thepoliticalnotebook: This Week in War. A Friday round-up of what happened and what’s bee
thepoliticalnotebook:This Week in War. A Friday round-up of what happened and what’s been written in the world of war and military/security affairs this week. It’s a mix of news reports, policy briefs, blog posts and longform journalism.The ICC will probe possible war crimes in the Central African Republic.Fighters in Nigeria’s Boko Haram drive fear in neighboring Cameroon.The number of refugees fleeing violence in South Sudan nears 2 million.French mountaineering guide Herve Gourdel was beheaded by Jund al-Khilafah, an Algerian extremist group who has aligned themselves with ISIS.The Syrian army has overrun the town of Adra al-Omalia, about 30km from Damascus.A great visual guide to ongoing strikes in Iraq and Syria. The British debate joining the airstrikes.The Al-Nusra Front leader Abu Yousef al-Turki was reportedly killed in strikes.International law and strikes inside Syria - from Just Security.The UAE’s bombing mission against ISIS targets was led by its first female fighter pilot, Mariam al-Mansouri. Fox News correspondents later joked that she represented “boobs on the ground”* and that she had probably been unable to park her jet. A newly-discussed terrorist element, Khorasan, appeared in the news this week. Khorasan is often misleadingly characterized in reports as a separate terrorist group, but this AP report is a really comprehensive explanation of who these people are.The White House has said that any ISIS prisoners captured will not end up in Guantánamo.The main theme of President Obama’s speech at the UN this week was ISIS and the plans to combat them.The US believes about 20 to 30 Americans are currently fighting in Syria. Sameera Salih Ali al-Nuaimy, an Iraqi lawyer who fought for women’s rights, was executed by an ISIS firing squad after several days of torture — another instance of the group’s targeting of professional women.The IAEA rejected an Arab bid to push Israel to sign the global anti-nuclear weapons pact. Hamas and Fatah have reached an understanding that paves the way for a unity government.Radical cleric Abu Qatada was acquitted of terrorism charges in a Jordanian court.The US has ordered some diplomats out of Yemen. Is the country on the brink of civil war?Adam Baron on the myth of the “Yemen model” of counterterrorism.Ashraf Ghani is now officially Afghanistan’s president-elect. Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan seized the Ajrestan district of Ghazni province Thursday night, killing 70 people.A suspected drone strike killed 10 Uzbek and Pakistani militants near the border with Afghanistan on Wednesday. Photographer Massimo Berruti documents the injuries and traumas of victims of drone strikes.The US transferred 14 Pakistani prisoners from military detention to Pakistani custody.Human Rights Watch calls out abuses of political prisoners in Uzbekistan.50 people were reported killed in Xinjiang last Sunday in what Chinese police are calling an act of terrorism.The US is preparing to ease the Vietnam arms embargo.Pro-Ukrainian residents remaining in the east live in a world of intense scrutiny and propaganda.Latvia fears Kremlin aggression.Hungary suspended gas supplies to Ukraine.The Treasury Dept named 12 Specially Designated Global Terrorists.Interpol is expanding its foreign fighters database.The FBI has identified the killer responsible for the beheadings of James Foley, Steven Sotloff and David Haines, but is not revealing that information to the public.The US is undergoing a major atomic renewal, an overhaul and update of its nuclear weapons systems (despite previous ideas floated about disarmament).The Boston bombing trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been delayed two months. Elliott Ackerman wrote a beautiful essay for The New Yorker about the two photos marking a beginning and a kind of end for his war.*As well as being sexists, Fox correspondents also apparently do not have the greatest grasp of the difference between aerial bombing and ground warfare.Photo: Suruc, Turkey. Syrian Kurd refugees gather at the Syrian-Turkish border. Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty -- source link