This Week in War. A Friday round-up of what happened and what’s been written in the world of war and military/security affairs this week. It’s a mix of news reports, policy briefs, blog posts and longform journalism.
- At least three have been killed in clashes in Burkina Faso — set off after protests to demand President Blaise Compaoré step down after a 27-year rule.
- Boko Haram abducted 30 boys and girls from a northeastern Nigerian village.
- UN peacekeepers freed 67 hostages taken by militia groups in the Central African Republic.
- Tunisia’s secular party Nidda Tounes claims victory in parliamentary elections.
- Dozens died in a government barrel bomb attack on a refugee camp in the northern Syrian province of Idlib.
- The Commission for International Justice and Accountability is working to build up cases against Syrian government officials — despite the fact that no court has yet agreed to hear them.
- Theo Padnos, former Al-Nusra Front hostage in Syria, wrote a piece for the New York Times about his captivity.
- Rukmini Callimachi has an incredible in-depth report on the experiences hostages like James Foley endured in ISIS captivity.
- ISIS used one of those hostages — John Cantlie — in yet another propaganda video, as a pretend broadcast correspondent, talking up the successes of ISIS in Kobani.
- 46 Sunni tribesmen were executed by ISIS in the city square of Hit.
- Marine Lance Cpl. Sean Neal, 19, is the first official casualty of Operation Inherent Resolve.
- Israel revealed a settlement construction plan for 1000 new homes in eastern Jerusalem — where Netanyahu says Israel will continue to build.
- Clashes broke out this past Sunday at a funeral in the West Bank for a Palestinian teenager killed by Israeli forces.
- There was some drama this week over a US official calling Netanyahu both a “coward” and a “chickenshit.”
- Sweden has officially recognized the Palestinian state.
- Bahrain is really not as committed to fighting ISIS as its public stances are meant to imply.
- This was a big week for Afghan reconstruction oversight — with the Special Inspector General of Afghan Reconstruction releasing a number of findings regarding corruption, inefficiency, overspending, etc… in reconstruction funds as well legal problems with refusals to disbar or suspend Afghan contractors known to support insurgency.
- US Marines and British troops ended operations in Helmand province.
- A “senior Arab commander” and a Haqqani network leader reported to be among those killed in a US drone strike in South Waziristan yesterday.
- The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have their own new magazine — a glossy affair titled Ilhae Khilafat — with articles like “Restructuring of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan,” “Why I chose to join jihad,” and “What if Imran and Qadri called for shariah?”
- After violence in the Xinjiang region, China will make changes to its national security apparatus — including the addition of a national anti-terrorism intelligence system.
- Australia passed its Counter-terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Bill this week… a controversial and problematic piece of legislation.
- NATO says it has intercepted Russian warplanes following what it calls an “unusual level of air activity over European airspace.”
- 7 Ukrainian soldiers were killed over a 24 hour period over Wednesday and Thursday despite the ceasefire.
- More cybersecurity breaches linked to the Russian government.
- TIME reports on the long arm of the Kremlin, and its power to intimidate and punish beyond Russian borders.
- Jailed Azerbaijani rights activist Leyla Yunus has been denied access to her lawyer.
- 90% of those who kill journalists are never brought to justice, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
- The US Postal Service revealed that in 2013 it approved almost 50,000 law enforcement and internal inspection requests to secretly monitor the mail of some Americans.
- A UN panel convened to address the human rights accountabiliity of mercenaries/private contractors applauds the convictions of Blackwater guards in the 2007 Nisour Square shooting, but calls them the “exception rather than the rule.”
- Appeal judges rule that a Libyan man can sue the UK government over rendition claims.
- Following a New York Times investigation, the exposure of troops to abandoned chemical weapons in Iraq will be reviewed and service members and veterans will be offered medical exams and monitoring.
- Nobel Laureates urge the White House to release the Senate report on CIA torture.
- The Washington Post interviews Erik Prince.
- The AP reports that the Army’s battlefield intelligence system — the Distributed Common Ground System — has failed to make data accessible in the field but succeeded in making money for defense companies.
- A Pentagon intelligence official and a California mechanic were convicted on federal conspiracy charges after a weird scheme to manufacture untraceable silencers for AK-47s for a sensitive mission.
Photo: Sanliurfa, Turkey. Turkish soldiers patrol Turkey’s border province of Sanliurfa as fighting continues in Kobani. Anadolu Agency/Getty.