Two Iranian Supreme Court judges who handled espionage and terrorism cases were killed in an attack at the court’s headquarters, according to Iran’s judiciary. The attack took place Jan. 18 in Tehran. The dead were identified as Ali Razini and Mohammad Moghiseh. A third judge was also wounded in the attack, …
Read More »Drag Marks and a Missing Anchor: Did the ‘Eagle S’ Tanker Disrupt Cables in Baltic Sea?
Its anchor is missing, and drag marks have been found on the ocean floor where undersea cables were damaged in the Baltic Sea – developments that have kept the focus on the Eagle S oil tanker in the wake of a sabotage investigation in Finland. Finnish authorities boarded the Eagle …
Read More »Russian General Assassinated in Moscow Was Charged Over Chemical Weapons in Ukraine
A Russian general in charge of Moscow’s Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Forces was assassinated early Tuesday in Moscow, in an explosion that also killed his assistant. Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and Ilya Polikarpov were killed when a bomb detonated while they walked past it. The device was concealed inside …
Read More »Mystery Drones Buzz the Kremlin: A Retrospective
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in SOF on June 2, 2023. We are republishing it here for context in light of drones being reported over New Jersey in December 2024. All references are from 2023. The illustrations for this story are AI, but the events are real. ~SKK by …
Read More »Drug Mules Shifted Their Smuggling Routes on the US-Mexico Border – Here’s Why
Over the last year, U.S. officials have seized more illicit fentanyl at Arizona’s ports of entry than anywhere else on the US-Mexico border, suggesting a possible shift in synthetic drug trafficking routes. “We’re seeing shipments of all kinds coming in fast through new routes into Arizona,” one Border Patrol agent …
Read More »‘People Are Getting Killed!’ I Watched Yeltsin’s Tanks Open Fire on Russian Parliament
by Bruce Pannier “Well guys, are we going, or are we going to sit here taking a piss?” It has been 25 years since the culmination of the so-called Russian constitutional crisis, when the country’s president, Boris Yeltsin, sought to dissolve the parliament and then ordered the military to crush …
Read More »At ‘Steel Knight’ Exercise, American Forces Train to Take on a Thinking Enemy
It began as a tank battalion exercise in 1991. Today, Exercise Steel Knight is an annual training event lead by the 1st Marine Division – one that spans the western United States and California coast. Focusing on ground fires, maneuver warfare tactics and command and control capabilities, this exercise tests …
Read More »‘Day of Infamy’ Commemorations Include Annual Ceremony of the Blackened Canteen
It is an annual toast to peace. American and Japanese representatives extend the offering each year at the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii, gently pouring bourbon from a World War II-era canteen into the hallowed waters below. The ceremonies for decades have been a mainstay on the island of Oahu, …
Read More »Teenage ‘Perfumed Burglar’ Deserted the Navy, Embarked on a Crime Spree, and Escaped San Quentin
Perfume, purloined jewelry and a millionaire’s son form the complex story of Herbert Repsold, a Navy deserter who also was known as the Perfumed Burglar. In the early 1900s, Repsold was a troublesome youth. Growing tired of his son’s antics, the elder Repsold cut off his son’s cash and forced …
Read More »Drug Mules Hate Submarines, But Cartels Insist on Using Them to Smuggle Fentanyl
Just making contact with a submarine carries an extra measure of danger for a smuggler. by Susan Katz Keating Smugglers for the Chapitos branch of the Sinaloa Cartel balk when ordered to pull “submarine duty” along the group’s fentanyl trafficking routes, a security official told Soldier of Fortune. “They hate …
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