In early May 2019, it was reported that agricultural areas of central and northern Iraq were being set ablaze — allegedly by remaining pockets of fighters from the so-called Islamic State. The motive was said to have been punishment of farmers who refused to pay protection money to the terrorist organization. There is evidence that in…
In the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, there have been sporadic reports involving the use of different kinds of industrial chemicals. In Syria in particular, but also in Iraq, a variety of commentators invariably try to link reports of practically every such instance to use as a chemical weapon, or else use as a…
Laurence Bindner, Raphael Gluck This article was originally published in French on Ultima Ratio. Since partly going underground in the deep-web, ISIS exerts continuous pressure to make its propaganda surface on the public web. Adapting constantly to ever more active censorship, ISIS uses the various web platforms in an opportunistic and agile way. Therefore, online…
Russia’s intervention in the Syrian Civil War has been controversial to say the least. For instance, Russia has denied bombing hospitals and clinics in rebel held parts of Syria and then blamed the US for the bombings despite evidence to the contrary. Adding to the list of controversies involving the Russian intervention in Syria, in this…
The proliferation of armed, commercially sourced drones has become a fact of the current conflict in Iraq and Syria. Jund Al Aqsa, Hezbollah, so called Islamic State (IS) and Iraqi Government forces have all used commercial drones which have been modified to carry either improvised bombs, or in the case of Hezbollah, sub-munitions from a…
The last few months has seen the phenomenon of small, weaponised drones being used on a large scale by IS, especially around Mosul. It now appears that the Iraqi Federal Police (IFP) are fielding their own weaponised drones in the fight against Islamic State (IS), as well as their own modified ammunition. On the 23rd…
(The Conflict Armaments Research (CAR) Group, an NGO working on the ground documenting weapons and ammunition, have confirmed that the plastic tail fins mentioned in this article are in fact moulded. CAR’s findings can be read in this comprehensive paper on multi-purpose IEDs.) Introduction The conflicts in Syria and Iraq have seen a proliferation of drones…
ISIS have successfully adopted a little known Al-Qa’eda / Al-Nusra tactic known as Inghimasi. In a switch from the suicide bombing terrorism of the 2000’s, Inghimasiyun deliberately aim to stay alive, killing their enemies with firearms before having the option to detonate their vests when overwhelmed Evidence the tactic has been exported to North Africa…
Several international reports in April claimed IS destroyed the famous Clock Church in Mosul. The Iraqi Digital Investigation Team (IDIT) found the church is still intact. An independent investigation by the Iraqi Digital Investigation Team (IDIT) of the Berlin based organisation Media in Cooperation and Transition (MICT) has found that the Hour Church in Mosul,…
Satellite photography made available to Bellingcat courtesy of Planet confirms that parts of the Shaer gas field in Syria’s eastern Homs governorate were indeed destroyed by the Islamic State as suggested. By contrasting the two high-resolution color-corrected images taken by Planet at 34.850, 37.900 – close to the recorded epicenter of the seismic event, which…
