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 Islamic State’s West Africa province publicly touts an attack on a Nigerian army position in Borno.
A double suicide bombing outside a mosque in Maiduguri, Nigeria, killed more than forty, according to witnesses.
A string of coordinated suicide attacks in Chad over the weekend killed 36.
The US will deploy 300 troops to Cameroon to fight Boko Haram.
The BBC speaks to three former child soldiers released by rebel groups in the Central African Republic this year.
A group within Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb attacked Tunisian soldiers, killing two.
Algeria shut down El Watan TV station after it aired an interview with a former Islamist who criticized the president.
Morocco is cracking down on journalists and activists.
Scottish prosecutors have identified two Libyan suspects in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
Kizza Besigye, an opposition leader running for president in Uganda, is under house arrest to prevent him from holding illegal rallies.
Angolan rapper Luaty Beirão detaining in June for “preparing acts pursuant to a coup d’etat,” is on hunger strike and his health is deteriorating.
In Guinea, Cellou Dalein Diallo – the main electoral rival to incumbent Alpha Condé, has pulled out of the presidential election, alleging mass fraud.
Violence continues to ramp up in Israel and Palestine and the Security Council has convened a special meeting to address it.
The war in Yemen has escalated once again after Saudi Arabia targeted Sana’a with airstrikes in retaliation for a Houthi Scud missile launched at an airbase across the border.
A suicide bombing and gun battle in Hodaida, Yemen, today (Friday) has killed 12.
The Arab coalition is slowing aid to Yemen.
Rifts are showing between the Kurdish Democratic Party and their rival, Gorram, threatening internal stability.
Turkey is expressing its displeasure with the US over continued support for the Kurds.
Is Turkey planning on using dams as a weapon against Kurds?
Nearly 100 were killed and hundreds more were injured in twin blasts at a peace rally in Ankara, Turkey over the weekend.
Syrian troops and Russian jets are targeting rebel-held towns north of Homs. In fact, the majority of Russia’s airstrikes occur in coordination with Syrian troop movements on the ground and target groups other than the Islamic State.
In Syria, US-made TOW missiles battle Russian-made tanks.
The leader of Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al Nusra has called for revenge attacks against Russia.
How Russia’s war in Syria links back to its longstanding one in Chechnya.
With the help of Shi’a militias, Iraqi forces recaptured most of the Baiji oil refinery.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps forces have amassed, according to reports, in northern Syria, poised for a ground offensive.
IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani was killed in Syria by the Islamic State.
Iranian media reports that Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian has been convicted.
Iran’s Guardian Council approved the nuclear deal.
The Hari Rud river, separating Iran and Herat province in Afghanistan, has become a site of conflict after Iranian border guards reportedly opened fire on Afghans attempting to divert water.
A tank carrying investigators forced its way into the site of the bombed Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz – potentially damaging evidence and definitely unnerving people.
Foreign Policy has a first look at the images from the hospital attack.
The Taliban have withdrawn from Kunduz, but overrun the Bala Baluk district of Farah province. The New York Times maps Taliban control in Afghanistan.
The Taliban are making a tactical shift, increasing their targeting of urban areas.
Changes have been made to the drawdown of US forces in Afghanistan: the current troop level of 9,800 will be maintained for “most of 2016″ and the US will keep 5,500 troops committed into 2017.
The Islamic State’s brutality in some areas of Afghanistan is starting to make the Taliban look rather humanitarian in comparison.
A suicide bombing at a lawmaker’s office in central Pakistan killed 7 people.
The US seeks to limit Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.
At a summit of the heads of former Soviet republics in Kazakhstan, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of a militant incursion in Central Asia.
VICE News follows up with former Guantánamo detainees resettled in Kazakhstan.
Abu Sayyaf, a militant group in the Philippines, has released a video showing two Canadian, one Norwegian and a Filipina hostage.
Myanmar has signed a peace deal with eight armed rebel groups.
The Islamic State’s influence is felt even in the Asia-Pacific.
Following an investigation, authorities have concluded that Flight MH-17 was shot down by a Russian-made Buk surface-to-air missile system and that the missile was launched from an area mostly controlled by rebels.
An Afghan refugee was shot and killed by police trying to enter Bulgaria.
Tear gas keeps making an appearance in Kosovo’s parliament.
Fifty-five British soldiers are refusing to cooperate with an investigation into Northern Ireland’s Bloody Sunday massacre.
Peace seems at hand in Colombia, except in the more rural areas most scarred by the decades of conflict.
The Intercept obtained a trove of documents about the American targeted killing/drone program in Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia.
A lawsuit was filed this week against the psychologists who took part in the development of the CIA’s torture techniques – the Guardian reports on the story of one of the three detainees involved in the suit.
Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Uruguay and Ukraine were elected to the UN Security Council.
The UN is criticized for not including more women in peace talks.
Firearms manufacturers compete to sell the Army a new handgun.
Two weeks ago, the House and Senate veterans affairs committees allowed a provision of the Agent Orange Act of 1991 to expire.
A third female candidate will graduate from Army Ranger School this week amid a big debate over women who serve in the military.
Photo: Donetsk International Airport, eastern Ukraine. A traffic sign outside the war-ravaged airport. Aleksey Filippov/AFP/Getty