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Updated: March 19, 2026 • 16:45 UTC  •  199 articles

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The Warzone 35m ago

A-10 Warthogs Are Prowling For Iranian Boats In The Strait Of Hormuz

A-10s are executing one of the lesser-known missions they've trained to do for decades, hunting down Iranian fast attack boats and mine layers in the strait. The post A-10 Warthogs Are Prowling For Iranian Boats In The Strait Of Hormuz appeared first on The War Zone .

Bellingcat 7h ago

How Wildlife Traffickers Are Using Coded Language to Sell Protected Animals On Facebook

A Bellingcat investigation has identified nine Facebook groups with a combined membership of more than 70,000 people, in which coded language has helped illegal wildlife dealers evade bans on the platform for years. Facebook says it prohibits any form of animal trading on its platform. Investigating the operators behind all nine groups, Bellingcat identified six […] The post How Wildlife Trafficke

War on the Rocks 8h ago

Countering Drones and the Pace of Modern War

This episode is about far more than countering drones. It is about how America prepares for and fights its wars. With three leaders from three companies at the forefront of counter-drone solutions (AeroVironment, Epirus, and Hidden Level), the conversation explores how America and its enemies are adapting, how the U.S. military is and isn’t keeping pace, the problems with how America buys things,

War on the Rocks 9h ago

The Inevitability of Chinese Military Purges

The scale of Secretary General Xi Jinping’s military purges is shocking. More than 100 senior leaders have been removed since 2022. And that number keeps growing, with nine military officers purged just last week and three more retired generals removed from a senior advisory body in early March. But it is the January removal of China’s top general, Zhang Youxia, that represents the most visible ep

War on the Rocks 9h ago

Islamic State Containment Is Collapsing in Syria

Less than a month after the repeal of Caesar Act sanctions, Syria’s transitional president Ahmad al Sharaa launched an offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, triggering Arab tribal defections and a rapid loss of territory. The fallout has jeopardized Islamic State containment in northeast Syria by disrupting intelligence networks built by the Syrian Democratic Forces, widening

The Warzone 18h ago

Iran’s Energy Infrastructure Is Now On The Targeting List (Updated)

The attack on the South Pars gas field puts Iran's energy production, which is critical to funding the Iranian government, in the crosshairs. The post Iran’s Energy Infrastructure Is Now On The Targeting List (Updated) appeared first on The War Zone .

War on the Rocks 23h ago

Syria and the Islamic State: Analyzing America’s Departure

In 2024, Thanassis Cambanis wrote, “Leave Syria, Keep Fighting the Islamic State,” where he argued the United States should withdraw from Syria, but continue to invest in counter-terrorism measures to combat the Islamic State. Two years later, after an American withdrawal from Syria and a new Syrian government in power, we asked Thanassis to revisit his article.Image: Photo by Staff Sgt. Jacob Con

War on the Rocks 1d ago

Military Operational Thinking in an Age of Artificial Intelligence

In recent years, as AI has begun to enter military planning and operational design, a persistent unease has surfaced among practitioners. Even with improved tools, increased tempo, and unprecedented access to data, plans continue to falter on integration, coherence, and a shared sense of direction. Marco Lyons’ recent War on the Rocks article on the perceived decline of operational art gives voice

War on the Rocks 1d ago

Double-Edged Swords: How Military Purges Shape Authoritarian Appetite for War

When leaders fire their top generals, they may be clearing the path to war or quietly sabotaging their own military.On Jan. 24, 2026, China’s defense ministry announced that the nation’s highest-ranking general, Zhang Youxia, a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, was under investigation for unspecified violations of laws and political discipline. Since 2022, General Secretary Xi Jinp

War on the Rocks 1d ago

Bailing Out Russia for “Peace” Is a Losing Proposition

Why would the West underwrite the very system it has spent four years trying to contain? Yet that’s exactly what Russia has proposed, and what some leaders in Washington might be willing to entertain.In February 2026, Russia proposed an economic reintegration plan (the “Dmitriev package”) that it claims would be worth $14 trillion. The package includes sanctions relief, aeronautics contracts and r

War on the Rocks 1d ago

Drinking from the Bitter Chalice in the Middle East, Again

In August 1988, with his country bled white by eight years of war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, a million dead, the economy in ruins, the revolutionary generation exhausted, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini accepted a U.N. ceasefire. He called it “more deadly than taking poison.” He was drinking from the bitter chalice of defeat.And then what happened? The Islamic Republic survived. It did not moderat

The Warzone 1d ago

Navy Juggles Its Aircraft Carrier Plans To Stay Afloat (Updated)

One carrier was already tired before it had a fire, another saw its service life extended for the second time, while the delivery of a third is delayed. The post Navy Juggles Its Aircraft Carrier Plans To Stay Afloat (Updated) appeared first on The War Zone .

The Warzone 1d ago

Navy E-2D Hawkeyes Appear To Be Rushing To The Middle East

The E-2D is America's most capable platform for spotting drones and other low-flying Iranian threats that are wreaking havoc on Gulf Arab States. The post Navy E-2D Hawkeyes Appear To Be Rushing To The Middle East appeared first on The War Zone .

Bellingcat 1d ago

Agents of Chaos: Unpacking the Actions of Border Patrol Agents Across the US

This investigation is part of a collaboration between Bellingcat, Evident Media and CalMatters. You can watch Evident’s investigative video here, and read CalMatters’ report here. In early January 2025, a gardener named Ernesto Campos was pulled over by Border Patrol agents in the city of Bakersfield, California.  The agents were a long way from home: Bakersfield […] The post Agents of Chaos: Unpa

War on the Rocks 2d ago

Takeaways from China’s National People’s Congress Meeting

From March 5 to 12, China held its annual Two Sessions — the National People’s Congress meeting and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. These gatherings provide yearly insights into China’s economic and political priorities and plans. Additionally, this year, the government presented its 15th Five-Year Plan, laying out key policies to 2030. We asked four experts to offer their

War on the Rocks 2d ago

How Does the Iran War Affect China’s Energy Security?

Since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, a key question constantly asked is how Beijing might react — assuming that China’s economy relies on oil imported from Iran and shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.In reality, however, China is 85 percent energy self-sufficient. While China imports more than 10 percent of its global oil total from Iran, its energy supply has long been diversifi

War on the Rocks 2d ago

Open War at the Durand Line: Can Pakistan’s Escalation Compel a Taliban Recalculation?

When Pakistan declared “open war” with Afghanistan in February 2026 and struck Taliban military installations in Kabul and Kandahar, it crossed a threshold: from targeting non-state militants to putting Taliban-governed Afghanistan’s assets on the table. This escalation was not impulsive. Months of indirect cost imposition through border closures, trade restrictions, and limited strikes on Tehrik-

The Warzone 3d ago

Israel Claims Destruction Of ‘Iran Force One’

The Iranian government’s Airbus A340 had been part of an exodus of Iranian state-operated aircraft to Oman amid Israeli airstrikes last year. The post Israel Claims Destruction Of ‘Iran Force One’ appeared first on The War Zone .

War on the Rocks 3d ago

Investing in Women is Investing in the Future

Welcome to The Ukraine Compass, a weekly digest of Ukrainian commentary and analysis from across the political spectrum only for War on the Rocks members. Each Monday, we bring you a curated selection of articles from Ukrainian media offering insight into how Ukrainians themselves debate the issues shaping their country.American coverage often narrows the view to the battlefield — these pieces wid

War on the Rocks 3d ago

The Danger of Vibe Patriotism in Defense Tech

At conferences, in pitch decks, and increasingly in public writing, “service” is increasingly being used to describe the work of startup founders, employees, and venture capital investors in defense technology. The claim, sometimes explicit, more often implied, is that building defense technology is itself a form of service comparable to uniformed military service.It is visible in corporate messag

War on the Rocks 3d ago

Don’t Count Launches: Misreading Iran’s Drone Capacity

After the Gulf War’s air campaign concluded in February 1991, U.S. commanders were confident that airpower had destroyed the bulk of Iraq’s Republican Guard before the ground offensive ever began. A subsequent General Accounting Office review found they were wrong and identified why. The Republican Guard was among the “least measurable” target categories in the entire campaign. About a third of re

War on the Rocks 3d ago

The Navy’s Latest Is Not a Plan, Not a Strategy, and Not Fighting Instructions

Churchill once demanded, “Take this pudding away — it has no theme!” U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle’s new Fighting Instructions presents a similar sort of dish.In November 2024, I argued in War on the Rocks that successive chiefs of naval operations developed a pattern of issuing strategic guidance that described aspirations but did not consistently impose the concrete direction

Bellingcat 4d ago

Ex-UFC Fighter and Kinahan ‘Friend’ Mounir Lazzez Linked to Iran Sanctions

This article is the result of a collaboration with The Sunday Times. You can find their corresponding piece here. Bellingcat and The Sunday Times last week published photographs showing ex-UFC fighter Mounir “The Sniper” Lazzez with wanted cartel leaders Christy and Daniel Kinahan.  The images, captured during the 971 Fighting Championship in Dubai last June, […] The post Ex-UFC Fighter and Kinaha

The Warzone 5d ago

Drone Attacks On U.S. From The Sea Are A Known Possibility

An FBI alert about the possibility of armed drones launched from a ship reflects real dangers even if the immediate threat is not credible. The post Drone Attacks On U.S. From The Sea Are A Known Possibility appeared first on The War Zone .

War on the Rocks 6d ago

Southeast Asia’s Nuclear Blind Spot: Latent Pathways and Explicit Pressures

Why is Southeast Asia becoming more vulnerable to nuclear risk even as it remains formally non-nuclear?Southeast Asia’s Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone has long been treated as a stabilizing firewall in an otherwise volatile region. Yet despite the continued legal compliance and strong anti-nuclear norms, the region is increasingly exposed to nuclear danger.Across East Asia, nuclear dynamics are shifting

War on the Rocks 6d ago

Military Senior Service Colleges Require Reform, But There Sure Are Some Bad Ideas Out There

“No one is thinking if everyone is thinking alike.” Gen. George S. Patton’s quip shows that he not only understood the advantage of audacious combat leadership, but the necessity to develop leaders and organizations that think critically and challenge assumptions. Military education is at the forefront of this endeavor in professional militaries. Indeed, last week Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth

Bellingcat 7d ago

AI Used to Promote Non-Existent Evacuation Flights From the Middle East

The Netherlands’ largest newspaper, De Telegraaf, recently published an interview with a woman claiming to organise her own evacuation flights from Dubai, selling seats at €1,600 (US$ 1850) each. Four days later, her photo was removed from the article, though the interview remained. Bellingcat has found that the original image not only includes artefacts commonly […] The post AI Used to Promote No

War on the Rocks 7d ago

Magazine Breadth — Not Just Depth — Is Key to Munitions Industrial Base Resilience

Is America running out of missiles? The attacks on Iranian forces and leadership have had a devastating impact on the regime, but the repeated salvos of precision-guided munitions and interceptors have put a strain on U.S. and Israeli stores of some of these munitions. While the United States retains significant capacity, as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has stated, the expenditures do create

War on the Rocks 7d ago

Testing Denial: The Philippine Alliance in America’s First Island Chain Strategy

An alliance is only as credible as the runway it can repair under fire.The Pentagon’s latest National Defense Strategy clarifies American aims in the Indo-Pacific while exposing what those aims demand of frontline allies such as the Philippines. The strategy’s emphasis on a “strong denial defense” shifts the metric of credibility. Though the strategy does not specify the objectives to be denied, i

War on the Rocks 7d ago

A Blank Check for Israel and the War with Iran

The United States did not enter the war with Iran because it was attacked or was about to be attacked. It seems to have entered after concluding that once Israel moved, American involvement would be unavoidable. When Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed congressional leaders last week, three days before the strikes began, the debate, as later reported by the Washington Post, was not whether to f

Bellingcat 8d ago

Tracing Tomahawks: US Missiles Bound for Iran Spotted Over Iraq

To stay up to date on our latest investigations, join Bellingcat’s WhatsApp channel here. Bellingcat has geolocated footage of multiple Tomahawk cruise missiles travelling through Iraqi airspace towards Iran, either in violation of its airspace or with Iraq’s consent. Bellingcat identified at least 20 individual cruise missiles and geolocated them over Iraqi Kurdistan including alongside Mount […]

Bellingcat 10d ago

Video Shows US Tomahawk Missile Strike Next to Girls’ School in Iran

New video footage shows a US Tomahawk missile hitting an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) facility in Minab, Iran, on Feb 28, showing for the first time that the US struck the area. The footage, released by Mehr News and geolocated by Bellingcat, also shows smoke already rising from the vicinity of the girls’ school […] The post Video Shows US Tomahawk Missile Strike Next to Girls’ School

Bellingcat 11d ago

New Footage Shows Wanted Kinahan Cartel Kingpins Post-Sanctions

This article is the result of a collaboration with The Sunday Times. You can find their corresponding piece here. Kinahan cartel leaders Daniel and Christy Kinahan have been photographed in Dubai, marking the most recent sighting of the wanted crime bosses since the US government put multi-million dollar bounties on their heads. The footage was […] The post New Footage Shows Wanted Kinahan Cartel

Bellingcat 11d ago

The Incendiary Bomb Never Seen in Israel Before

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has dropped 5,000 bombs on Iran since the United States and Israel launched an attack last week, according to a statement by the IAF on March 4. Bellingcat has monitored weapons used in the first few days of the war, and strikes across the region, including those that caused civilian […] The post The Incendiary Bomb Never Seen in Israel Before appeared first on bellingc

Bellingcat 14d ago

Using Bellingcat’s New Open Source Tool to Explore Historical and Spatial Flight Data

Flight tracking data is an important tool in open source research, but with 100,000 daily flights, it can be difficult to contextualise what a particular aircraft’s movements indicate.  Bellingcat has developed a tool called Turnstone to make it easier to visualise historical trends in flight data and spot unusual patterns. It also allows users to […] The post Using Bellingcat’s New Open Source To

Bellingcat 15d ago

Satellite Imagery Reveals Strikes on Iranian Police Stations

US President Donald Trump said on January 2 that the US was “locked and loaded and ready to go”. Trump was talking aloud about intervening in Iran if it continued a violent crackdown on demonstrators who had taken to the streets over spiralling inflation and ongoing repression.  Thousands of Iranian’s were reported to have been […] The post Satellite Imagery Reveals Strikes on Iranian Police Stati