Jordan has Successfully Hosted Some of the Middle East’s Largest Military Exercises for a Decade BRIG. GEN. TAWFIQ AL-MARZOUQ, DIRECTOR OF MILITARY TRAINING, JORDAN ARMED FORCES/ARAB ARMY The Jordan Armed Forces/Arab Army enjoys strategic military relations with many fraternal and friendly states, and foremost among them is the United States, a partner of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in all fields and at various levels. Military exercises, whether bilateral or multilateral, are among the most important products of this partnership. These exercises help strengthen cooperation and coordination among participating states in all military fields. Military alliances between friendly armies are nothing…
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Iraqi security forces strive to keep pace with the shifting strategies of Daesh Unipath Staff Iraqi Staff Lt. Gen. Abdulamir al-Shammari was appointed deputy commander of the Joint Operations Command (JOC) in 2020. In that position, he represents Iraqi security forces (ISF) within the international coalition formed to help Iraq defeat Daesh. JOC allows Iraqi and coalition forces to share intelligence, conduct joint operations and coordinate air power, logistics and training. Unipath interviewed him to discuss how ISF is addressing the continued terrorist threat in the country: Unipath: What is Daesh trying to accomplish by increasing attacks in 2020? Lt.…
Lebanese military units have stepped forward to stop the spread of the coronavirus and limit civil unrest LEBANESE ARMED FORCES DIRECTORATE OF ORIENTATION The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) relies on the slogan of “honor, sacrifice, loyalty” when performing its missions: the honor of serving and defending the nation while making endless sacrifices and displaying absolute loyalty. Ever since the LAF was assigned to assist the Lebanese Internal Security Forces in keeping peace and stability in 1991 throughout Lebanese territories, the military became the backbone of national stability and took upon itself the mission of providing protection for state institutions so that…
For 10 years Unipath has Provided a Platform for Military and Security Professionals to Share Information Unipath Staff In 2017, in the final Iraqi lunge to drive Daesh fighters from their strongholds in Mosul, troops received a magazine extolling the courage and resourcefulness of Iraqi forces in their earlier battles against terrorists in places such as Al Anbar and Bayji. U.S. Central Command produced and delivered 10,000 of the magazines to Baghdad, unaware that the coverage of these military heroics would help raise the morale of thousands of Iraqi troops in their final offensive to defeat Daesh. Afterward, the Iraqi Special…
Security Requires Anticipating the Actions of Terrorist and Nonstate Actors ISSAM ABBAS AMIN, SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE DIRECTORATE, IRAQI MINISTRY OF DEFENSE How sound is our intelligence in predicting events in our sometimes unpredictable world? The answer to this question is critical for security professionals in the Middle East and elsewhere. We must remember that wars are fought on a foundation of information, and that this foundation is growing ever more doubtful and uncertain. For these reasons, we must carefully examine the soundness of our intelligence service operations. The success of intelligence operations depends entirely on the availability of raw information…
The director of the Jordan Military Center for Counter Terrorism and Extremism describes how his country confronts extremism UNIPATH STAFF Col. Ahmad Bassam Bani Amer leads the Jordan Military Center for Counter Terrorism and Extremism. This center was established in 2018 in response to the vision of His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein and the directives of the Jordanian state. It operates under the philosophy that the roots of extremism are ideological. So, in the long term, counterextremism and counterterrorism efforts must consist of intellectual and cultural confrontation with those forces preaching violence and anarchy. Col. Bani Amer described the…
The terrorist group can no longer occupy provinces or conduct large-scale operations IRAQI MAJ. GEN. TAHSIN IBRAHIM AL-KHAFAJI, JOINT OPERATIONS COMMAND SPOKESMAN Many wonder whether Daesh has the capability once again to conduct large-scale attacks or control territory and whether it can be a terrorist force capable of exerting pressure on regional and international security. The policy of moral confusion, dissension and mass killing as practiced by terrorist organizations affiliated with Daesh neither bears fruit nor yields results needed to wield lasting influence in places such as Iraq. Several reasons explain why Daesh cannot reemerge as strong as it once…
Global threats to computer networks require friendly nations to pool resources and share information BRIG. GEN. JETH REY, DIRECTOR OF COMMAND, CONTROL, COMMUNICATIONS AND COMPUTER SYSTEMS, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND Eighteen months after my attendance at the 2019 Central Region Cyber Conference (CRCC), the image that stands out in my mind is one of side-by-side collaboration. During a table-top exercise, cyber professionals from across the central region worked together to reveal gaps in our mutual defenses. The level of cooperation was remarkable. Since I became U.S. Central Command’s director of Command, Control, Communications and Computers Systems (J6), I continue to be…
The use of drones by malign actors is the latest in a series of evolving security challenges UNIPATH STAFF The rise of disruptive technology that alters the nature of the battlefield is a feature of conflicts over the past decade. In the Middle East and South and Central Asia, that technological disruption was visible in the use of smartphones for battlefield communication and global positioning, but also for spreading propaganda and recruiting terrorist fighters. Improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, were another relatively low-cost means by which enemy forces aimed to counter the military superiority of coalition partners in places such as…
UNIPATH STAFF As part of the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) contribution to global space research, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre launched a rocket carrying the country’s first probe to Mars. The Hope Probe blasted off in July 2020 from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. The solar-powered probe was built by the UAE Space Agency in cooperation with scientists at several U.S. universities. The 1,350-kilogram probe, made mostly of aluminum, will orbit the red planet gathering data on how Mars’ thin atmosphere retains and circulates gases such as oxygen. The United Arab Emirates has become a model for many states,…