Updates will resume in late January. Wishing you all a safe, happy, and healthy New Year!
Taliban commander admits thousands of foreign fighters are embedded within group - Bill Roggio (Long War Journal) FDD’s Long War Journal has maintained for the last eight years that US military and intelligence estimates of between 50 to 100 al Qaeda in Afghanistan (later modified to 200) have been woefully low.
Iraqi Fighters Pledge Support for Hizbullah in War with Israel (Press TV-Iran)
Video: Mahmoud Abbas Contradicts the Palestinian Narrative on Refugees - Dore Gold (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)
The world is shocked by Trump's announcement on December 19th that the US is pulling out of Syria immediately (after talking with Erdogen). Many fear the departure of US troops will clear the field for Iranian entrenchment and destruction of Kurdish territories. This article appeared on December 14th!
America's Hidden War in Syria - Liz Sly (Washington Post) U.S. troops will now stay in Syria indefinitely, controlling a third of the country and facing peril on many fronts
Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Reuters, Associated Press, The Hill, Axios On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of senators sent a letter to President Trump asking him to reconsider his decision to begin withdrawing troops from Syria. In the letter, both democratic and republican senators expressed concern that withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria would "renew and embolden" Islamic State’s efforts in the region. The senators also said they believed removing American presence from Syria would give a boost to "two other adversaries," Iran and Russia.
Hizbullah Evades Israeli Bombs in Syria by Flying Russian Flag - Alex Fishman (Ynet News)
UN to condemn Israel 9 times, rest of the world 0 (UN Watch) “The UN’s planned assault on Israel with a torrent of one-sided resolutions is surreal,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental watchdog organization. “Days after the Hamas terrorist group assaulted Israeli civilians with a barage of 460 rockets — while the UN’s General Assembly and Human Rights Council stayed silent — the world body now adds insult to injury by adopting nine lopsided condemnations, whose only purpose is to demonize the Jewish state.” “While EU states are expected to support 15 out of a total of 20 resolutions to be adopted against Israel by December, the same EU states have failed to introduce a single UNGA resolution on the human rights situation in China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, Algeria, or on 175 other countries,” said Neuer.
