrictions on Use of US-Provided WeaponsIn a major development, the Biden administration gave Ukraine permissionto use American long-range weaponry, particularly the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), to strike military targets inside Russia. Subsequently, the French newspaper Le Figaro reported that France and the United Kingdom had followed …

The Kremlin’s Middle East diplomacy is driven by its rivalry with the West, the imperative to defend deep-rooted Russian interests in the region, and a desire to project power and influence well beyond its periphery. For centuries, the Middle East has been an arena of competition between Russia and the …

For almost a decade, US troops have been on the ground in Syria to assist Kurdish-led forces in the defeat of the infamous Islamic State. These forces tamp down on the ISIS remnants in the northern and eastern regions they presently control, where tens of thousands of captured ISIS fighters, …

Abstract: Terrorist organizations are not monolithic entities when it comes to many different aspects of their activities. Among other things, they may change goals, leaders, and tactics over time. This article focuses on one particular type of change: the decision by a terrorist group to geographically expand attack operations outside …