By Sean Rayment Britain’s elite special forces have been directly involved in the killing of more than 4,000 Islamic State terrorists in Syria and Iraq over the past 10 years. Troops from the SAS, the SBS and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment have launched ambushes, carried out sniping attacks, called in air strikes and directed heavily armed drones against hundreds of Islamic State (IS) strongholds. The covert missions formed part of Operation Shader, the military codename for operations against IS terrorists in Syria and Iraq, launched in 2014. Defence sources have told National Security News that almost all of the carefully planned attacks…

By Sean Rayment Britain is sending a specialist Royal Air Force regiment counter-drone unit equipped with advanced technology to Belgium after repeated incursions by “uncrewed aerial systems” over the country’s airports and military bases. Sir Richard Knighton, the head of the UK’s armed forces, said the British military would provide “our people, our equipment” to support Belgium, though he was careful to note that “we don’t yet know” the origin of the drones. “Russia is the biggest threat right now, and their illegal invasion of Ukraine has shown what they are capable of,” he added. “Russia is something we should…

Opinion by Andre Pienaar Kazakhstan’s accession to the Abraham Accords marks a new milestone in the global movement for peace and cooperation first launched under the visionary leadership of President Donald J. Trump. When President Trump introduced the Abraham Accords in 2020, he reshaped the diplomatic landscape of the Middle East through realism, strength, and shared prosperity. What began as a bold peace initiative among Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and others has now evolved into a broader coalition connecting regions, economies, and faiths. Kazakhstan’s decision to join this historic framework extends that vision from the Mediterranean to the…

By Staff Writer Referrals to the Government’s flagship counter-extremism programme Prevent have reached their highest level on record, driven by a surge in cases following the Southport child murders last year. Home Office figures show 8,778 referrals were made to Prevent in the year to March, a 27 per cent rise on the previous year. Officials said referrals were broadly steady until July 2024, when Axel Rudakubana murdered three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport. His case, in which he had previously been referred to Prevent three times but was not escalated to a Channel panel,…

By Sean Rayment The UK Government has been urged to invest in the global “race for space” by a House of Lords committee. In a report focused on growing the UK’s space economy, the House of Lords cross-party committee said the government should provide clear leadership, strategy, and investment to avoid missing the opportunity to become a “lead player” in the global space sector. “Only the most strategic and forward-looking nations will capture the economic and scientific rewards of this new space age,” said committee chair Baroness Catherine Ashton. “With the right leadership, coordination, and investment, the UK can be…

By Sean Rayment Deep cuts to Britain’s overseas aid budget, carried out to boost spending on defence, will have “devastating consequences” without improving national security, a parliamentary report has stated. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement in February of heavy reductions to pay for an increased defence budget, in light of the growing Russian threat, could actually make the UK’s defences weaker, the International Development Committee said. Slashing the development budget will “continue to lead to unrest and further crises in the future” as well as jeopardise the UK’s ability to wield soft power, the committee of MPs added. Following cuts…

By Staff Writer When world leaders meet in Belém, Brazil, this November for COP30, the United States will be absent. President Donald Trump has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement and confirmed he will not attend the UN’s annual climate conference. The absence of the world’s second-largest emitter comes as climate change is increasingly identified by defence and intelligence agencies as a global security issue. Rising sea levels, food shortages, and extreme weather events are already linked to instability, displacement, and competition for resources. The Pentagon, NATO, and the United Nations have described climate change as a “threat multiplier,” warning that…

By Staff Writer US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have reached a temporary truce over rare earth exports, in what could ease immediate supply-chain fears but leaves Washington’s long-term national security vulnerabilities largely intact. Meeting for the first time in six years, the two leaders described their discussions in Seoul as “constructive” and said a framework was in place to resolve “major trade issues”. Central to those talks was Beijing’s agreement to suspend newly tightened export controls on rare earth elements, materials essential to the production of advanced weapons, fighter jets and missile systems, as well as…

By Ben Farmer Sudanese paramilitary rebels have been accused of massacring as many as 2,000 civilians, including hundreds of hospital patients, in ethnic killing sprees after they overran a besieged city. El Fasher fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after an 18-month bombardment and blockade that had turned the enclave into the epicentre of the country’s catastrophic civil war. Sudanese army defenders and their militia allies were eventually routed when the RSF captured their last stronghold in the city, the 6th Division headquarters, after heavy fighting. Tens of thousands fled in the hours that followed. Their testimony, along with…

By Sean Rayment Critical gaps across European NATO militaries risk undermining deterrence against Russia, according to a new report on collective defence by the Council on Geostrategy. Entitled Collective Defence, the Strategic Defence Review, and Capability Gaps, the report highlights shortfalls across air, sea and land power, and argues that without urgent reform and integration, European allies could struggle to respond effectively to future crises on the continent. In a foreword to the report, General Sir Richard Barrons, who also co-authored the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, warns that “hope and denial” have too often replaced coherent strategy in European defence planning.…

Germany is preparing to spend €377 billion on military equipment including an arsenal of cruise missiles that can reach Moscow, according to a leaked document. The country’s defence budget, which has been exempted from the constitutional limits on public borrowing, is rising rapidly and due to hit 3.5 per cent of national Gross Domestic Product by 2029, or about €152 billion a year. The 39-page document lays out €377 billion in desired buys across land, air, sea, space and cyber. The list includes the purchase of 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles with have a range that would allow them to destroy…

Scientists working at a military base which was at the heart of the Skripal nerve agent probe fear their personal details may have been stolen by cyber criminals.Workers at the Defence Scientific Technical Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down, Salisbury, were alerted to the security breach this month by union officials.The base had been key in determining that it was Novichok which had been used in the attempted murder of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in 2018.Other victims of the hack include technicians and engineers at the defence company BAe Systems, the electronics firm Siemens,…