What to Expect in the New American ‘War on Terror’ in the Philippines
By Conor McCormick-Cavanagh, Small Wars Journal: “The U.S. military resumed its counterterrorism mission in the Philippines in September 2017. This new operation comes on the heels of the rise of ISIS-linked groups in the southeast Asian nation...”
Vietnamese Communist Employment of Commandos in War
By LTCOL N, The Cove: “2018 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the momentous Vietnamese Communist 1968 Tet Offensive that saw the political end of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and the beginning of the US retreat from South East Asia."
- Although the Philippine army managed to retake the southern island of Mindanao and suppress an ISIS-affiliated rebellion, the country’s disparate geography and the central government’s failure to provide key services to remote areas have permitted jihadists to mark the Philippines as a long-term launching pad for their regional operations.
- Despite being ousted from the city of Marawi, ISIS aims to regroup in Mindanao and has its amplified its force size in recent months, representing an expanding security challenge confronting Philippine authorities and the broader region. Jihadist groups may attempt to appeal to other disenfranchised Islamic groups throughout Southeast Asia. In Myanmar, the Rohingya Muslim community continues to face persecution at the hands of the government, and in Indonesia, nearly 10 percent of the population would prefer an Islamic caliphate to their current democratic system.