Today's Headlines and Commentary

U.S.-backed fighters in Syria are launching an offensive to capture the Manbij pocket from the Islamic State after weeks of quiet preparations. According to Reuters, the Manbij pocket is a crucial swath of territory in northern Syria. Reuters tells us that “the operation, which only just started to get underway on Tuesday and could take weeks to complete, aims to choke off Islamic State’s access to Syrian territory along the Turkish border that militants have long used as a logistics base for moving foreign fighters back and forth to Europe.” One U.S. military official indicated the operation to capture the Manbij pocket is significant because it is the Islamic State’s last “remaining funnel.”

Meanwhile, Iraqi forces continue their ground assault to reclaim Fallujah from the Islamic State. The Wall Street Journal shares that yesterday, “Iraqi special forces battling their way into Fallujah faced counterattacks by Islamic State, with commanders of the operation warning that heavily booby-trapped streets in and around the city were hindering the advance.” The U.S.-trained units faced off two counterattacks in Fallujah’s southern edge combating suicide bombers and snipers. As the fighting rages on, “the joint-operations center coordinating the government offensive warned about the mines and other explosive devices planted around the city - a tactic commonly used by the Islamic State.” Read more from the Journal here.

If you’re looking to catch up on the battle of Fallujah, Al Jazeera features an interactive timeline detailing the fight to reclaim the city. Check that out here.

The Syrian cities of Idlib and Aleppo were attacked by airstrikes over the last few days beginning on Monday night. According to some witnesses, the airstrikes appeared to be the work of Syrian government forces or the Russians. The New York Times reports that “rescue workers pulled children and other victims from the rubble of their homes in insurgent-held northern Syria on Tuesday morning after the latest aerial bombardments killed dozens of people.” The approximate death toll includes more than 20 people. The Times details the strikes here.

The Islamic State is losing in Iraq and Syria. However, the terror group continues to make gains in Libya. A new United Nations report, not yet released, indicates that the “global threat emanating from the armed group remains high and continues to diversify,” and Libya is the Islamic State’s next key battleground. Al Jazeera has more on the U.N. report.

In Afghanistan, Taliban insurgents stormed a court in Ghazni as they fought police. The attack on the court left 10 people dead. Reuters shares that the “raid began when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the gate of the court and four more attackers fought their way inside, sparking an hour-long battle with police.”

Yesterday, the Taliban “killed 1o passengers and abducted 18 traveling on buses towards the Afghan city of Kunduz on Tuesday, officials said, a rare large-scale kidnapping by the militant group.” There has been no word on where the hostages have been taken. The Wall Street Journal has more on the kidnappings here.

Planning to attend the Euro 2016 football (soccer) championship next month? You might want to reconsider, as the event may be a major target for terrorist attacks. Read the State Department's travel warning for yourself here. You can read more on the potential threat from the Hill and the BBC.

In other European news, NATO is facing a long list of challenges and Europe’s security concerns are as high now as they have been since the end of the Cold War. The New York Times reports that “despite the growing threats, many European countries still resist stronger measures to strengthen NATO.” Read the Times’s piece, “Tested by Russia, NATO Struggles to Stay Credible,” here.

North Korea has told China that its nuclear policy is permanent. Senior North Korean official Ri Su-yong arrived in Beijing yesterday for bilateral talks between North Korea and China, whose ties have eroded recently due to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons policy. The New York Times shares that Mr. Ri “told the Chinese that it was the ‘permanent’ policy of the North to try to expand its nuclear arsenal while striving to rebuild its economy.” The meeting occurred just hours after North Korea’s failed intermediate range missile this week.

“We’ve agreed that we can by no means tolerate North Korea taking a posture of continuing its nuclear and missile development,” said Kimihiro Ishikane, director of Japan’s Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau. Ishikani delivered his statement earlier today after talks with the United States and South Korea on denuclearizing Pyongyang. Read more from Reuters.

Law enforcement requests to private companies for customer cellphone data do not constitute a search under the Fourth Amendment. In a 12-3 vote, appellate court judges in Virginia ruled that the searches did not fall under the Fourth Amendment and therefore do not require a warrant. According to the Intercept, “the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld what is known as the third-party doctrine: a legal theory suggesting that consumers who knowingly and willingly surrender information to third parties therefore have ‘no reasonable expectation of privacy’ in that information - regardless of how much information there is, or how revealing it is.”

According to the Washington Post, “the FBI wants to exempt its burgeoning national databases of fingerprints and facial photos from a federal law that gives Americans the right to sue for government violation of the Privacy Act, such as refusing to tell a person if he or she is in the system.” More on that story from the Post here.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft have agreed with the European Union to remove information inciting hatred and acts of terror to help “combat the growing threat of terrorism on the continent.” The Wall Street Journal reports that “in a common code of conduct, the U.S. tech companies vowed that they would review precise and substantial complaints on user’s behavior within 24 hours of receiving them and cut off access to the content, if required.”

A “prosecutor asked a judge Tuesday to allow public testimony at Guantanamo Bay this fall from some people who had family members killed in the September 11 terrorist attack, saying otherwise they may not live long enough to be heard.” The Associated Press tells us that prosecutors want to bring 10 people to the U.S. base in Cuba this fall to testify. “The 10 are considered important ‘victim impact’ witnesses by the prosecution. But because of their age or health, they may not be around for a trial by military commission that could be years away.”

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s lawyers have filed a report in court asking for Judge James Pohl and prosecutors should step down from their posts citing destruction of evidence. According to Reuters, the defense lawyers said that “the U.S. military judge overseeing the trial of the accused mastermind of the September 11 attacks should step down and the case should be scrapped because he effectively conspired with prosecutors to destroy evidence.” The motion detailed that Judge Pohl and prosecutors had allegedly tainted the case against Mohammed by keeping the defense lawyers from discovering that the evidence had been destroyed after Judge Pohl had agreed it would be preserved.

If that GTMO drama wasn’t enough, Khalid Sheik Mohammed began complaining to Judge Pohl who, in turn, shouted him down and threatened to throw him out of court. Read the rest from the Miami Herald.

The Central Intelligence Agency is planning to release the details of some covert actions taken during the Cold War. The Hill shares that a federal advisory committee report declared that the spy agency will disclose information regarding four covert actions conducted during the Cold War in an “official State Department compendium of documents, called the Foreign Relations of the United States series.”

Parting Shot: Boko Haram is hooked on Viagra. “Every time the Nigerian military raids Boko Haram hideouts in northeast Nigeria, soldiers report intriguing stockpiles quite apart from the predictable guns, bombs, and machetes. Often these include magical amulets and trinkets, and, frequently, quantities of Viagra and similar sex-enhancing pharmaceuticals.” The Daily Beast has more.

ICYMI: Yesterday, on Lawfare

Paul Rosenzweig provided us ten years of observation on the European Union’s data protection.

Susan Hennessey released the latest Lawfare Research Paper, featuring Sahand Moarefy’s working paper entitled “Partially Unwinding Sanctions: The Problematic Construct of Sanctions Relief in the JCPOA.”

Robert Chesney announced a new cybersecurity fellowship for the 2016-2017 academic year at UT-Austin.

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