I was a guest on Jake Hanrahan’s podcast Popular Front last week to discuss low-tech ways that non-government forces are catching Islamic State group fighters on the run from their collapsed ‘caliphate’ in Syria and Iraq. Listen to the episode here:
ISIS
On the backfoot, IS uses old tactics to gain new strength | AFP
[Published here August 7, 2018]
The Islamic State group is looking to recapture lost power by reverting to the grisly tactics that first propelled it to global notoriety, analysts say, including executions and kidnapping minorities.
Four years and one caliphate later, IS claims Idlib comeback | AFP
[Published here January 16, 2018]
The Islamic State group has been roundly defeated across much of Syria — which made it all the more surprising when it announced an official comeback in the country’s northwest last week.
After IS, rotting corpses and empty jail cells in Syria’s Raqa | AFP
[Published here October 18, 2017]
Raqa (Syria) (AFP) – Days ago in Syria’s Raqa, die-hard jihadists made their final stand in the city’s national hospital. On Wednesday, it stood eerily silent, its entrance inhabited only by swarming flies and two rotting corpses.
US-led strike in Syria blocks IS fighters evacuated from Lebanon | AFP
[Published here on August 30, 2017]
Beirut (AFP) – The US-led coalition carried out two sets of air strikes on Wednesday to block Islamic State group fighters evacuated from Lebanon from reaching eastern Syria, its spokesman told AFP.
US-backed Syria force ousts IS from half of Raqa | AFP
[Published here on July 27, 2017]
Beirut (AFP) – A US-backed alliance has ousted Islamic State group jihadists from half of their Syrian bastion Raqa, a monitor said Wednesday, as the escalating fighting drove up the civilian death toll.
Mosul battle leaving legacy of environmental damage | AFP
[Published here on December 12, 2016]
Qayyarah, Iraq // The battle to retake Mosul from ISIL is leaving a legacy of environmental damage and health risks that will pose dangers to people for years to come.
