Today's Headlines and Commentary

In a continuation of the hack that previously affected the DNC and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a hacker widely believed to be a front for the Russian government has released the personal cell phone numbers and email addresses of nearly all Democratic members of the House of Representatives. The leak came on Friday as part of a larger release that included other documents from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which acknowledged last month that it had been hacked. Other leaked documents included campaign overviews of specific House races, DCCC event memos, and committee passwords. Cyber experts and Democratic lawmakers have accused the Russian government of launching these attacks to influence the 2016 electoral cycle. Politico has more.

According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S.-backed Arab and Kurdish forces are buttressing defenses in the recently-liberated city of Manbij in preparation for an ISIS counterattack. Residents celebrated over the weekend after the Syrian Democratic Forces pushed the Islamic State out of the city and cut off one of the group’s critical supply routes. The Islamic State’s loss of Manbij came after months of fighting, echoing its defeats elsewhere to local forces and a U.S.-led international coalition.

The New York Times reports that fighting in Aleppo killed dozens of civilians over the weekend, in numbers unusually high even for the war-ravaged city. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Syrian regime and its Russian backers launched airstrikes on Saturday that killed at least 46 civilians in rebel-occupied parts of Aleppo. Nine civilians were killed by opposition shelling in government-held areas of western Aleppo. The group said the Syrian regime also killed 20 civilians in Idlib Province’s rural villages on Saturday. Violence in Aleppo has escalated after rebels managed last week to break a government siege of the city’s rebel-held east.

The Associated Press tells us that Iraqi Kurdish forces have seized five villages east of the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, assisted by American support. Kurdish military officials said they will pursue similar “shaping operations” in preparation for an eventual capture of Iraq’s second-largest city.

In the Washington Post, General David Petraeus predicts that Mosul will soon be liberated. But the challenge will come afterwards, as a mixed force of Iraqi Arab and Kurdish security forces will likely struggle to stay sufficiently intact to govern by consensus. If the coalition fragments, Petraeus argues that it is likely that another radical group such as the Islamic State will emerge to fill the vacuum.

The Taliban captured a key district in the northern province of Baghlan in Afghanistan after days of fighting, Reuters writes. Fighting has intensified as the Taliban insurgency has expanded its footprint into the country’s erstwhile peaceful north. Despite U.S. air support and expanded authorities for U.S. special forces, government troops are struggling against the resilient Taliban, whose forces are becoming better trained and equipped. The New York Times adds that Kabul is increasingly relying on its special forces as both its police units and regular armed forces are proving incapable of holding the Taliban at bay.

The Associated Press reports that the Taliban killed at least nine police officers on checkpoint duty in Baghlan on Sunday. Five insurgents were killed and three others wounded in the ensuing firestorm. Another two police officers were killed in the country’s eastern province of Nuristan.

Turkish police raided three courthouses in Istanbul as part of the government’s ongoing reaction to a botched coup attempt in mid-July. Authorities detained 136 judicial personnel as part of the raids. Western partners worry that the purge will destabilize Turkey, a NATO ally and a critical outpost for the international coalition’s fight against the Islamic State.

Vice President Joe Biden will visit Turkey later this month to heal the growing rift between Washington and Ankara, according to The Hill. Tensions have grown between the allies as the United States remains reluctant to extradite Fethullah Gulen, a Pennsylvania-based cleric whom Erdogan has accused of inciting the coup. U.S. authorities said Turkey has not provided sufficiently compelling evidence to justify the extradition.

Germany’s foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeyer urged both Ukraine and Russia to abide by the Minsk ceasefire agreement as a means of defusing the mounting hostilities in eastern Ukraine. Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out terror attacks in Crimea, expanded its military presence on its border with Ukraine, and announced war games in the Black Sea—moves that have been interpreted as thinly-veiled warnings to Ukraine and its European partners. The BBC further examines the situation in Ukraine, questioning Putin’s motives as he moves to escalate tensions.

An airstrike on a school in Sanaa has killed at least ten children and injured 28 others, according to Doctors Without Borders. School officials said that the strike was part of a series of raids by Saudi-backed coalition forces that resumed after peace talks between the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government broke down late last month. The Journal has more.

The Associated Press notes that Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have seized Zinjibar and Jaar, two large towns east of the port city of Aden, from al Qaeda. According to military officials, more than 40 al Qaeda militants were killed in the offensives. The terrorist organization had seized Zinjibar and Jaar last year as part of its broader move into the vacuum that has emerged as Yemen’s civil war has only deepened.

Boko Haram released a video on Sunday purporting to show the bodies of several kidnapped girls, the Times reports. The video states that the girls had died in airstrikes conducted by the Nigerian armed forces and demands an exchange of the kidnapped girls for imprisoned Boko Haram militants. The airstrikes are a major component of Nigeria’s offensive to defeat the extremist group.

The Daily Beast writes that Abu Musab al-Barnawi, the leader of a breakaway faction of Boko Haram loyal to ISIS, has announced that the group’s main focus will be killing Christians. Barnawi said the group should target churches in Nigeria and other Western interests.

Following the successful liberation of Sirte from the Islamic State by forces aligned with the internationally-recognized Libyan government, local authorities now warn that Islamic State operatives are looking to cross into bordering countries or regroup in the country’s south to fight again. According to the Wall Street Journal, these extremists have headed to the border Libya shares with Algeria and Niger. Because of the region’s geography and the limited capabilities of the states involved, Western authorities said it is difficult to monitor the militants as they disperse.

Josh Rogin writes in the Washington Post that U.S. allies across the globe have united to voice their concern over rumors that President Barack Obama will declare a “no first-use” nuclear weapons policy for the United States. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expressed his fear that a “no first-use” nuclear policy would diminish U.S. deterrence vis-a-vis North Korea, and Britain and France have also registered their complaints with the U.S. government, citing a preference for maintaining a consistency in the three NATO powers’ nuclear protocol. But in the New York Times, General James Cartwright and Bruce Blair advocate for a “no first-use” policy, claiming that it would save the United States money that could be reallocated to enhancing the military’s conventional capabilities.

The Associated Press reports that the Israeli government has demolished the family home of the family of a Palestinian teenager who stabbed an Israeli teenage girl to death in late June. The Israeli government defends house demolitions as an effective deterrent against attacks, but critics say the measure constitutes a form of collective punishment.

ICYMI: This Weekend, on Lawfare

Ariane Tabatabai and Dina Esfandiary urged U.S. policymakers to consider Iran an ally in the fight against the Islamic State.

Paul Rosenzweig flagged yet another DNC leak and predicted that Russian cyberespionage will continue until the United States responds with adequate severity.

Quinta Jurecic posted the latest episode of the Lawfare Podcast, in which Benjamin Wittes interviews Walter Pincus on the intersection between national security and journalism.

Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Sign up to receive Lawfare in your inbox. Visit our Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.