Bill is joined by friend of the show Edmund Fitton-Brown to discuss Edmund’s recent report for the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, Commentary: The Global Jihadi Terror Threat in September 2024.
Bill and show regular David Daoud are joined by their FDD colleague Ahmad Sharawi, making his overdue Generation Jihad debut amidst rumors that today’s Israeli strike in Beirut may have killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. They share what they know so far and unpack the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns.
Bill and Joe are joined by their FDD colleague Dr. Jonathan Schanzer to discuss his recent article for Commentary, “Hamas On The Ropes: A Progress Report.”
Bill is joined by Joe and David to discuss yesterday and today’s explosions of devices belonging to Hezbollah terrorists across Lebanon.
Bill and Joe unpack the latest concerning Iran-backed terrorist groups in the West Bank, Israel’s special ground operation in Syria last week, ceasefire negotiations, and whether Hamas is pulling a Taliban and playing Weekend at Bernie’s with its leadership.
Bill and his Wednesday co-host Will Selber are joined by their friend and colleague Beth Bailey of the Afghanistan Project podcast — she also previously served in the intelligence community — on the twenty-third anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. They reflect on where we were then and how we got to where we are now, twenty-three years later.
Bill and David Daoud unpack the latest details from the current clash between Hezbollah and Israel.
Subbing for Bill and Behnam this week are Joe and David Daoud. They catch up on the latest goings on with Hezbollah and its war of attrition against Israel.
Bill and Will recently attended a conference organized by the Afghanistan United Front resistance group (and with help from Will). They unpack what was on the docket, including the repercussions of the fall of Afghanistan three years ago and looking ahead to consider Afghanistan’s future.
Bill and Joe catch up on the latest headlines related to Israel’s defensive war, including a possible ceasefire, more terror tunnels uncovered and destroyed, the Hezbollah attack that killed an IDF soldier, and the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.
Bill and Will Selber are joined by friend of the show Jerry Dunleavy. Jerry was the senior investigator for the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s investigation of the withdrawal from Afghanistan until he shared his letter of resignation on X earlier this week.
Why did Jerry resign? The answer requires revisiting how events leading up to the fall of Kabul and withdrawal from Afghanistan unfolded and played out — and the ever-expanding black hole of accountability.
Bill is joined by Long War Journal and Generation Jihad regulars Edmund Fitton-Brown and Caleb Weiss to discuss the latest report by the UN’s Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team on the status of jihadi groups in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
Bill and Joe unpack Iran’s strategy of keeping Israel and partners on their toes in anticipation of some form of retaliation for Israel’s recent assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Social media influencer Preston Stewart joins Bill and Joe to discuss Preston’s experience both serving in and covering global conflicts and wars from serving in Afghanistan to multiple TikTok bannings as well as his take on Israel’s rapidly expanding war against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the conflict in Mali.
Bill and Joe are joined by David Daoud to unpack this weekend’s Hezbollah rocket attack on a Druze community in Israel’s Golan Heights that killed 12 Israeli children — and whether we should soon expect an all-out Israel-Hezbollah war.
Bill and Joe discuss Israel’s retaliatory strike against Houthi targets in Yemen following the Iranian-backed terror group’s drone strike in Tel Aviv, the CENTCOM Commander’s surprisingly honest letter to the Secretary of Defense, and the irony of Pakistan designating Prime Minister Netanyahu as a terrorist (congrats to him on his new villa in Abbottabad).
Bill and Behnam are joined by fellow FDD expert and friend of the show David David to talk about the drone strike in Tel Aviv — what we know so far and what it means for the broader war.
The UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team has released its latest report on Afghanistan and the myriad of jihadist activity therein. To discuss, Bill is joined by former director of this team at the UN and longtime friend of the show Edmund Fitton-Brown. Edmund is now a senior advisor to the Counter Extremism Project and previously served as the UK’s ambassador to Yemen.
Bill and Joe catch up on headlines related to the war in Gaza and the additional Iranian-backed conflicts at Israeli borders, including a status update on the latest round of hostage negotiations, action in the West Bank, and how Israel should handle Tehran’s noose-tightening. They also discuss the recent sighting of a top Hezbollah military official and specially designated global terrorist at the funeral of a Hezbollah commander.
Bill and Will Selber are joined by Lieutenant General Sami Sadat who among many other roles served as deputy commander of the Afghan ground forces and later the deputy chief of staff of the Afghan National Army. Now, he leads the Afghan United Front. They discuss America’s role in giving the Taliban the upper-hand that ultimately led to the collapse of Kabul; the vital role of morale during war; just how established Al Qaeda is inside Afghanistan and whether the Taliban-Al Qaeda relationship got stronger after U.S. withdrawal; and more.
Bill is joined by his colleague Bradley Bowman to talk about a new FDD monograph edited by Brad, “Cognitive Combat: China, Russia, and Iran’s Information War Against Americans.” They discuss ways in which America’s adversaries are waging information warfare against it, how the U.S. can defend itself in the information domain — and how it can go on the offensive.
Bill and Wednesday co-host Will Selber explain why Israel is not fighting an insurgency in Gaza as they unpack (and dismantle) a recent Foreign Affairs article authored by David Petraeus et al: “Israel’s War of Regime Change Is Repeating America’s Mistakes: But Israel Can Still Learn From America’s Successes” — wait, what successes? Israel should learn from our mistakes by repeating our mistakes?
The (still technically unofficial) leader of Al Qaeda, Saif al-Adel, wrote an article under a pseudonym calling for people around the world to flock to Afghanistan for training to conduct attacks against “the Zionists.” Clear efforts by Al Qaeda to capitalize on the conflict in Gaza — but is the threat credible? Does al Qaeda in Afghanistan even have the means? Yes and yes, say Bill and Will Selber, LWJ contributor and retired Middle East Foreign Area Officer. They discuss how we give an enemy time and space to innovate and then ignore their threats at our own peril.
The Islamic Republic of Iran tightening its noose around Israel can be evidenced by activity from the Houthis and in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and — lest we forget — the West Bank. How does the West Bank threat compare to the Gaza threat? Who holds power in the West Bank, and which terrorist groups are active there? Top of the list? Islamic Jihad. They discuss Joe’s recent research on the senior members of Islamic Jihad that were killed in a counterterrorism operation in the West Bank and losses suffered by the group’s Syria branch in Lebanon.
Bill and Behnam unpack a recent DIA report on the impact of Houthi attacks on international shipping and discuss everything the Houthis have been able to do with the limited resources supplied by Islamic Republic of Iran (and considering the bang for their buck, why wouldn’t they continue to supply weapons?); the perilous pattern of the U.S. ignoring when its enemies scream from the rooftops what their intentions are; and the credibility of claims made by the Houthi leader that an attack against Israel is being planned with help from the Islamic Resistance in Iraq — should we believe him?
Bill and Joe discuss Israel’s slow news weekend which included a hostage rescue followed by a high-level war cabinet resignation. The floating Gaza pier and al Qaeda are also discussed (because Bill).
Bill and Behnam discuss a Tablet Magazine article “Israel is Succeeding in Gaza” and whether there are any possible “settle-for-less” military and political outcomes in Gaza that involve anything other than the total defeat of Hamas; an IDF soldier killed by Hamas terrorists attempting to infiltrate Israel from Gaza; Iran’s IRGC vowing revenge for an Israeli strike in Syria that allegedly killed an IRGC general; and Israel’s new normal of daily skirmishes with Hezbollah on its northern border.
Bill is joined by FDD colleague and show regular David Daoud for an update on Israel’s other battle on its norther border with Hezbollah.
The botched U.S. withdrawal in 2021 left behind a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan with al-Qaeda running training camps using abandoned American military equipment. Terrorism confined by the borders of Afghanistan until history repeats itself and it isn’t. Luckily, a major resistance movement is taking shape in Afghanistan and attempting to organize against the Taliban.
To learn about three groups that have emerged at the forefront Bill is joined by Will Selber, retired Middle East Foreign Area Officer with multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
They discuss who’s who in the resistance, which groups could be effective enough to take the fight to the Taliban (and which should sit it out), the work ahead and what they need for success — including unification.
Bill and Behnam catch up on new Houthi activity, reports of the Iranian regime leveraging criminal groups in Sweden to target Israeli and Jewish interests, and an update on the most expensive piece of performance art in history, the floating humanitarian aid pier in Gaza.