MUST-READS

• U.S. - Saudi
  The US and Saudi Arabia: Marriage of Convenience on the Rocks?

  This vision of the revival of Islam as a religion of peace, tolerance, and scientific innovation is one that only Muslims can put forward.  It is needed to oppose the dark fantasies and constipated religiosity of Da’ish.  Under `Abdullah, Saudi Arabians had begun subtly to make these arguments.  We must hope not only that they will continue this effort under King Salman but that we will have the wit to back them in this endeavor, in which we must lead from behind.

• Afghanistan: Taliban
  Exclusive: Secret meetings in Pakistan expose obstacles to Afghan peace talks

  The latest peace initiative, considered more promising than recent doomed efforts because of Pakistani and Chinese mediation, is aimed at ending an escalating conflict in which hundreds of Afghans are killed every month.

• Anti-ISIS Campaign
  In coalition of many, US air power does the heavy lifting

  American planes in general hit more of what the military refers to as "dynamic" targets — ones that are not pre-planned — and a mobile insurgency like the Islamic State group makes for a lot of dynamic targets. The Air Force estimates that half of all strikes in the battle stem from close air support for Iraqi ground forces. Another 30 percent involve hitting Islamic State militants traveling between Iraq and Syria. Many coalition members, meanwhile, might drop multiple bombs on a single preset target, such as a militant-held compound or mobile oil refinery.

  • Air Force Times - Airstrikes steady in Islamic State fight
• Anti-ISIS Strategies
  Defending Italy from the Islamic State

  In 1942, Winston Churchill said that Italy was the “soft underbelly” of Europe and directed Allied invasion efforts there. Today, we are seeing flickers of a similar strategy from the Islamic State.

  • Reuters - Spain arrests eight suspected Islamic militants in dawn raid
• Cybersecurity
  DOD Sees Spending $27.4b in Total on Cybersecurity Through 2020

  Pentagon requests $5.5b for FY16 cyber activities, about $537m over $5b approved this fiscal year by Congress, according to new five-year spending plan.

  • Defense One - Ten Years After ODNI, Why Intelligence Needs More People, Money and Trust
  • Defense One - Is It Time for a Counterinsurgency Approach to the Cyber War Against ISIS?
• GCC Statements
  Arab Gulf states reject Iran’s role in Iraq

  The Gulf Cooperation Council expressed rejection to foreign interference in the Iraqi crisis, in reference to Iran’s direct involvement in Iraq’s war against ISIS, during a meeting held in Riyadh on Thursday

• Iran Missile
  Iran Just Unveiled Its New Long-Range Cruise Missile

  So what’s this new-ish missile really capable of? Quite a lot, actually. The Soumar is in many ways comparable to the Tomahawk. Like the U.S.-built missile, it uses an in-built terrain-matching contour navigation system to fly toward its target while hugging ground features. This gives the missile a means to avoid detection when traveling close to an opponent’s air defenses.

• Syria: Rebel Groups
  Pentagon unsure how to support Syrian rebels

  "The program won't succeed unless they believe themselves to have a reasonable chance of survival," Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. "It was always my advice that we had to come to some conclusion to assure them that they would be protected. Now, the scope and scale of that protection is the part of this that's being actively debated," Dempsey told lawmakers.

  • Al-Arabiya - 'Iranization' of Syria: Why has the conflict lasted so long?
• Anti-ISIS Strategies
  Major piece of Obama anti-IS strategy is stalled

  U.S. military and intelligence officials are increasingly pessimistic about the prospects for political reconciliation in Iraq, a key tenet of the Obama administration's strategy to dislodge the Islamic State group and stabilize the country. Senior officials say they are not seeing significant progress by the country's Shiite-led government on its efforts to strike a bargain with Iraq's deeply alienated Sunni population, from which the extremist force is drawing money and personnel.

  • Washington Post - Battle escalates as Iraqi forces try to recapture Tikrit from Islamic State
• Yemen: Houthis
  Yemen’s Houthis hold exercises near Saudi border

  Thousands of Shi'ite Muslim Houthi fighters, who control much of Yemen, held military exercises near the border with top oil exporter and Sunni power Saudi Arabia on Thursday, a Houthi commander said, adding to fears Yemen's chaos could deepen. The rise to power of the Iran-backed Houthis since September has deepened divisions in Yemen's already complex web of political and religious allegiances, and left it increasingly cut off from the world.

  • The National - Yemen talks in Saudi Arabia open to the Houthis, says GCC
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