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.
Days of rival government factional fighting have pummeled the Upper Nile region of South Sudan and heavy fighting has ravaged the state capital of Malakal.
Al-Shabaab shot dead a senior Somali military officer in Mogadishu on Thursday.
The possibility of a third-term run for Burundi’s president threatens to undermine the peace deal in place since the civil war a decade ago.
Security forces and anti-government protesters clashed in Guinea, leaving one dead.
The Islamic State released a new video last weekend showing the beheadings of 21 Ethiopian Christians in Libya.
The plight of North African and Middle Eastern migrants risking their lives to make it to European soil by boat has been highlighted by the fatal capsizing of a boat over the weekend, killing a suspected 750 people. As a result, EU leaders are tripling funding for search and rescue missions and the UN is pleading with wealthy nations to take their share of refugees.
The UN says the Islamic State has 225,000 Syrians under siege in Deir Ez Zor.
Saudi airstrikes resumed in Yemen only hours after Saudi Arabia declared a halt to their campaign.
Accounts of airstrikes stream into social media from Yemeni survivors.
A New York Times interactive breaks down the basics of the conflict in Yemen.
Arms race in the Middle East fuels further and further conflict.
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was apparently seriously injured in a March airstrike and continues to recover.
Baghdadi’s acting replacement is a former physics teacher – an Iraqi named Abu Alaa Afri.
Der Spiegel published the results of an extensive investigation into the Islamic State’s origin and organization, revealing the heavy hand of ex-Baathists from Saddam Hussein’s government.
An American drone strike in Pakistan accidentally killed two hostages – American Warren Weinstein and Italian Giovanni Lo Porto. The same strike also killed an American member of Al Qaeda – Ahmed Farouq. A separate strike killed another American – Al Qaeda propagandist Adam Gadahn.
The White House has since acknowledged that the targets of those strikes were not individuals (a signature strike), but rather Al Qaeda compounds.
The Taliban announced their spring offensive.
In an apparent bid to match the Islamic State brutality for brutality, the Taliban is targeting Hazaras in a serious of kidnappings and beheadings.
A suicide bombing in Jalalabad on Saturday killed 35 people. The Islamic State initially took the credit, but now it appears they were not actually behind it.
RetroReports’ Anatomy of an Interrogation tells the story of an Afghan farmer and the CIA contractor who served prison time for the torture-related death, the only person associated with the agency ever to do so. (Phenomenal piece of reporting.)
The Pentagon can’t account for $1.3 billion in Afghan reconstruction aid.
A new documentary chronicles the late Richard Holbrooke’s frustrations and collisions with the White House and military leadership over how to proceed in Afghanistan.
Scientists used a secret replica of Iran’s nuclear facility constructed in Tennessee to answer diplomats’ technical queries during nuclear negotiations.
As we reach the 100 year anniversary of the Armenian genocide, Turkey struggles with the politics of its genocide denial. As do its Western allies.
Here, The Guardian collected firsthand stories of survival from Armenians.
The State Department says that Russia is building up troops on the Ukrainian border as well as building up air defense systems inside eastern Ukraine.
Shelling is a “constant” occurrence in the city of Mariupol.
A Texan fights alongside the separatists in Donetsk.
Court hearings over whether or not to jail Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny have been postponed until May.
A new exhibition in Moscow recreates tableaus of the war in Ukraine, a potent emotional tool in the information war.
The European Union charged Russian energy company Gazprom with market abuse, a serious move against the energy giant.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov gave his men shoot-to-kill orders if they see security forces from other parts of the country encroaching on their territory.
China is sounding the alarm on North Korean nuclear capabilities.
The US reached a nuclear energy cooperation pact with South Korea.
Mexican police captured the leader of the Juarez Cartel.
France says it has foiled five attacks since Charlie Hebdo.
BuzzFeed has compiled an ongoing list of American citizens charged with trying to join or support the Islamic State.
The role of FBI informants in the corralling of would-be Islamic State fighters and supporters is questioned.
New Pentagon cybersecurity strategy lays out for the first time US plans to incorporate cyberwarfare into military planning.
A new bill in Congress would require the Defense Department to disclose documents related to troop exposures to toxic substances.
The Pentagon rushes to resettle Guantánamo inmates before Congress can freeze transfers.
Is silence following the Senate torture report de facto amnesty for those who committed those acts?
David Petraeus was sentenced to two years probation and a $100,000 fine for leaking classified information to Paula Broadwell.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s trial began its sentencing phase.
Photo: Damascus, Syria. An injured boy awaits treatment at a field hospital following government shelling and airstrikes. Mohammed Badra/Reuters.
andulkaphoto
germansingergirl
kaledo-art
theartofmadeline
tangentwithtanner
baratheonpilled
