By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 13 November 2025
Can Syria’s Future Escape Ahmad al-Shara’s Past?
2 Replies
Tag Archives: SNA
How Much Responsibility Does the Syrian State Have for the Alawi Massacres?
The Alawi Massacres in Syria: A Blip or a Rubicon?
Visiting Post-Revolutionary Syria
Islamic State Condemns Syria’s Regime—and Syria’s Insurgents
The New Insurgent Offensive Shows the War in Syria Never Ended
Islamic State Introduces the Fifth “Caliph”
The Contents of Islamic State’s Weekly Newsletter ‘Al-Naba’ in August 2022
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 4 September 2022
Christian homes burned by the Islamic State in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo || Al-Naba 352, p. 5
The Islamic State is Taking Advantage of the Mess in Northern Syria
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 22 July 2022
The United States announced on 12 July that it had killed the Islamic State’s (ISIS) governor of Syria in a drone strike in the village of Galtan in the Jinderes district of the north-western Syrian province of Efrin on the border with Turkey. The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) statement identified the slain man as “Maher al-Agal”, though a more precise transliteration is Maher al-Aqal (ماهر العقال). Riding on the motorcycle alongside Al-Aqal when he was killed was a “senior ISIS official” with whom he was “closely associated”. This ISIS official was “seriously injured during the strike”, CENTCOM notes, adding that the Jinderes strike caused no civilian casualties. Continue reading
Islamic State Comments on the Gaza War and Escalates in Afghanistan
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 22 May 2021
Al-Naba 287, page three
The last two issues of Al-Naba, the weekly newsletter of the Islamic State (IS), had a number of interesting items, most obviously finally breaking its silence on the latest flare-up between Israel and HAMAS. Continue reading
Kyle Orton's Blog 