Today's Headlines and Commentary

ISIS militants are surrounding Ramadi and are in control of many of the city’s districts. McClatchy reports that Iraq has deployed elite troops in an effort to stop the militant group’s advance, but the city, the capital of Anbar province, remains besieged. However, an Iraqi official said that the troops have succeeded in opening up a corridor between central Ramadi and outlying districts to allow residents to escape the city. In the face of the loss of Ramadi to ISIS, Gen. Martin Dempsey downplayed the symbolic significance of losing the city. According to the Wall Street Journal, the joint chiefs chairman said in a news conference that “The city itself is not symbolic in any way. It’s not been declared part of the caliphate on one hand, or central to the future of Iraq.” More key to the campaign, he said, was the fight for the Beiji oil refinery north of Baghdad. Fighting inside the Beiji oil refinery continues, Reuters reports. ISIS militants began attacking the refinery several days ago, and still hold the sections they originally captured, including a distribution point and storage tanks. However, militants have not yet captured any major infrastructure, and yesterday an Iraqi battalion arrived yesterday to help protect the refinery. General Dempsey said that "the refinery itself is at no risk right now." The Associated Press adds that Iraqi forces have also recaptured two towns near Baiji from ISIS. As the battle against ISIS continues, the Iraqi Prime Minister expressed a guarded wariness of highly-visible Iranian influence on the fight. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said yesterday that recent photos of Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of a brigade of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, directing fighting against ISIS in Iraq were troubling. While he expressed appreciation for Iran’s assistance against ISIS, he said "Iraqis are sacrificing to save their country. To make it appear as if others are doing this on behalf of Iraqis, Iraqis wouldn’t accept that." The remarks come after President Obama publicly warned Iran on Tuesday to respect Iraqi sovereignty. Reuters has more. In Syria, opposition groups say that the regime has killed more than 100 people in Aleppo this week by dropping barrel bombs. The uptick in strikes on rebel-held regions of the city come after a grand mufti of the Syrian government called for the destruction of those regions on state TV, saying, “I request … that [in response to] any shell that falls on Aleppo the whole area will be annihilated.” The Wall Street Journal notes that the religious leader has often been been presented by the Assad regime as an example of moderate Islam, in contrast to the extremism dominating parts of Syria. Militants from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula seized an airport in eastern Yemen yesterday. The group, which already controlled the surrounding areas, reportedly faced no opposition when seizing the facility. The Washington Post writes that the move indicates that AQAP is taking advantage of Yemen’s current chaos, and further notes that AQAP has thus far been spared Saudi airstrikes. While AQAP gains ground, some of the Yemeni generals who had joined forces with the Houthi rebels have shifted their allegiance to the government in exile. According to the Wall Street Journal, the defection of these generals, who were previously loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and helped the Houthis force his replacement into exile in March, is a significant blow to the Houthi-Saleh campaign. Also hurting this campaign is a decision by Pakistan to enforce an embargo on the Houthis. Dawn reveals that, despite an earlier parliamentary vote to stay out of the Yemen conflict, viewed as a significant blow to its long-time ally Saudi Arabia, the administration is planning to announce a plan to use some Pakistani naval vessels to help enforce the embargo recently authorized by a U.N. Security Council resolution. Yesterday, Iraq’s prime minister walked back his sharp criticism of the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen. The New York Times reports that Abadi, who said on Wednesday that there was “no logic” to the campaign, told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that he wants to maintain a good relationship with Saudi Arabia. He maintained, however, that increased fighting there could exacerbate sectarian tensions in the Middle East, saying “We are in the same boat on this in the region. If anybody makes a hole in that boat, we all will sink.” Agence France-Presse reveals that about 300 U.S. paratroopers arrived in Ukraine this week. The troops are there to help train the Ukrainian National Guard, which is still fighting Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Russia quickly condemned the troops’ arrival, saying earlier today that the presence of foreign troops “could destabilize the situation." Reuters has more. An Ohio man has been indicted for allegedly travelling to Syria to train with an al Qaeda affiliate and returning to the United States with the intention to conduct a terrorist attack. The Wall Street Journal notes that the indictment is one of the few cases of Americans charged with trying to join an extremist group in which the defendant actually reached Syria and received training; in almost all other similar cases, defendants have been stopped before making the journey to Syria. Bobby provided some thoughts on the case here. The Guardian reports that WikiLeaks has published the documents obtained in last year’s Sony hack in a “Google-style search engine.” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange justified the website’s move by saying “This archive shows the inner workings of an influential multinational corporation. … It belongs in the public domain.” Chris Dodd, former senator and current MPAA chairman, retorted “With this despicable act, Wikileaks is further violating the privacy of every person involved.” The U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay has a new commander, the Miami Herald reveals. Captain David Culpepper, a career Navy fighter pilot and former Top Gun instructor, takes over the base after the reassignment of the previous commander during an investigation into a civilian death on base. Capt. Culpepper, who is assigned to the base for the next three years, has no role in running the Guantanamo Bay prison, Carol Rosenberg notes. Parting Shot: DefenseOne describes efforts by terrorist groups to weaponize robotics technology.

ICYMI: Yesterday, on Lawfare

Ben broke the news of Wikileaks’ latest morally questionable decision: posting documents stolen in the Sony hack last year in a searchable format. Bobby provided some thoughts on the recent indictment of a U.S. citizen who allegedly trained with al Nusrah in Syria and returned to the United States to commit an act of terrorism. Herb Lin discussed the vulnerabilities of passenger airplanes to hacking, and how those vulnerabilities could be addressed. Herb also posted an interesting tidbit from an NSA document from 2000. Kenneth Anderson reviewed Judicial Review of National Security, a new book by David Sharia, an Israeli national security lawyer. 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.