The failure of Operation Epic Fury shouldn't be a surprise. Just look at the five other times powerful countries tried to overthrow a Middle Eastern government. warontherocks.com/an-unlearned...

Hamas October 7 orchestrator Yahya Sinwar believed Israel might respond to the invasion by using nuclear weapons against Gaza, a new document released today revealed. www.jpost.com/israel-news/...

The case against Asma: how a London schoolgirl helped lead her husband’s bloody regime The British wife of toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has been revealed as a central figure in his murderous operation and at the heart of its decision-making https://bit.ly/4w1gsD5

"The Executive Council encouraged Syria to maintain positive cooperation with the Technical Secretariat in working towards closing the chemical weapons dossier inherited from the former regime." www.opcw.org/media-centre...

"The project could help Russia maintain influence regardless of the eventual shape of its military presence, said Nanar Hawach, a senior Syria adviser at International Crisis Group." @thejerusalempost.bsky.social @reuters.com www.jpost.com/middle-east/...

Red Sea Legal Letter * Issue 3 open.substack.com/pub/redseafu...

"Since millions of NSDAP membership cards have been made available online, many Germans have been surprised to discover that their ancestors weren't always as innocent as family stories had led them to believe." -Suzanne Cords amp.dw.com/en/how-do-ge...

"Russia hopes by mid-July to have a commercial logistics hub up & running in one of two berths at the naval base it leases in the Syrian port of Tartous, while keeping ​a military presence at the other, Syrian officials told @reuters.com." -Feras Dalatey www.reuters.com/world/russia...

"Somaliland, Socotra, and The Price of Oil" @ethanchorin.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/redseafu...

"He said that ferreting out remnants of the CW arsenal had been complicated partly by 'the Israeli airstrikes [and] what’s happening now in the region.'” @armscontrolnow.bsky.social www.armscontrol.org/act/2026-07/...

"Fast-forward more than half a century, and Iraq appears to be witnessing its own Godfather moment." @ibrahimpasha.bsky.social & @tanyagoudsouzian.bsky.social for @quincyinst.bsky.social responsiblestatecraft.org/ali-zaidi-ir...

Syria’s longest-held detainee, Ragheed Ahmad al-Tatari, says his joy over the downfall of the Bashar al-Assad regime was far greater than his joy of being freed from prison after 43 years behind bars. Read: www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260706-syr...

Transitional justice approaches in #Syria must not isolate periods of oppression from the broader historical contexts that enabled them, writes Noha Aboueldahab.

"War Made the Case For IMEC, Not Against It," by @ethanchorin.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/ethancho...

Thrilled to see my co-authored chapter with @marsin.bsky.social out in Ba'thist Iraq Through Archives edited by @samuelhelfont.bsky.social & @lisablaydes.bsky.social. In our opening chapter, we argue uneven access has produced hierarchized knowledge production through of wartime expropriation

"Momentum is building, bolstered by recent international recognition for the Iraqi film 'The President's Cake', which captures life under crippling sanctions during Saddam Hussein's rule." english.aawsat.com/entertainmen...

In her new article for @lsqjournal.bsky.social, @ccleavitt.bsky.social of Smith College argues that House committee investigations are a key component in the wider policymaking agenda. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

"Drawing on official documents, internal records, & witness testimony, this investigation traces how children with known identities were separated from their families after their parents were arrested or forcibly disappeared..." daraj.media/en/syrias-mi...

"Towards the end of the war, the Nazis tried to destroy the enormous collection of membership cards & took them to a pulp mill near Munich. The mill owner, at the last moment, saved the documents, convincing the American army of their value." mezha.net/eng/bukvy/b1...

"[L]aunching transitional justice proceedings before enacting a dedicated transitional justice law has created a gap between Syrians’ expectations for comprehensive accountability & current prosecutions conducted under the penal code." english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5...

"The film is less interested in Saddam Hussein as a character than in the way his birthday reorganizes a whole town’s scarce resources around a single gesture, the way a state converts affection into obligation & obligation into fear." www.martincid.com/movies/the-p...

"On July 7, 1987, during the Iran-Iraq war, Iraqi aircraft dropped multiple chemical bombs on the city of Sardasht in West Azerbaijan province, killing over 100 people instantly and wounding more than 650 others." www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/...

Nazi database takes Germans on personal journey into their families’ dark pasts Die Zeit’s online database of individuals’ Nazi membership is prompting a reckoning as people uncover ties to regime www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

🇩🇪 German newspaper Die Zei turned millions of Nazi Party membership cards into a searchable public database. Gregor Aisch and Andreas Loos of newspaper spoke to GIJN about the project, the role AI played in it and the unexpected response that followed publication. https://twp.ai/9OX4VL

"The ministers discussed mechanisms for the transit of energy supplies and a project to rehabilitate oil pipelines from Iraq to Syria." www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...

"Hussein envisaged a series of projects that would boost the image of Iraq globally. To start, he wanted to make a motion picture of Hollywood proportions connecting his Ba'ath party to the Iraqi revolutionaries who overturned British rule in 1920." www.bbc.com/culture/arti...

Trump Trapped by his Self-Inflicted War

In Germany, the government decided to digitize all the records of the NSDAP and put them on line, allowing everyone to answer the question "Was great grandpa a Nazi?" In a matter of seconds. Not just membership however, exactly what they did is now also available. History. With attitude, because you

‘I survived Assad’s torture — now I’m facing his men in court’

"According to the network, the number of forcibly disappeared people, excluding detainees & those of unknown fate, reached at least 177,021 people, including 4,536 children and 8,984 women." english.enabbaladi.net/archives/202...

The administration’s treatment of Donahue removes any remaining doubt that in Hegseth’s version of a meritocracy, there is no level of excellence that can trump politics, and it is difficult to overstate how much that principle will cripple a military in a democracy. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/28/o...

"The remains of the Al-Mansur are currently under the ownership of the Iraqi government, which has not announced any plans for its removal as of late." www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-w...

In Syria, the separate needs for popular justice and international legitimacy are pulling in opposite directions.

Sad to see one of the last remaining key active duty generals from the decisive battles of Operation Inherent Resolve forced out. War on the actual warriors is clearly Hegseth's modus operandi. @wsj.com @mgordonwsj.bsky.social www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Barnes & Nobles is offering a 25-percent discount on pre-orders of my new book "The Jackal," through June 26. The discount is for B&N rewards members (sign-up is free) and applies to all platforms, including e-books and audio. Please help the author by pre-ordering -- and save!

Excited to share news about UK publisher Swift Press acquiring British rights to my forthcoming book "The Jackal." Available to UK readers in late August! www.thebookseller.com/rights/swift...

It's the two-month countdown to the launch of my new book "The Jackal," and there's lots of good stuff coming. Catching up belatedly with a wonderful mention of "Jackal" by the @nytimes book reviewers as one of their "most anticipated titles" for summer. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/05/p...

The first issue of the Red Sea Fragility Tracker, a new weekly publication by Red Sea Futures. Red Sea Fragility Tracker * Issue 1 open.substack.com/pub/redseafu...

Experts have said that while this is a significant step for accountability, trials must be carried out fairly and transparently:

"A memorial based on falsehoods does not honor the memories of those Americans who lost their lives in Iraq. If anything, such a memorial would only help reproduce illusions that make future wars, future sacrifices, & future memorials more likely." @thehill.com thehill.com/opinion/nati...

"After years of war, Syrians’ battle did not end at exposing crimes and violations. It moved into another battle no less important, the battle to preserve evidence." english.enabbaladi.net/archives/202...

Red Sea Legal Letter * Issue #2 open.substack.com/pub/redseafu...

The Red Sea Brief * Issue 13 open.substack.com/pub/redseafu...

Great collection. Honored to have contributed a chapter.

Ba‘thist Iraq Through Archives brings together leading scholars to take stock of what we have learned from over a decade of research using the Ba'thist archives, contributing to a new understanding of Iraq's history https://ow.ly/PPUX50Zc6nR

A Fantastical MOU by @ethanchorin.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/ethancho...

The conventional wisdom taking hold is that the United States and Israel lost. But I argue in @foreignpolicy.com that the war has left every major actor further from their preferred strategic end state. Iran, Arab Gulf states, Russia, and even China lost too. foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/16/i...

"Pakistan’s integration of tactical nuclear weapons into their doctrine undermines stability in South Asia by lowering the nuclear threshold, increasing command-&-control risks, & incentivizing rapid escalation during limited conventional conflict." -Lily Johnson ifc.usafa.edu/articles/pak...

"The score was just the second ever by Iraq at a World Cup. The other came in the nation’s only other appearance 40 years ago." @masslive.bsky.social www.masslive.com/sports/2026/...

Syrian Ba’ath Party had better graphics than this in 2009 when I lived five blocks from the Air Force Intelligence HQ in Damascus