Nigeria Easily the single worst thing that happened today was the Nigerian air force's mistaken bombing of a government-run displaced persons camp in Rann, in the northeastern part of the country. Pilots were apparently looking for a Boko Haram force reportedly amassing in the area, and instead wound up bombing a camp full of people … Continue reading Conflict update: January 17 2017

Iraq With Mosul University in government hands, ISIS's ability to defend eastern Mosul seems to be collapsing pretty quickly. One of the big changes in the recent course of the battle, in addition to a drastic decline in the number of ISIS suicide attacks, has been that Iraqi forces are no longer having to go … Continue reading Conflict update: January 16 2017

Yeah, I know I originally put the wrong date on yesterday's post. Don't @ me. Trumpland Donald Trump has told the London Times that he wants to do a deal with Russia to trade sanctions relief for Russia's agreement to cut nuclear weapons "very substantially." This might actually be good news, but let's hold off … Continue reading Conflict update: January 15 2017

Iraq Iraqi commanders are saying that their forces have seized control of Mosul University from ISIS, a major step toward the full liberation of eastern Mosul. ISIS had been using the university as a base of operations, so now that's denied to them, and the campus sits in a tactically significant position overlooking a big … Continue reading Conflict update: January 14 2017

OK, so, it's been a long day and I'm getting started on this very late, so no time to dilly dally. Of course, if I don't finish this by midnight I'll just post it and then keep adding stuff to it after midnight, per my usual routine. Oh, you didn't know I did that? I'm … Continue reading Conflict update: January 13 2017 (UPDATED)

Syria Something fairly significant appears to be happening at the Mezzah military airport, west of Damascus. A short time ago (Friday morning local time) reports began coming out via Twitter, and then via the news services, that the airport had been hit by an Israeli airstrike, but now the story, per the Syrian government, seems … Continue reading Conflict update: January 12 2017

On the plus side, I finally finished that interview I was transcribing and sent it to my editor. On the minus side, that plus a checkup at the doctor occupied most of my day. I'll try to get back in some regular order tomorrow. Syria Stop me if you've heard this one before: the Syrian … Continue reading Conflict update: January 11 2017

The Ritz-Carlton Moscow It's possible I'll be able to formulate some thoughts about this as soon as I'm done laughing about it, but for now let me just say one thing. While I have absolutely no problem believing that the Russian government has dirt, possibly serious dirt, on our president-elect, the story that Buzzfeed ran … Continue reading Conflict update: January 10 2017

Apologies; normally I like to keep things more active around here, but I'm working on a big piece for LobeLog and it's taking a while to get through it. It's a long Q&A with a couple of respected foreign policy analysts about the Obama foreign policy legacy. And while you might think that sounds easy, … Continue reading Conflict update: January 9 2017

Iraq Iraqi counter-terrorism forces in east Mosul say they've reached the eastern bank of the Tigris River. Some Iraqi politicians are claiming that as much as 88 percent of the eastern half of the city has been liberated, which is probably a substantial exaggeration, but it's impossible to dispute that the offensive has made significant … Continue reading Conflict update, January 8 2017