Map Middle East

Middle East Update – January 2021

January 31, 2021 SOF News 0

Recent news, analysis, and commentary about the Middle East – politics, conflict, Iraq withdrawal, and great power competition. Security Overview CENTCOM Now Has Israel. In his last week in office President Trump ordered that U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) add Israel […]

Marines Training Africans (photo by CPL Olivia McDonald USMC March 2016)

Africa Update – January 2021

January 30, 2021 SOF News 0

The continent of Africa continues to see war, conflict, and strife occur in many of its countries. The United States, with its pivot to the Pacific and attention to great power competition, is reducing its commitment to Africa. The biggest […]

GCPSU

Afghan Conflict Update – January 2021

January 29, 2021 SOF News 3

News, analysis, and commentary about the war in Afghanistan. Topics include security, Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF), Resolute Support, peace negotiations, governance, development, podcasts, videos, and more. Each month SOF News does a roll up of the news, […]

Map of Somalia

U.S. Withdrawal from Somalia

January 21, 2021 John Friberg 2

U.S. Africa Command has announced the formation of Joint Task Force Quartz to oversee Operation Octave Quartz – a mission designated to reposition forces from Somalia and continue the assistance effort in Somalia. In early December President Trump and the […]

Saber Junction 18 - KASP and 20th SFGA personnel conduct mission planning. Photo by 1st Lt Benjamin Haulenbeek; SOCEUR, Sep 19, 2018.

Irregular Warfare (IW) – Commentary (January 2021)

January 20, 2021 John Friberg 1

The last several years the term Irregular Warfare (IW) has gained increased prominence within the national defense community. It has become a buzzword meaning different things to a variety of people and organizations. Irregular warfare consists of unconventional warfare (UW), […]

Air Force Cross Awarded to Special Tactics Airman

Special Tactics Airman Awarded Air Force Cross

January 15, 2021 SOF News 0

Story by Maxwell Daigle, 27th SOW, Dec 10, 2020. Snapped awake by the sound of belt-fed machine gun fire, then-Senior Airman Alaxey Germanovich, a combat controller assigned to the 26th Special Tactics Squadron, surveys the compound he had dozed off […]

Iranian Proxy Groups

JSOU Paper: Iranian Proxy Groups in the Middle East

January 14, 2021 SOF News 0

The Iranian regime maintains a network of proxies including Lebanese Hezbollah, various Shiite militias in Iraq, the Houthis in Yemen, and foreign fighters in Syria. This paper by the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) provides a look at the problem […]

Earning the Green Beret in the National Guard

Earning the Green Beret in the National Guard

January 13, 2021 SOF News 0

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Chad Menegay. By most composite measures, the U.S. Army owns a reputation — worldwide and historically — as the best, most powerful, strategically responsive, highly-trained and technologically advanced of armies. There are some who join […]