Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), a designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO) and transnational criminal organization (TCO) by the U.S. federal government, has its origins in Los Angeles, California, in the 1980s. At that time, El Salvador was engulfed in a civil war between the government and leftist guerrilla forces, most notably the
This article was first published in the Manara Magazine. Another fast-track Kurdish peace process[i] is underway in Turkey. Is it aiming to resolve the decades-old Kurdish issue or pull together a minimum winning coalition for Erdoğan to maintain his rule? The peace process has already led to the Kurdistan
The Houthi movement, designated by the U.S. as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), has emerged as the most prolific violent non-state actor employing Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). According to GTTAC data, the group has conducted 388 drone attacks from 2018 to 2024, targeting a wide array of actors, including the
We’re excited to announce that our Non-Resident Fellow Marta Furlan’s upcoming book, “Inside Salafi-Jihadist Governance: The Strategies and Characteristics of Islamist Insurgent Rule” is being published by Columbia University Press. In this book, Marta Furlan examines rebels’ experiments in governance, considering issues such as the treatment of minorities, the extent
On February 01, 2025, the United States (U.S.) conducted an airstrike against the Islamic State.[1] This was the first major military operation under the new administration in the U.S. But what is more interesting is that the target of the attack was in northern Somalia; the semi-autonomous region of Puntland
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, commonly known as drones) have proved to be game changers in modern warfare and violent conflicts. Their deployment in the war between Ukraine and Russia, the Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the Libyan Civil War has demonstrated their effectiveness in high-definition surveillance, precision strikes,
While the Israeli-Hamas conflict and, more recently, the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, have dominated discussions on the Middle East for much of the past year, the focus of attention is now (re-)shifting to Syria, where the armed group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a widely unexpected and remarkably effective offensive on Aleppo,
This author interviewed Ali Maisam Nazary, head of the National Resistance Front’s Foreign Relations and Hamad Saifi, member of the NRF and former Afghanistan Army Commanding Officer, 5th Brigade of the 203rd Thunder Corps. In the three years since the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, Afghanistan’s National Resistance Front (NRF) has
Last week, the Paris railroad system was disrupted by planned, coordinated arson attacks. This was not unique, but it signals that major cities must be even better prepared for this “softer,” less violent, but still disruptive form of terrorism. The attacks on Paris’ railroad system occurred just hours before the
The October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel not only ignited a war in Gaza but also a severe escalation along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut and killing Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran are heightening regional tensions. Each strike deepens the fears of a
Since the Taliban took power in August 2021, Doha has hosted three UN-led meetings on Afghanistan. The latest was held on June 30 and July 1, and it marked the first time that representatives from the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate (specifically, from the Ministries of Counter-Narcotic, Trade, and Foreign Affairs) attended
In this episode of Orion Talks, Suat Cubukcu is joined by Travis Moran, a renowned expert in electric infrastructure security. Travis provides an in-depth overview of what constitutes critical infrastructure within the realm of electric energy, highlighting essential assets beyond nuclear power plants. He sheds light on the major threats
