Today's Headlines and Commentary

Iraqi forces continue their slow advance into Mosul’s eastern districts, the AP reports. Government fighters have secured 70 percent of the Tahrir neighborhood, but the Islamic State is putting up fierce resistance. To Mosul’s west, Shiite militia forces have begun their assault on the Tal Afar military airport. PMF officials expect the battle to end quickly given that some militants have already withdrawn from Tal Afar’s airport to the town itself, Reuters tells us. The PMF operation is designed to sever the Islamic State’s lines of communication between Syria and its besieged fighters in Mosul.

The Islamic State is defending Mosul with a range of techniques including suicide car bombers, IEDs, vast networks of tunnels, mortar and sniper fire, and extensive roadblocks. The group has also focused considerable energy on internal security against threats from the local population and from within the organization itself. The militants have become increasingly paranoid as coalition forces advance, turning to mass executions and surveillance. They are relying on child spies, veteran Baathist intelligence officers, and the confiscation of SIM cards.

The Syrian regime is continuing its renewed air campaign against rebel positions in eastern Aleppo, the Washington Post reports. Multiple hospitals across Syria have been hit by regime forces, and a children’s hospital in Aleppo was the most recent target. The Kremlin claims that only Syrian aircraft are striking Aleppo and that Russian air assets are still abiding by their almost month-long moratorium on attacking eastern Aleppo.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stated that President-elect Trump will be a “natural ally” in combating terrorism, the New York Times notes. Trump has promised greater collaboration in counterterrorism with Russia and has suggested that he may curtail U.S. support to Syrian rebel groups. The Times has more on how the Trump administration could change America’s relationship with these insurgents.

The Kurdish YPG announced plans to withdraw from the northern Iraqi city of Manbij, complying with Turkish demands that it move farther from the Turkish border, the BBC writes. The Kurdish militia claimed it is moving its forces because it has successfully trained local security forces to protect Manbij and now wants to support the U.S.-backed offensive on Raqqa. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who views the YPG as terrorist affiliates of the PKK, threatened last month to clear the group from Manbij before beginning a series of airstrikes on YPG forces. Erdogan has expressed support for the YPG’s withdrawal, although his past criticism of plans to include the YPG in the Raqqa offensive suggest the potential for further confrontation as the militia joins the operation.

Tunisian authorities raided an extremist cell planning to strike the nation’s capital, Tunis. The arrests come amid a period of heightened alert following a battle between Islamic State militants and government forces earlier this year. Reuters has more.

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed four Afghan security officials in Kabul, Reuters writes. The attack comes amid concerns of a resurgent Taliban and a growing ISIS presence in the country.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 419 to 1 to extend non-nuclear sanctions on Iran, the Times tells us. The sanctions predate the nuclear deal and cover behavior such as Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism. Iran has repeatedly criticized these non-nuclear sanctions as strangling Iranian economic ties with the West even following its concessions in the nuclear deal. Tehran has expressed far greater fears over the possibility that President-elect Trump will dismantle the nuclear agreement in its entirety, setting the stage for a renewed clash over the Iranian nuclear program.

Pirates may soon take control of Iceland—the Pirate Party, that is. The anti-establishment movement may join the governing coalition following the dominant Independence party’s failure to consolidate a coalition after the country’s elections, Reuters notes. The party took the third largest share of votes in the election, tripling the representation of pirates in parliament. The Post has more.

A U.S. cybersecurity firm discovered smartphone software that sends copies of users’ text messages to China every three days. The backdoor might have been designed merely to gather user data for corporate purposes—though more alarmingly, it may be also be covert Chinese intelligence gathering program. The Times has more.

Russia is withdrawing from the ICC, the Wall Street Journal reports. The court recently criticized its annexation of Crimea, and western diplomats have floated the potential for an ICC investigation into the Kremlin’s conduct in Syria. Russia is the third state to announce its intent to withdraw from the ICC this year, following closely behind South Africa and Burundi.

President Obama used a speech in Athens today to reassure NATO allies that the United States would uphold its treaty obligations during the next administration, Reuters tells us. President-elect Trump’s comments on the obsolescence of the alliance, European free-riding, and his intentions to reduce America’s overseas commitments—all during a time of heightened Russian interventionism—has generated concern across the continent. Poland is establishing a new self-defense force of 50,000 to supplement its traditional services, while German politicians are openly discussing the possibility of shifting to reliance on French and British nuclear security guarantees if the United States becomes unreliable.

U.S. officials and politicians are beginning to revisit the issue of Russian interference with the presidential election following Donald Trump’s unexpected victory. NSA Director Admiral Michael Rogers stated in an interview with the Journal that campaign emails released through WikiLeaks were the result of a “conscious effort by a nation-state to attempt to achieve a specific effect.” Meanwhile, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has called for a Senate investigation into the Russian operation, the Huffington Post tells us.

The presidential transition appears to be in chaos, despite president-elect Donald Trump’s protestations to the contrary. The Pentagon, the Justice Department, the State Department, and the Departments of Energy and Transportation have all yet to be contacted by members of the Trump transition team, the Huffington Post reports.

The team’s national security leadership is in disarray: former congressman Mike Rogers has departed as the transition’s national security advisor, and the Post writes that Rogers was “purged” for his connections to former transition leader Governor Chris Christie. Reports indicated yesterday that Rogers would be replaced by Frank Gaffney, a former Reagan Pentagon official controversial for his conspiratorial and hateful views on Islam. Following a furor of media attention in response to news of his role on the team, however, Gaffney recently declared that he has no relationship with the Trump transition.

Former State Department counselor Eliot Cohen has publicly revoked his recommendation that young conservatives should warily volunteer to work in the Trump administration, arguing that such service “would carry a high risk of compromising one’s integrity and reputation,” he writes for the Post. Cohen’s reversal comes amid fierce debates in the national security community about whether experts should serve in the administration in spite of their moral concerns.

Between reluctance on the part of many Republicans to serve under a President they find morally abhorrent, and grudges on behalf of the Trump team toward many of those who signed “Never Trump” letters or otherwise indicated their opposition to the candidate, the transition team is struggling to fill national security positions. The Times reports that the team may end up drawing heavily from Capitol Hill staffers to plug the gap.

ICYMI: Yesterday, on Lawfare

Quinta Jurecic posted a statement from the Military Commissions Chief Prosecutor Mark Martins on pretrial hearings in the al-Iraqi case.

Quinta also shared new FBI statistics on hate crimes in 2015.

Sasha Romanosky and Zachary Goldman discussed the nature of collateral damage in offensive cyber operations.

Nora Ellingsen and Benjamin Wittes revisited their call for President Obama to visit Garden City, Kansas, adding that President-elect Trump should accompany him.

Stewart Baker uploaded the latest episode of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast.

Will McCants argued that Trump’s misdiagnosis of the causes of terrorism will lead to the wrong prescriptions.

J. Dana Stuster reset the Middle East Ticker with analysis on Mosul, Egypt, Turkey, and Trump.

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.