In a transcript of a Pentagon Press Briefing, released this week by Airwars, n.S. Central Command’s Deputy Director for Operations made a striking admission about U.S. investigations into civilian casualties in Syria: …

Is the ongoing battle between Iraqi forces and the Islamic State (ISIS) to retake both Mosul and Raqqa not just going to put the nail in ISIS’s coffin but remove the causes of Sunni Arab discontent? Not if the Kurdish forces continue to displace thousands…

“Urban areas have become death traps for thousands of civilians,” says a new report issued by the United Nations Secretary-General ahead of the first World Humanitarian Summit, which opens May 23, 2016, in Istanbul. The report describes the widespread use…

Late in the evening of 1 September, an Iraqi air force plane dropped a bomb on a school in Alam, near Tikrit, which had recently fallen under the control of Islamic State (IS). Dozens of displaced families were sheltering there. The immense explosion and…

Tucked inside the continuing resolution the United States Congress passed late last week was a provision to authorize the training and equipping of “moderate, vetted” elements of the Syrian opposition. The CIA has been carrying out a covert, small-scale…

In a news briefing on Monday, the State Department spokesperson, Jen Psaki, said the United States has “serious concerns” about recent media reports that Iraq may have signed a $195 million weapons deal with Iran. If the unconfirmed reports are true, the…

Following the attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush began a campaign of “targeted killings” against suspected members of al Qaeda and other armed groups. It has continued under the administration of President…

1.     What type of FGM is commonly practiced in Iraqi Kurdistan? Doctors in Iraqi Kurdistan have told Human Rights Watch that the most common type of FGM believed to be practiced there is partial or total removal of the clitoris and/or prepuce…

1.     What is female genital mutilation (FGM)? The World Health Organization (WHO) defines FGM as "all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or injury to the female genital organs for non-medical…

What is the M26 rocket and how does it function?     The M26 is a 227mm unguided artillery rocket delivered by the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) to a range of thirty-two to thirty-eight kilometers. Once it is over the target area, the rocket…