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…

In the afternoon of June 15, 2021, a car bomb detonated inside the premises of the Colombian army’s 30th Brigade headquarters, located on the Southeastern outskirts of Cúcuta, a Northern city close to the country’s border with Venezuela. The blast,…

First of all, I would like to thank a number of people who assisted me with information, translations, geolocations, and footage for this article. These people include, among others; E_Of_Justice, John Marquee, Suheil al-Ghazi, Samir, Qalaat Al Mudiq, Danspiun, Jakub Janovsky,…

Ever since the conflicts in Syria and Iraq progressed toward semi-conventional fighting in 2013-2014, up-armoured suicide car bombs, or Suicide Vehicle-Borne IEDs (SVBIEDs) have been a recurring feature of the battlefields. Lacking air superiority, non-state actors in both countries have…

This article covers the 2015 Idlib offensive extensively, with some background. If you’re interested in a broader view of how Jabhat al-Nusra’s (now Hayat Tahrir al-Sham/HTS) use of SVBIEDs has changed over time as part of different phases up until…

Following the rise of the Islamic State (IS), directors around the world have sought to capture this multi-faceted phenomenon on the big screen. Movies and TV shows have covered IS in different ways, with stories ranging from the qualms of…

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…

Two days ago I published my most extensive work of 2020 so far with the Middle East Institute, titled “Shifting Gears: HTS’s Evolving Use of SVBIEDs During the Idlib Offensive of 2019-2020”. This case study initially covers the group’s use…

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…

INTRODUCTION  Suicide car bombs, or Suicide Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (SVBIEDs), are used by a variety of different non-state actors across the world. At times against civilian targets in order to terrorise, and other times as a force-multiplying weapon on…

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…

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…

Two weeks ago, I published an in-depth report with European Eye on Radicalization, in which I examined the who’s and what’s of Remote-Controlled Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (RC-VBIED) use. In the report, I compare and contrast the use of such…

In April 2019 I wrote the most comprehensive report of the Islamic State’s (hereafter IS) design and use of Suicide Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices, or SVBIEDs, since the proclamation of the caliphate in 2014. The report, titled “Car Bombs as…

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…

I just published an in-depth case study with the Middle East Institute, where I examine how IS design/tactics and use of SVBIEDs has evolved and adapted since 2014. The full case study can be read here:

The SVBIEDs used by the Islamic State (IS) throughout the years have come in all different sizes. Everything from sedans, to pick-up trucks, heavy transport trucks, heavy construction equipment, and military armoured vehicles have been converted into rolling bombs. While…

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…

Recently I wrote a short article for Popular Front that was just released, about why IS fighters sometimes mount flowers to their SVBIEDs. The article can be read here on the new Popular Front website.

After the Islamic State had ascended to prominence in the period of 2013-14, their state-building venture really took off. The territories in Syria and Iraq under their control were divided into more than a dozen provinces (wilayat), each supervised by…

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…

*Note*Before delving into the fascinating SVBIED designs constructed and used by the Islamic State contingent in Libya, I’ve decided to dedicate the first section of this article to the history behind the group’s rise and decline in this north-African country….

History Jaish Khalid Bin al-Walid (The Khalid Bin al-Walid Army) was an IS-affiliated group that operated in the Yarmouk Basin in Syria’s southwestern-most Daraa province since its formation in May, 2016 until they were militarily crushed in a Syrian loyalist offensive…

At approximately 9:30 in the morning on Thursday, January 17th 2019, a suicide car bomb (SVBIED) detonated inside the General Santander National Police Academy, located in the Southern part of Colombia’s capital Bogota. The explosion killed at least 21 people,…

The group we know today as the ‘Islamic State’ only became known as such after a series of successive transformations and name changes over the course of more than a decade. One of its predecessor groups was the Islamic State…

Prior to the formation of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – or AQAP – in 2009, al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia had been engaged in attempts to lay the basis for a wider insurrection against the Saudi royal family. The US-led…

On April 20th 2017, The Islamic State’s “Amaq news agency” published a video report from the raging battle in western Mosul. The video, titled “An innovation enters the battlefield in Mosul”, began by showing footage of remotely-operated recoilless rifles, as…

Beginning in October 2015 and ending in September 2017, Amaq News Agency (the unofficial IS ‘state media’) regularly summarised all IS-claimed “martyrdom operations” (suicide bombings) in Syria, Iraq and Libya in infographics released on a monthly basis. Though these infographics…

This is the second part of a series of articles covering the IS development and innovation of SVBIEDs from the battle of Mosul to the current situation. The first part covered the similarities between the battles of Mosul and Raqqah,…

An SVBIED (Suicide Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device) is usually a very high-value asset for the group using it, meaning that they’re typically deployed in quite a reserved fashion. Even for IS, it’s not often that you see them use more…

This is the first part of a series of articles covering the IS development and innovation of SVBIEDs from the battle of Mosul to the current situation. The first part will cover the battle of Raqqah, while the second part…

Last August I wrote a relatively brief summary on the recent evolution of SVBIEDs for AOAV (Action On Armed Violence) up until the battle of Mosul & the start of the battle of Raqqah. It’s available to read on their…

Last year I was commissioned to write a case study on the Islamic State’s SVBIED developments during the battle of Mosul. It details how IS have adapted and evolved their SVBIED tactics/design in a response to the vast urban areas…

Historically speaking, car bomb usage has been reserved for use by terrorists in civilian areas. A nondescript civilian vehicle filled with explosives would detonate at a target, causing deaths and wreaking havoc. While that statement partly stands today, there’s one place where car…

Note: I finished writing this article in early January, 2016 The rapid emergence of the Islamic State in Syria & Iraq has brought with it a greater focus on the organization’s brutality. Widely circulated videos displaying extremely graphic violence, like…