Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - Hugo Kaaman

The Green Car Bombs of Eastern Aleppo

BACKGROUND Since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, a range of disparate opposition groups (including Jabhat al-Nusra – now Hayat Tahrir al-Sham/HTS) have wrestled with loyalist forces over control of the immensely strategic city of Aleppo. Situated in the country's North as its most populous city, Aleppo has acted…

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March 12, 2020

al-Qaeda / Aleppo / Ammonium nitrate / Anbar province / Car bombs / Caucasus / Deir ez-Zor / Drones / Hajin / Handicapped fighters / Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) / Iraq / Iraqi forces / IS (Islamic State) / Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN) / Media / Mosul / Ninawa / paraplegic / Raqqah / SUV / SVBIED / Syria / VBIED / wheelchair

The Disabled Suicide Bombers of The Islamic State

The Islamic State's propaganda is multifaceted and made up of different narratives. A lot has been written about how the Islamic State (hereafter IS) employs these narratives in their propaganda output, and how the group's media is carefully crafted in order to promote their overall narratives. These different narratives are…

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November 25, 2019

al-Qaeda / Aleppo / Ammonium nitrate / Camouflaged SVBIED / Car bombs / Deir ez-Zor / Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) / IS (Islamic State) / Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN) / SUV / SVBIED / Syria / VBIED

The Mysterious Case of the “Eastern Ghouta” Car Bomb

On February 27, 2018, a small youtube channel posted a video titled "Terrorists' bomb-car in Damascus". The video showed an up-armoured SVBIED, but the description of the video went on to claim that the Syrian Arab Army had captured a Faylaq al-Rahman car bomb in Damascus, more specifically in the…

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June 23, 2019

al-Qaeda / Aleppo / Car bombs / Deir ez-Zor / Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) / HMMWV (Humvee) / Iraq / Iraqi forces / IS (Islamic State) / Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN) / Main Battle Tank (MBT) / Mosul / Ninawa / Raqqah / SVBIED / Syria / T-55 / T-62 / T-72 / Tanks / VBIED

Last Resort – When Main Battle Tanks are Used as SVBIEDs

The Islamic State's (IS) extensive acquisition of military armoured vehicles from government forces in both Syria and Iraq has been a well-documented phenomenon. Especially during their initial massive expansion in the 2013-14 period, but also sporadically over the years. These seized main battle tanks (MBTs) and armoured personnel carriers (APCs)…

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March 18, 2019

al-Qaeda / Aleppo / Anbar province / Barqah province / bulldozer / Car bombs / Deir ez-Zor / Drones / Front-end loader / Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) / Iraq / Iraqi forces / IS (Islamic State) / Islamic State in Libya / Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN) / Libya / Mosul / Raqqah / RC-VBIED / Remote controlled / Salahuddin / SVBIED / Syria / Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) / VBIED

SVBIEDs & The Offensive Role of Heavy Construction Equipment

In historical and contemporary wars alike, the establishment of qualitative defensive fortifications has been one of the, if not the most important aspect of preparing for the possibility of an armed attack by an opposing force. These defensive fortifications typically take the shape of trenches and earth berms either surrounding…

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February 13, 2019