The establishment of the Iraqi government, after five long months of contentious negotiations, has dealt Zarqawi and al Qaeda in Iraq’s efforts to derail the political process. As Zarqawi stated in his 2004 letter to Osama bin Laden, once the Iraqi people begin to take control of the political and and security responsibilities, al Qaeda’s […]
Recent activity in Southeastern Afghanistan. Click to Enlarge. Coalition forces continue to maintain the offensive against the Taliban in Southeast Afghanistan. A joint task force of Afghan and Coalition security forces encountered “organized armed opposition” from the Taliban during a joint operation near the town of Azizi in Uruzgan province. Twenty Taliban were confirmed killed, […]
Recent activity on the Afghan-Pakistan border. Click to Enlarge. The latest estimate of Taliban casualties during the fighting over the past few days is approaching 200, with 25 Coalition, Afghan security forces and civilians killed. The Daily Times of Pakistan reports the fighting around Kandahar City, which was initiated by two separate Coalition operations, resulted […]
Mullah Dadullah may have been captured during recent fighting in Afghanistan. The news reports of a major Taliban offensive in southeastern Afghanistan are inaccurate, as Coalition offensives and Taliban attacks have been lumped together to give the impression of a coordinated Taliban assault in multiple provinces. A reading of the various reports indicates that while […]
Map of ISAF Mission in Afghanistan. Click to Enlarge. Almost five years after the liberation of Afghanistan from the Taliban, the American public is largely unaware of the scope of NATO’s commitment to providing stability for the Afghan people and combating al Qaeda and the Taliban. Through the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), NATO plans […]
Task Force 145 appears to have been busy over the weekend. In conjunction with the raid in Yusifiyah, which killed 25 al Qaeda and resulted in the downing of a Coalition helicopter and the death of two U.S. Soldiers, TF-145 struck near the town of Latifiyah. Multinational Forces – Iraq reports 15 al Qaeda were […]
Yusifiyah is yet again the focus of Coalition raids. Unnamed Coalition forces, most likely Task Force 145, slugged it out with al Qaeda in the city on Sunday. Multinational Forces – Iraq reported the strike forces killed “more than 25 terrorists, detained four, destroyed three safe houses and a vehicle loaded with weapons and ammunition.” […]
Suspected locations of Task Force 145 raids on al Qaeda cells. Click to Enlarge. Task Force 145, the mix of special operations forces assigned to hunt Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and al Qaeda in Iraq leaderships and cells, appears to have struck again, this time in Julaybah, an area “identified as a terrorist safe haven” which […]
Nearly one year ago, the media questioned the “readiness” of the Iraqi Army and declared “few Iraqi battalions are operational.” This stemmed from Multinational-Forces Iraq’s attempts to establish metrics for the readiness of the Iraq military, and the media’s lack of understanding of the meaning of these metrics.
The latest internal al Qaeda in Iraq document, which was captured in conjunction with the video outtakes from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s latest tape, highlights the state of affairs of al Qaeda in Iraq. The document is titled “A glance at the reality of Baghdad in light of the latest events.” It provides a blunt assessment […]
The plan to embed in Afghanistan has come to fruition. Late next week, I will be headed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, and will embed with the Canadian Army, and will spend about three weeks in country. The activity in and around Kandahar has been intense as the Taliban are attempting to reestablish control of southeastern Afghanistan. […]
Suspected locations of raids on al Qaeda cells. Click to Enlarge. Over the past month, Task Force 145, the special operations unit designated to hunt Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and other high value al Qaeda targets, has dismantled al Qaeda cells in the cities of Yusifiyah and Balad. It appears Task Force 145 has struck at […]
Schematic of an Alazan rocket In last week’s posting, The Military & Propaganda Messages in Zarqawi’s Tape, I pointed out the missiles that were so prominent in video were crude and ineffective weapons as the rockets were small and unguided. While this is true in a conventional sense, it turns out the weapons depicted in […]
In today’s weekly media briefing from Baghdad, Major General Rick Lynch stated Coalition and Iraqi forces are closing in on Zarqawi and his network. “We believe it is only a matter of time until Zarqawi is taken down. It’s not if, but when,” said Maj. Gen. Lynch, “He’s willing to pull his people from outside […]
al Qaeda continues its campaign of targeted assassinations against Sunni leaders cooperating with the elected government of Iraq. Today, a suicide bomber put Maamoon Sami Rasheed al-Awani, the governor of Anbar province, in its sights and attempted to kill him with a suicide car bomb. al-Awani survived the attack, but ten Iraqi bystanders were killed […]
Suspected locations of raids on al Qaeda cells. Click to Enlarge. Two weeks ago, Task Force 145 struck at what was believed to be the hideout of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the city of Yusifiyah. Five terrorists were killed in the raid, and Coalition forces discovered suicide vests and suicide notes along with various weapons. […]
The debate over Iraq being a safe haven and training ground, or a magnet and killing ground for terrorists has been ongoing since the inception of al Qaeda’s terrorist attacks in the summer of 2003. The reality is there is merit to both arguments. al Qaeda has managed to establish enclaves for small periods of […]
The Army Times’ Sean Naylor has a fascinating article on Task Force 145, which has replaced Task Force 626 and 121, and the hunt for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which I have summarized below: – Zarqawi was nearly captured in Yusufiyah by Special Operations Forces nine days prior to the release of his videotape. Segments of […]
Resolving Iraq’s militia problem has become a priority for the Iraqi government and the Coalition. The delay in appointing a new government is directly related to the various political party’s fear that former Prime Minister Jaafari was too close to Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia, and would not reform the police forces believed […]
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s 34 minute long video tape not only includes numerous political messages, as Dr. Walid Phares explains; but also contains information on al Qaeda in Iraq’s propaganda and military capabilities. Several of the military and propaganda aspects are covered below:
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al Qaeda’s commander in Iraq, has released “the first [videotape] to contain a ‘message’… U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News.” The tape is titled A Message to the People. This is his first video without a mask and directly posted on internet, not released through Al Jazeera. Zarqawi “needed” to be seen. […]
The scene of recent fighting in Helmand and Kandahar Provinces, Click to Enlarge. The fighting continues in the troubled southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar. Today, CENTCOM reports two separate engagements in Helmand and Kandahar. The CENTCOM press release for the Helmand incident states U.S. air assets were used to strike at a team of […]
The threat of a full-scale civil war in Iraq has receded after the disparate political parties have come to agreement on the face of the new government. After months of deadlock over the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance’s selection of Ibrahim Jaafari as Prime Minister, Jaafari reluctantly walked away from the nomination and the UIA selected […]
Clashes between Pakistani security forces and al Qaeda and the Taliban continue in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. Yesterday, the Pakistani Army hit “suspected Taliban hideouts” with artillery barrages and helicopter strikes after security outposts in North Waziristan came under attack from Taliban fighters. Today in North Waziristan, “a paramilitary trooper and three tribesmen were […]
Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas Yesterday’s rocket attack on the U.S. Embassy and NATO’s International Security Assistance Force compound in Kabul, Afghanistan highlights the increased level of violence throughout the country. Coalition and Afghan troop have seen a marked increase in suicide bombings, IED (roadside bombing) attacks and platoon and company-sized […]
The London Times reports plans are in the works for “the second liberation of Baghdad” after the new government forms; operational developments in Iraq
41 Taliban killed in firefight near Kandahar; Mountain Lion & the 3-block war
Another senior al Qaeda middle-manager taken down in Iraq; said to have ties to bin Laden and Zawahiri
Yesterday’s helicopter attack in North Waziristan is directed at Mohsin Matawalli Atwa, one of the architechs of the 1998 attacks on the U.S. Embassies in Eastern Africa
A joint brigade-sized Afghan and U.S. operation in Kunar Province