SYRIA Utilizing its total airpower advantage, the Syrian army has pushed deep enough into southern Idlib province that it's approaching the strategic Abu al-Duhur airbase, which could serve as a forward base for an ongoing push through the province. The airbase is on the eastern edge of the province so it's not like Syrian soldiers are … Continue reading Middle East update: January 5 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN At least 20 people were killed in Kabul on Thursday when an ISIS suicide bomber struck a crowd of police monitoring a protest in the Afghan capital. A Russian news outlet reported on Thursday that China is financing the construction and operation of a new Afghan military base in the northern province of Badakhshan. … Continue reading World update: January 4 2018

IRAQ Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is apparently going to try some sleight of hand in an effort to disarm and cut the size of the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Units: Abadi’s plan envisages taking back the militias’ heavy weapons and cutting their strength by half, according to military and intelligence sources.   The army is … Continue reading Middle East update: January 4 2018

ASIA AFGHANISTAN Indiana University's Nazif Shahrani argues that one of Afghanistan's problems is that the office of the president, regardless of who holds it, is too powerful: The 2004 Afghan constitution invests the president with more powers than former Afghan kings had before the republican period. Among them is the power to appoint all government officials, … Continue reading World update: January 3 2018

SYRIA Russian media is reporting that at least seven Russian aircraft were destroyed on December 31 by rebel shelling at Khmeimim airbase, just south of Latakia. If true, it's Russia's biggest loss of materiel in one incident in their 2+ year long Syrian intervention. It also suggests some rebel movement in northwestern Syria that's gone otherwise … Continue reading Middle East update: January 3 2018

We're going to ease back into things after the long holiday break. As usual when I take an extended break I'm not going to even attempt to run down everything that happened while I was gone. We'll cover what's happened the past couple of days with a few scattered looks at things that happened prior … Continue reading World update: January 1-2 2018

We're going to ease back into things after the long holiday break. As usual when I take an extended break I'm not going to even attempt to run down everything that happened while I was gone. We'll cover what's happened the past couple of days with a few scattered looks at things that happened prior … Continue reading Middle East update: January 1-2 2018

While I never say never around here, I feel pretty strongly that tonight's updates will be attwiw's final ones for 2017. We're hosting Christmas here and then traveling to visit family, so I need a bit of time to prepare and then most of next week will just be logistically impossible. The blog won't go … Continue reading World update: December 21 2017

While I never say never around here, I feel pretty strongly that tonight's updates will be attwiw's final ones for 2017. We're hosting Christmas here and then traveling to visit family, so I need a bit of time to prepare and then most of next week will just be logistically impossible. The blog won't go … Continue reading Middle East update: December 21 2017

CONFLICT UPDATE United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres presented a report to the UN Security Council on Wednesday on the nature of war in the year two thousand and seventeen. In addition to warning of the return of nuclear tensions and the cyberwar threat, Guterres spoke about the increasing complexity of modern wars, which may be fewer … Continue reading Europe/Americas update: December 20 2017