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 …
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. …
The Myth of the Remote-Controlled Car Bomb
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 devices by a variety of non-state actors in …
From Hajin To Baghouz – Islamic State SVBIED Design & Use
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 Weapons of War" and published by the Middle …
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 …