Iran

Spotlight on Iran* (July 4-17, 2016)

Mohammad Bagheri, newly appointed commander in chief of the Iranian armed forces, held a press conference where the said that improving Iran’s military capabilities and supporting “the oppressed peoples of the region” were at the top of the Iranian military’s priority list. A new group of snipers from the Afghan Fatemiyoun Brigade, operating under the
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Nasrallah’s Speech: Hezbollah’s Budget Is Entirely Funded by Iran, Including Weapons and Operatives’ Salaries Analysis of Significance and Implications

On June 24, 2016, Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah delivered a speech dealing with Hezbollah’s current challenges. One of the issues discussed at length was the pressure exerted by the United States on the Lebanese banks system to prevent them from collaborating with Hezbollah (an American-designated terrorist organization since 1995).
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Spotlight on Iran* (June 20 – July 3, 2016)

The Iranian media reported that Qasem Soleimani, commander of the IRGC’s Qods Force, had recently returned to southern Aleppo in the wake of intensified fighting. In a speech marking 40 days since the death of Hezbollah operative Mustafa Badr al-Din, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the organization received its funding from Iran, as it received
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The Liberation of Fallujah: What Next?

On May 22, 2016, a campaign began to liberate the Iraqi city of Fallujah from ISIS. The fighting was led by the Iraqi security forces with the support of Sunni and Shi’ite militias and American-led coalition airstrikes. On June 17 Iraqi army forces took control of the center of the city and its government buildings.
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Spotlight on Global Jihad (June 23 – 29, 2016)

The main event of the week was the mass-killing attack carried out by three suicide bombers at the international airport in Istanbul. On the ground, ISIS continues to suffer blows in the areas under its territorial control in the various arenas. There are two other arenas where ISIS is facing a threat of losing important
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Offensive against the Syrian City of Manbij May Be the Beginning of a Campaign to Liberate the Area near the Syrian-Turkish Border from ISIS

On May 31, 2016, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-dominated military alliance supported by the United States, initiated a campaign to liberate the northern Syrian city of Manbij from ISIS. Manbij lies west of the Euphrates, about 35 kilometers (about 22 miles) south of the Syrian-Turkish border.
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