Publications

The ISIS Defense in Iraq and Syria: Countering an Adaptive Enemy

June 2, 2015 - Jessica D. Lewis

Some have claimed that ISIS is on the defensive inside Iraq and Syria. A defensive strategy, however, is not a sign of organizational weakness, but rather a sign that ISIS intends to preserve its holdings in Iraq and Syria and keep its claim to a caliphate. ISIS’s defensive strategies include expanding elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa, while also maximizing combat power and future opportunities to launch offensives inside Iraq and Syria. Iraq and Syria are the physical foundation for ISIS’s expanding caliphate.

 

Iraq Situation Report: May 30 - June 1, 2015

June 1, 2015 - Sinan Adnan

ISIS has launched major attacks against the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) in the Thar Thar region, north of Fallujah and southwest of Samarra, in an effort to maintain freedom of maneuver and protect Ramadi’s northern flank. 

Iraq Situation Report: May 28-29, 2015

May 29, 2015 - Theodore Bell

The Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and the "Popular Mobilization" are on the counter-offensive across Salah ad-Din and Anbar provinces. 

Ukraine Crisis Update: May 28, 2015

May 28, 2015 - Hugo Spaulding

The continued broadening of attacks on Ukrainian frontline positions in Donbas suggests that the Russian-backed separatists have transitioned to a new phase of offensive operations. Separatists expanded their offensive operations most ostensibly into Ukrainian-held areas south and west of the city of Donetsk.

 


Iraq Situation Report: May 26-27, 2015

May 27, 2015 - Sinan Adnan

On May 26 the Popular Mobilization Commission announced “Operation Labaik ya Hussein” with the stated goal of clearing northern and western Salah ad-Din, southeast of Tikrit, and Ramadi.

Syria Situation Report: May 21-26, 2015

May 26, 2015 - Institute for the Study of War

ISIS seized the historic city of Palmyra in central Syria on May 20 and continued to  advance westward towards the strategic regime T4 Airbase along the highway to Homs city as well as southwest into the Eastern Qalamoun region along the road to Damascus.

Control of Terrain in Iraq: May 25, 2015

May 26, 2015 - John Lawrence
ISIS captured the Waleed border crossing with Syria on May 24, 2015, after Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) reportedly withdrew. ISIS captured the Syrian side of the border, Tanf, on May 22, 2015. ISW has also placed a watch on Haditha following a prolonged ISIS attack on the city on May 22 that involved multiple VBIEDs.

Iraq Situation Report: May 23-25, 2015

May 26, 2015 - John Lawrence

ISIS continued its campaign for the Euphrates following the fall of Ramadi and Palmyra. In Anbar ISIS seized the Iraqi side of the Tanf/Waleed border crossing with Syria, having captured the Syrian side on May 22. ISIS has mounted complex, coordinated attacks involving multiple VBIEDs against ISF-controlled Haditha and Baghdadi, near al-Asad Airbase, thereby challenging an ISF advance on Ramadi from the west.  

Control of Terrain in Iraq: May 22, 2015

May 22, 2015 - Sinan Adnan

ISIS seized the Tanf border crossing between Iraq and Syria, circled in the map above. The status of the Walid border crossing on the Iraq side is still unknown and assessed to be contested.

Iraq Situation Report: May 21-22, 2015

May 22, 2015 - Sinan Adnan

ISIS is attacking Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) positions near and far from Ramadi preemptively to compromise potential ISF counter-offensives against ISIS’s positions in Ramadi, still vulnerable while ISIS is consolidating its power there.

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