The Strategic Logic of SVBIEDs – Part 1 – Mirroring the Conventional 
Car bombs / Covert VBIED / Iraq / IS (Islamic State) / Islamic State's West Africa Province (ISWAP) / Libya / Mosul / Nigeria / SVBIED / Syria / Taliban

The Strategic Logic of SVBIEDs – Part 1 – Mirroring the Conventional 

Note: This article was written in the latter half of 2021, and has NOT been factually updated since then. I am publishing it in its original state, without edits. The use of suicide car bombs, or Suicide Vehicle-Borne IEDs (SVBIEDs) by non-state actors has evolved substantially over the past decade. The SVBIED,…

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January 26, 2025
An Explosive Renewal of the Islamic State in Libya? (Guest Post)
Baghdad / Barqah province / captured car bomb / captured SVBIED / Captured VBIED / Car bombs / Covert VBIED / Iraq / IS (Islamic State) / Islamic State in Libya / Islamic State's West Africa Province (ISWAP) / ISWAP / Libya / Libyan Dawn / Libyan National Army (LNA) / Mosul / parked VBIED / SVBIED / Tarabulus province / VBIED

An Explosive Renewal of the Islamic State in Libya? (Guest Post)

This is the first guest post on my website, written by the knowledgeable Calibre Obscura. As this topic revolves around IS' use of SVBIEDs in Libya, my previous in-depth article on the topic is a good primer. Late in the day on June 6th 2021, a local police facility on…

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September 17, 2021
Transplanted Armour: The Franken-SVBIEDs of the Islamic State
Anbar province / Car bombs / Fallujah / HMMWV (Humvee) / Iraq / IS (Islamic State) / Islamic State's West Africa Province (ISWAP) / ISWA / ISWAP / Jaish Khalid Bin al-Walid (JKBW) / Liwa Shuhada al-Yarmouk (LSY) / Mosul / Ninawa / SVBIED / Syria / Transplanted armour / VBIED / Wilayat Hawran

Transplanted Armour: The Franken-SVBIEDs of the Islamic State

In the process of capturing a piece of territory that at its height was larger than the UK, the Islamic State (IS) was able to capture large quantities of armoured vehicles from its opponents. While many of these vehicles (primarily those of Soviet origin) were reinserted into their stated combat…

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January 18, 2021
The Unique SVBIEDs Used in the 2013 Capture of Menagh Airbase
2S1 Gvozdika / Abu Jandal al-Masri / Airbase / al-Qaeda / Aleppo / Ammonium nitrate / Azaz / BMP-1 SVBIED / Car bombs / Egypt / Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) / Iraq / IS (Islamic State) / ISI (Islamic State of Iraq) / Islamic State in Libya / Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN) / Jaish al-Muhajireen wal-Ansar (JMA) / Liwa al-Fatah / Liwa Asifat al-Shamal / Menagh / Menagh Airbase / Northern Storm Brigade / SVBIED / Syria / Tell Rifaat / VBIED

The Unique SVBIEDs Used in the 2013 Capture of Menagh Airbase

Background On August 5, 2013, two suicide bombers belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) detonated their vehicles inside Menagh Airbase in the Northern Aleppo countryside. By the next day, the remaining loyalist holdout located in and around the base command centre had been overrun, ending the…

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September 21, 2020
The Disabled Suicide Bombers of The Islamic State
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
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