Daily Intel Brief
An explosion in Istanbul is considered a terrorist attack by Turkish officials, Russian troops retreat from Kherson, and a UK embassy guard in Berlin pleads guilty to spying...
Counterterrorism
An explosion that killed at least six people and injured more than 80 others in Istanbul on Sunday has been deemed a terrorist attack, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said, according to state news agency Anadolu. “We consider it to be a terrorist act as a result of an attacker…
The rise of the Taliban to power did not bring peace to Afghanistan. Quite the reverse, different forms of political violence have either continued or emerged, including the Taliban regime’s extrajudicial executions, the anti-Taliban armed resistance, and the indiscriminate…
Military & Defense
Kenyan soldiers landed in the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, as part of a regional military operation targeting rebels in the conflict-torn region. Their arrival comes as the M23 militia has surged across the DRC's North Kivu province…
Residents of Kherson celebrated the end of Russia’s eight-month occupation for the third straight day Sunday, even as they took stock of the extensive damage left behind in the southern Ukrainian city by the Kremlin’s retreating forces. A jubilant crowd gathered in…
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity concerns have been raised at the United Nations’ COP27 climate talks over an official smartphone app that reportedly has carte blanche to monitor locations, private conversations and photographs. About 35,000 people are expected to attend the two-week…
Russian hacktivists have infected multiple organizations in Ukraine with a new ransomware strain called 'Somnia,' encrypting their systems and causing operational problems. The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) has confirmed the outbreak…
Counterintelligence & Espionage
Two Iranian-born brothers were convicted in Sweden with serious espionage for reportedly spying for Russia for nearly 10 years, prosecutors stated on Friday. One of them men operated for Sweden’s domestic intelligence agency. governments acknowledged them as Peyman…
A British man who worked at the United Kingdom’s embassy in Berlin has pleaded guilty to eight offences under the Official Secrets Act relating to passing on information useful to Russia. David Ballantyne Smith, who lived in Potsdam, Germany and was employed as a…
Transnational Organized Crime
IDF soldiers have thwarted the smuggling of 1.2 million NIS worth of drugs from Egypt, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said on Sunday. IDF soldiers spotted a number of suspects arriving at the border fence between Egypt and Israel to transfer roughly 30 kg of drugs worth some…
The Manhattan district attorney’s office has returned 192 looted antiquities with a value of nearly $3.4 million to Pakistan. District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. announced the return in a press release on Thursday. The return is the culmination of a decade-long investigation…