Today's Headlines and Commentary

Obama administration officials said that they have begun to mobilize allies towards potential American military action in Syria, reports the New York Times. The Times suggests that Australia, Britain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates may be enlisted for the campaign. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, officials said that the President stands to broaden action against ISIS and is nearing a decision to authorize strikes and humanitarian aid around the northern Iraqi town of Amerli, where 12,000 Turkmen have been under siege for more than two months. However, the Obama Administration has ruled out any coordination with President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria. This follows an announcement from the Department of Defense that seven nations---Albania, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom---have committed to arming the Kurdish forces in northern Iraq. However, Josh Gerstein, writing in Politico, highlights the skepticism of critics who wonder whether “Obama’s foreign policy message is coherent enough to win support across the globe.” Following an attack on Tabqa air base, Reuters reports that ISIS militants have executed Syrian army soldiers and are holding another group hostage. In total, the assault on the air base is reported to have taken the lives of 346 ISIS fighters and at least 170 members of Syrian security forces. In troubling news, an American, Douglas McAuthur McCain, has been killed in Syria while fighting for ISIS, according to reports from the Associated Press. The New York Times notes that McCain, a 33-year-old from San Diego, is the first American to die while fighting for the militant group. The Guardian also shares news that a 26-year-old American woman is being held hostage by ISIS. She was captured last year while working with three humanitarian groups in Syria. At this time, the terror group is demanding $6.6 million for the life of the young woman, reports ABC News. U.S. journalist Peter Theo Curtis has been reunited with his family in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Curtis had been held hostage by the Al-Nusra Front, but was set free after the Qatari government negotiated for his release. Brian Castner, in the Washington Post, tells us that just as the United States has learned that large-scale industrial warfare will not win the wars of the Middle East, so has ISIS. The evidence? He claims it can be found in the targeted killing of Americans both on the battlefield and in front of the camera, as in the case of James Foley. The Wall Street Journal reports on other tactics ISIS employs, including heavily mining defensive positions in order to stall Kurdish and Iraqi advances. And while these tactics are directed by strong leadership, Clint Hinote explains that targeting Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may not have its desired effect and would hardly prove decisive in the battle against ISIS. If you only read one article today on ISIS, make it this one by Faisal Al Yafai in the National, a publication out of the United Arab Emirates. Yafai provides a fantastic review of the warped theory of war that led to the creation of the Islamic State. According to the Hill, leading Senate Democrats are frustrated with Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia for his insistence on a Congressional vote to approve extending military strikes against ISIS beyond the 60-day deadline outlined by the War Powers Resolution. The reason? Their concerns over Democrats’ chances in the U.S. midterm election, especially as President Obama’s approval rating continues to stagnate. The Hill also reports that Democratic Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island is demanding that before expanding military operations abroad, President Obama must convince lawmakers that continued military strikes represent the only remaining option for defeating ISIS. On the other side of the aisle, the same source states that top Republicans are also divided over the possibility of airstrikes in Syria. However, Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Republican, called on President Obama to approach Congress in order to authorize future strikes. At the Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf argues that journalists do not understand the War Powers Resolution, and that if President Obama violated it to bomb ISIS targets in Syria, it wouldn’t be the first time. Now get ready for this: according to the New York Times, a conspiracy theory racing across social media in the Arab World and partly corroborated by officials in the Egyptian government seems to assert that the progenitor of the ISIS movement is none other than former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. No word yet from the former Secretary regarding the allegations, but the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon felt it necessary to refute them using its Facebook page. Meanwhile, the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues to hold. While the deal brings calm to the region, the fundamental issues remain unresolved. The New York Times has live updates. Just Security reports that Hamas officials will support attempts by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to join the International Criminal Court. Their support could remove barriers to Palestine being accepted as a legitimate party there, especially in light of the 2009 decision by the body to reject jurisdiction due its professed inability to determine whether or not Palestine was a state under international law. Over at the Times of Israel, Avi Issacharoff argues that while Israel may have crushed Hamas militarily, it will lose in the long run if it does not recognize and empower Abbas. Israeli website Mako divulges that Al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria have retaken that country’s border along the Israeli-controlled portion of the Golan Heights. A stray bullet fired by the militants injured an Israeli officer, an action which comes after mortar attacks from the same area damaged two Israeli cars. After Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah pulled his observers from a U.N.-supervised audit of votes over allegations that the process is littered with fraud, rival candidate Ashraf Ghani elected to do the same. The Associated Press has more. On August 26th, American general Joseph Dunford, famous for appearing before President Hamid Karzai in full-dress uniform, officially ceded command over the transition to complete Afghan security control and returned to the United States to lead the U.S. Marine Corps. The Economist has more on the “fighting diplomat” and the continuing challenges to the long-term security of Afghanistan. Politico reports that the U.S. has ended a four-year-long hiatus and moved two prisoners from Afghanistan to Yemen. The transfer of Fadi al-Maqaleh and Amin al-Bakri could pave the way for the movement of additional Yemenis being held at Guantanamo. Inspired by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, a hardline splinter group has broken away from the Pakistani Taliban. The New York Times reports that the split, the second in three months, presents one of the most serious internal threats the Pakistani Taliban has faced since it formed seven years ago and is a direct challenge to the group’s new leader, Maulana Fazlullah. The Long War Journal has a more in-depth look at the key players in the formation of the new group, called Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, and explains exactly how big of a blow this is for the militant tribal group. As the Pakistani army continues its offensive in the tribal belt, a democratic crisis is brewing in Islamabad. Over at Just Security, Daniel Markey of the Council on Foreign Relations outlines the national security implications of Pakistan’s latest political crisis. Reuters writes that there appears to be no progress in the talks in Minsk aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine. This comes as the Ukrainian government asserts that Russian forces have entered the country illegally around the strategically-important city of Amvrosievka. Former separatist leader Denis Pushilin disputed the claim of direct Russian involvement in Moscow, stating if Russian forces had intervened, "the counteroffensive would already be in Kiev.” Similarly, Russian broadcaster NTV asserts that rebels in Donetsk actually repelled an attack by the Ukrainian army near Amvrosievka. No mention is made of the Ukrainian claim that Russian forces were involved. According to Reuters, the UN officially considers pro-Russia rebels operating in Ukraine guilty of a wide range of human rights abuses, including “murder, abductions, and torture.” The UN report asserts that 36 people die in the conflict every day; the conflagration has already killed over 2,200. In response to continuing instability in Eastern Europe, RBC News reports that both Sweden and Finland are set to sign agreements with NATO to increase the latter’s presence on Russia’s northwestern flank. Finland and Sweden’s yet-to-be-signed accords will apparently allow NATO to conduct exercises in the area. They further stipulate that NATO reactionary forces could be sent to the countries in the event of a crisis. The story also quotes a poll showing that Finnish support for Finland’s accession to NATO increased from 22 percent to 26 percent since the instability in Ukraine began. In a speech today at a ceremony honoring Ehmetjan Qasim and other pro-Communist Uighur “martyrs,” Zhang Chunxian, Communist Party Chief for Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, called for national unity to combat the danger of ethnic separatism. According to a text provided by Sina News, Chunxian paid homage to Ehmetjan Qasim and others for their role in ousting the Guomindang from Xinjiang. Ehmetjan Qasim, along with 10 other Xinjiang leaders, was killed in 1949 when the plane he was flying in to meet Mao Zedong in Beijing crashed. For the first time ever, the U.S. has run out of EB-5 visas for Chinese investors hoping to gain permanent residency status. The New York Times’ Sinosphere blog has more. In what is sure to be a new blow to crumbling PRC-Japan relations, the New York Times reports that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently sent a “message of support” to a ceremony at Koyasan Temple honoring war criminals who were executed or died in prison after being convicted by Allied military tribunals. The federal government is reportedly seeking life imprisonment for Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the son-in-law of Osama bin Laden. While Abu Ghaith’s lawyer asserts the man was a mere “shock jock” for bin Laden, the federal government insists he was a critical component of the operation that resulted in the attacks of 9/11. The sentencing is scheduled for September 23rd. The New York Daily News has details. In what appears to be yet another controversy in the Senate-CIA fight, McClatchy discloses that Robert Litt, the general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, previously worked as a defense lawyer for several CIA officials on cases relating to the agency’s detention and interrogation methods. Reuters reveals that in response to increasing cybersecurity threats, top Wall Street banks plan to meet with the Treasury Department and other government officials in the coming months. The increased cooperation comes as high-profile hacking incidents have exposed increasing amounts of customer data and allegedly put the stability of the financial system at risk. The California Senate is the latest entrant into the drone-privacy battle, passing a bill that severely curtails how law enforcement agencies and other government entities can use the unmanned aircraft. The bill still requires a vote of approval by the California Assembly and the signature of Governor Jerry Brown to take effect. Reuters has more. The Wall Street Journal announced that IMF Chief Christine Lagarde is under fire and investigation over her alleged negligence in a corruption probe that took place during her time as France’s Finance Minister. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 15,000 euros and 1 year in prison. 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.