Generation Jihad

FDD Senior Fellow David Daoud and Bill examine the recent and fragile ceasefire in the ongoing Iran War. Will the fighting in southern Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah break the peace, and has the Iranian resistance movement missed a golden opportunity?

Bill and FDD Senior Analyst, Cameron McMillan, unravel the complex rescue of two US airmen shot down over Iran - including the strategic coordination and risks involved with the operation - as well as the current state of the Iranian ballistic missile program, and Tehran’s strategic adaptability amidst the dynamic conditions of this war.

FDD’s Janatan Sayeh is back with Bill for an update on the Iran war, including: the potential for concrete regime change, last night’s address by President Trump, rumored U.S.-Iran deliberations, the fragile balance of power on the ground, and the possibility of a popular uprising against the wounded Islamic Republic.

As U.S. and Israeli strikes hit inside Iran, the regime is firing back outside its borders — and the war is expanding because of it. Iraqi militias target U.S. forces. The Gulf is under attack. The Houthis are back in the fight. This isn’t spillover — it’s strategy.

Ahmad Sharawi and Bridget Toomey are back with Bill to assess Iran’s expanding proxy war — and the growing risk that America is funding forces now targeting its own troops.

Kharg Island looks like the perfect target — take it, and you choke off Iran’s oil. But it’s not that simple.

Bill is joined by Ryan Brobst and Cameron McMillan to discuss why seizing Kharg could hand Tehran exactly what it wants: a wider war, a vulnerable U.S. position, and a fight on the regime’s terms.

Iran says the Strait of Hormuz is closed. It’s not.

Ships are still moving. Oil is still flowing.

Just not for everyone. Friends pass. Also anyone with millions of dollars to spare.

Enemies don’t.

This isn’t a blockade. It's a shakedown.

Bill Roggio sits down with shipping expert Sal Mercogliano to break down Tehran’s latest act of war: turning the world’s most critical shipping chokepoint into leverage.

The bombs are falling. The regime is reeling. But revolutions aren’t won from 30,000 feet.

As Washington and Jerusalem pummel toward a mission accomplished, Bill is joined by FDD's Jon Schanzer to grapple with a harder question that looms: what happens if there’s no uprising when the bombing stops?

As pressure builds inside Iran, the regime is lashing out across the region.

Bill Roggio, Joe Truzman, and David Daoud break down Tehran’s expanding battlefield from internal strain to external escalation and the question at the center of it all: Is this strength or a regime under stress trying to change the game before it loses control?

Mentioned by Bill

We didn't light it, but we tried to fight it.

Day 14 of the Iran War

Don't want the regime to have nukes? Eliminate the regime.

As the US and Israel strike targets inside Iran’s borders, the regime is firing back outside of them.

Across the region from tourist hubs and capital cities to energy infrastructure and U.S. military bases, Iranian attacks are dragging the region into the war and raising the cost of conflict.

Ahmad Sharawi joins Bill to assess Tehran’s strategy and the threat it poses to Middle East stability — including a nightmare maritime scenario that no one is talking about.

As U.S. and Israeli strikes pound Iran’s military and Tehran threatens shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the conflict is entering a dangerous new phase.

FDD’s Bradley Bowman joins Bill to break down what the strikes have achieved — and the harder question that remains: is the goal to weaken the regime… or bring it down?

After 12 days of war—and the death of Iran’s supreme leader—the Islamic Republic is under unprecedented pressure.

Bill and Janatan Sayeh assess this initial phase of the war, the gap between Washington and Jerusalem’s goals, and the decisive question still looming over Tehran: will the Iranian people finish the job?

For decades, many Americans believed conflict with the Islamic Republic would be a new war.

But as Bill and Behnam explain, the truth is simpler: this war began in 1979 — with hostage-taking, terrorism, and a regime built on hostility toward the United States and its allies.

Now, after the killing of Iran’s supreme leader and a campaign to dismantle Tehran’s missile arsenal — and as Iran widens the war by firing at its neighbors and daring them to join — the question isn’t how the war started. It’s how it ends.

Is this a limited...

Bill and Edmund Fitton-Brown recorded this conversation before the U.S. and Israel conducted the military strikes inside the Islamic Republic that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

In it, they pondered the question that Washington was wrestling with at the time: should the U.S. strike Iran, and what would happen if it did? From whether airpower alone can truly cripple Iran’s nuclear and missile programs to why regime change may be impossible without an actual armed resistance.

They also pivoted to Gaza and the new “Board of Peace” plan — billions of dollars, a multinat...

It’s day four of Operation Epic Fury. So... what's the strategy?

Bill Roggio is joined by FDD military analyst Cameron McMillan to assess the objectives of the campaign, the forces now deployed across the region, and why destroying Iran’s weapons before they launch them may be the only way to protect American forces.

Emerging reports following today's U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Iran suggest Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead.

If true, is regime decapitation the opening salvo of the fall of the Islamic Republic?

What happens next?

David Daoud and Joe Truzman are back with Bill to unpack what we know, what we don’t know, and whether this is the moment that reshapes the Middle East.

Indeed, the stakes are generational, and the next few weeks could define the next few decades.

Bill and Joe discuss the emergence of anti-Hamas militias in Gaza, their dynamics, challenges, and the response from Hamas, highlighting the complexities of the situation in Gaza and the uncertain future of these militias in the broader context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

After slaughtering tens of thousands during a nationwide internet blackout — the bloodiest crackdown in the Islamic Republic’s history — the regime still stands.

President Trump now has three options: negotiate, strike, or wait.

Is this the moment to help finish what the 12-Day War started? Or would U.S. intervention only prolong the Long War?

Can this regime fall without a true revolution — and how much blood would that require?

Bill Roggio and Behnam Ben Taleblu convene for a hard debate over whether Washington should help precipitate Tehran’s collapse — or stay out of

In its latest report on the state of global jihad, the UN reveals that al-Qaeda is expanding — and one critical fact the report doesn't mention: al-Qaeda’s leader is based in Iran.

Bill Roggio is joined by his FDD colleague Edmund Fitton-Brown — who previously oversaw the UN’s sanctions and monitoring team that produces these assessments — to unpack what the report gets right, what it misses, and why al-Qaeda — not ISIS — remains the most dangerous long-term jihadist threat facing the West.

In Part 37 of Big Yikes in Syria, Bill and Ahmad unpack yet another round of bad alliances and strategic failure in the war-torn country.

One month into the uprising in Iran, the regime is still killing.

With the internet shut down, foreign militias unleashed on civilians, and reports of more than 30,000 dead, Tehran is waging a war on its own people.

FDD's Janatan Sayeh joins Bill to share what he’s hearing directly from inside Iran, why this is no longer “just protests,” and what it will take to finally break the Islamic Republic’s grip on power.

Three weeks into the largest uprising in the Islamic Republic’s history, the country has gone dark.

With the internet shut down and security forces unleashed, thousands — possibly tens of thousands — of Iranians have been massacred in an unprecedented and brutal crackdown.

Behnam Ben Taleblu joins Bill to unpack what this revolution means, why defections — not protests — are the real tipping point, and why the West’s failure to act may leave permanent scars — on Iran, and on U.S. credibility.

After military defeat abroad and at home where the economy also has collapsed, the Islamic Republic is weaker than ever, and the Iranian people know it.

The regime is facing a nationwide uprising unlike anything seen in decades with Iranians across class, age, and ideology back in the streets, and they’re no longer asking for reform. They’re demanding an end to the Islamic Republic itself. 

Meanwhile, President Trump warned that U.S. military action is on the table if the regime slaughters protesters. As we record, a brutal crackdown is underway with reports of hu...

In a lightning-fast U.S. military raid, Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured in Caracas, arrested, and transported to the United States, sending shockwaves across Latin America and far beyond. Bill is joined by Sam Ben-Ur to unpack the raid and the intelligence behind it, what comes next when the dictator is gone, but the regime remains — and why Bill says "the ayatollah must be sh*tting himself."

Iran is erupting again — and this time, the protests are openly anti-regime. Strikes are spreading, nationalist slogans are surging, and the Islamic Republic’s margin for control is shrinking. Guest host Behnam Ben Taleblu is joined by Janatan Sayeh and Navid Mohebbi to discuss what’s driving the unrest and what (dwindling) options the regime still has.

The Iran protest resources you need:

On Christmas Day, the United States launched airstrikes against Islamic State targets in northwest Nigeria, framed as a response to jihadist violence and the persecution of Christians. But did Washington hit the right enemy? In the right place? For the right reasons? Bill and Caleb analyze the known knowns of the strike, including who was targeted and who wasn’t — and why the operation may have been more about optics than outcomes.

Editorial note: The 1997 film known as "Home Alone 3" is not a legitimate addition to the Home Alone franchise, making a riff on the title fair game...

After two American soldiers are killed in Syria, Washington responds (not with hard questions).

Same war. Same mistake. Same tragic — and avoidable — consequences.

In a solo rant, Bill Roggio dismantles the official story behind Operation Hawkeye, exposes the jihadist reality of Syria’s “security forces,” and ponders why the U.S. is (again) covering for al Qaeda–linked entities and calling it counterterrorism.

According to the Taliban's self-assessment (what could go wrong), Afghanistan is "stable" — but according to reality, it's not. Terrorist groups still operate openly, al-Qaeda remains embedded, and the same extremists are now being trusted to “fight” other extremists.

Bill Roggio and Edmund Fitton-Brown break down why outsourcing counterterrorism to jihadists is a fatal mistake — and why the so-called "peace of the Taliban" comes at an unbearable price: the erasure of half the country’s population and the return of Afghanistan as a global terror hub.

Bill is joined by Caleb Weiss to dissect the recently-viral claim that Osama bin Laden’s son, Hamza bin Laden (the one President Trump had previously announced was killed in a U.S. counterterrorism operation several years ago), is alive and secretly leading al-Qaeda from Afghanistan.

In a seismic policy shift after decades of Western indifference, the Trump administration has moved to designate key chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations.

Bill is joined by FDD’s Edmund Fitton-Brown, who explains why this first round of designations is just the opening salvo — and how pulling this initial thread could eventually unravel the Brotherhood’s sprawling global network from Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon to Turkey, Qatar, and beyond.

A precision strike in southern Beirut wiped out Haitham al-Tabataba’i, Hezbollah’s chief of staff, longtime military leader, and architect of its elite Radwan force. He was also the man overseeing Hezbollah’s post-ceasefire rearmament. 

Bill is joined by FDD’s David Daoud and Joe Truzman to unpack who Tabataba’i was, why the Israelis chose to strike now and what it means for Hezbollah’s failed regeneration, Beirut politics, and Israel’s next moves. 

Ceasefire on paper. Chaos on the ground. Trump’s 20-point plan promises “peace” in Gaza — but Hamas is already violating the ceasefire, gaming hostage returns, killing rivals, and rearming in tunnels.

Bill is joined by his FDD colleagues Samuel Ben-Ur and Aaron Goren to discuss why disarming Hamas is a fantasy, why an international force risks becoming UNIFIL 2.0, and why Israel may be forced to finish the war.

Washington is rolling out the red carpet for Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, now “President Shara.” Bill Roggio and Edmund Fitton-Brown ask the hard question: why is a former al-Qaeda leader who oversaw massacres and foreign-terror networks suddenly treated like Syria’s George Washington? They unpack the risks, the Taliban déjà vu, and what this means for Israel, minorities, and the next phase of the long war.

Bill and David Daoud examine how Israel’s near-daily strikes on Hezbollah barely register in the West while even minor flare-ups in Gaza seemingly become a global crisis. They unpack why Lebanon’s decades of incompetence paved the way for Hezbollah entrenchment and failed statehood — and Western exhaustion, which may help explain why the “belligerent occupation” narrative remains strong in Gaza.

Will the next phase of the Long War erupt inside a nuclear-armed state?

The Taliban, a monster Islamabad built but can’t control, is waging a war against Pakistan — and it shouldn’t surprise anyone. 

After decades of Islamabad playing both arsonist and firefighter — nurturing the Taliban, harboring al Qaeda, and weaponizing jihad against India — Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn reunite to dissect why the blaze is finally backfiring on Pakistan. 

Guest host Behnam Ben Taleblu and FDD’s Janatan Sayeh delve into the complexities of Iran's internal politics, implications of the recent 12-day war, and ongoing discussions surrounding the truth about the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions. They unpack the regime's strategies, the impact of social media on public perception, and the challenges faced by regime leadership in maintaining “legitimacy” and control. 

There’s a ceasefire in Gaza — not a peace deal. Hamas won’t disarm, the Houthis won’t quit, and Iran’s already rebuilding. Bill Roggio and Edmund Fitton-Brown unpack the unfinished wars still burning from Yemen to Tehran and trace the next fronts in this Long War.

Bill Roggio, Sinan Ciddi, and Ahmad Sharawi discuss the brewing fight between Erdogan's Turkey, the SDF, and Sharaa’s Syria.

Two years after the Iran-backed, Hamas-led attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, Israel remains locked into a multi-front, defensive war against the Islamic Republic and its patrons — including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Bill Roggio and Joe Truzman look back at how 10/7 reshaped the region, what’s surprised them most, and why the conflict is far from over.

Ahmad Sharawi is back with Bill to discuss the ongoing Sharaa spectacle, from massacres whitewashed and sanctions lifted with no conditions to foreign fighters handed Syrian citizenship — in its rush to embrace him, is the West willfully ignoring Sharaa’s blood-soaked past?

Ahmed al-Sharaa used to be known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani — al Qaeda’s man in Syria. Now he’s known as the president of Syria. 

He’s in New York City this week, headlining the UN General Assembly (UNGA), fraternizing with world leaders and meeting with senior Trump administration officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He was even hosted by a prominent think-tank for a fireside chat with General David Petraeus, a self-described “fan.” 

Why is everyone so eager to embrace someone with a record of terror? 

Tom Joscelyn is back with Bill to unpack...