Author: M Barbu

The trial of Adnan Ćatić for allegedly organizing a terrorist group and engaging in foreign battlefield activities commenced following the reading of the indictment and the opening statement by the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Concurrently, on Wednesday, 6 February, Syrian opposition activist and researcher Sheikh Jumaa Lehib received a deportation order from Lebanon to Syria amidst an intensified crackdown on Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

The Iranian regime, which… has been calling for “Death to America,” now has ballistic missiles which it says can reach the US, and claims to have a hypersonic missile that, according to one report, “Can Destroy US In 40 sec.”

Venezuela appears to have willingly embraced Iran’s overtures.

Latest Developments

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed on March 18 that Israeli forces killed Marwan Issa, deputy chief of Hamas military operations, in an airstrike last week. Issa, 59, constitutes one of the most senior Hamas figures killed during the more than five-month-old war in Gaza. Issa, also known as Abu al-Baraa, has acted as a liaison between Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif and Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian terrorist group’s top leader in Gaza. Issa was also among the architects of the October 7 cross-border rampage by Hamas that triggered the Gaza war. The State Department added Issa to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists in 2019.

Executive Summary

The United States is losing the war against an enemy it has misunderstood for decades. Al Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS), and the Salafi-jihadi groups that threaten the United States are stronger, smarter, and more resilient than they were on September 11, 2001. Americans have confused tactical successes on the battlefield against ISIS and al Qaeda with progress in this war.

Iran has a well-documented history of allegations regarding the use of child soldiers, a practice
dating back to the Iran-Iraq War in 1980 and persisting thereafter. According to the International
Committee of the Red Cross, a significant portion, approximately 10%, of Iranian prisoners in Iraq
were minors.1 During the Iran-Iraq conflict, children as young as nine were coerced into assisting
in mine-clearing efforts, frequently restrained together by ropes to prevent escape.