IW Weekly - 19 July 2026

Iran dominates the week's irregular-warfare traffic: Reaper losses, kamikaze drone-boat strikes, Houthi threats against the Red Sea, and Hormuz all point to an escalating contest short of full war. China runs a parallel thread — Coast Guard pushback in disputed waters, the Manila-Hanoi maritime pact, and pieces bluntly mocking US IW posture signal Beijing's confidence in gray-zone competition.

A third thread is proximity: Cuba, Venezuela, and Tren de Aragua bring irregular threats to the Western Hemisphere, while Wagner's opioid networks in Africa show the same criminal-state fusion abroad. Iran remains the week's center of gravity.

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The future of security assistance — July 20; DC and Virtual

Strategic Resources in Competition: Rare Earths & Critical Minerals — July 21-22; Reston, VA

Global Information Summit 2026 — July 21-24; Adelaide, Australia

How Ukraine’s deep-strike campaign is causing cracks in the Kremlin — July 22; DC

Top priorities for US-Africa relations in an era of great power competition — July 23; DC

African Logistics and Communications Symposium — July 26-31; Ethiopia

CACI 2026 Dark Web and OSINT Summit — July 28; Arlington, VA

Navigating the Strait of Hormuz Energy Crisis — August 4; DC

Irregular Warfare in the Homeland, IWC Symposium — August 4-6; Arlington, VA

Indo-Pacific Irregular Warfare Symposium — August 18-20; Honolulu

Introducing APEX 2026 - IPA — September 8-9; Reston, VA

NATO Annual CIMIC Foresight Conference — September 14-18; The Hague

SAVE THE DATE: 25 Years After, Lessons From America’s Post-9/11 War — September 15; DC

SAVE THE DATE: Inaugural Narrative Strategy Symposium — September 30; DC

Global SOF in Europe Conference — October 6-8; Rome

Future of War Conference — October 26-28; Netherlands

Tactical Trauma 2026 — November 2-4; Sweden

Int’l Conference of the Society for Terrorism Research — December 9-11; Sydney, Australia

Medicine In the Mediterranean 2027 — January 29-31, 2027; Malta

Phoenix Challenge London 2027 — March 9-11, 2027; London

Have an event to highlight? Send details to mick@stratagemconsultingllc.com.

Why Should We Care if China is Salami-Slicing Its Way Out of the First Island Chain?

The New Great Game in the Pacific Islands

The Crucible of Innovation in the Indo-Pacific

In Moscow's Shadows - Desperation, Escalation, Mobilisation

Putin’s Survival Machine

In Moscow's Shadows - Chekistocracy? Or, Power and the Spooks in Putin's Russia

Ukraine's Dynamic Defense Sector: Combat Hubs, Air Defense, and Non-Stop Innovation

Africa at the Center: Power, Partnership, and the Future Global Order

SOF Assessment, Selection, and Qualification

Into the Deep: Special Forces and the Future of Large-Scale Combat

Cognitive Engagement as a Strategic Imperative of Irregular Warfare

FINTRAC flags North Korea, Iran and Russia as high-risk

When Perception Becomes the Battlefield

Same Spelling Different Story: Comparing the Conceptualization of IW Across the Globe

A Revolution in Irregular War

Modern Weapons, Legacy Logistics: Why SSAs Are the Army’s Readiness Bottleneck

Broken Drone, Far from Home: The Case for Overseas Autonomous System Sustainment

The Blood Bank and the Logistics of Wartime Medicine

Burn Resuscitation Revelation: Fluid Restriction + Early Plasma Beats Parkland

Drone Evacs Are Coming… But Can They Handle Real Critical Care Patients

Blood, Citrate & Cardiac Chaos – Rethinking Calcium in Prolonged Field Care

War Wounds Unfiltered: Cleaning, Debridement & Why You Shouldn’t Close Early

Does Cuba Have Iranian Drones?

DoD scrambles for new drone plans as Iran shoots down costly Reapers

US deploys 'kamikaze drone boats' in first combat strike against Iran

Philippines deploys US-made Triton naval drones in its western waters to scout for intruders

Irregular Warfare Conceptualization of South and Central America

Tren de Aragua and the Use of Military Force

Pentagon Is Developing Strike Options Against Cuba

Winning the Peace, One Cell at a Time

Wagner’s Remnants Are Running an Opioid Empire in the Center of Africa

Trump’s Libya Push Aims to Turn a Fragile Truce Into an Oil Bonanza

Renewed Iran Attacks and Sustainability of Continued Operations

US-Iran War: Through the Ends-Ways-Means-Risk Framework

Iran tells Houthis to close Red Sea gateway if US hits power network, sources say

Dire straits: No way out of Hormuz

Outgunned, But Not Outplayed: Iran's Theory of Victory

Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative (EFDI) -CSDS Interview with Lt. Col. Sam Rosenberg

Covert Maritime Intelligence and Russia’s Shadow Fleet

Russia’s War Against Its Own Future

Ukraine's Elite Operators Change How They Fight Drones, Clear Trenches

China Aggressively Patrols Disputed Waters. Now the U.S. Coast Guard Is Moving In

Will Manila and Hanoi’s maritime deal challenge Beijing in the South China Sea?

Taipei: The Morning After Annexation

China's Weaponization of Global Networks and Security

How China Is Winning Friends and Influencing People

China’s plan to bomb US warships

Red Lines - Understanding the National Security Risks of China’s Advanced AI

Philippine Resistance Against Japan in World War II

July/August 2026 | Foreign Affairs

Call for Papers - Information Professionals Association (due July 31)

Papers: “Civil Affairs: Securing the Victory in New Environments” (due September 11)

Ed - Irregular Warfare 101 (IW Basics)

Ed - Irregular Warfare 201 (IW Advanced)

Ed - Irregular Warfare 301 (IW Campaigning)

Ed - Irregular Warfare 110 (IW approaches for Homeland Security and Homeland Defense)

Ed - Center for Homeland and Defense Studies Self-Study Courses

The Harding Fellowship: A Leadership Opportunity for Army Professionals (due August 15)

The IW Weekly is made possible through the generous support of Stratagem Consulting. We're especially grateful to Mick Crnkovich, Founder and CEO of Stratagem, for championing thoughtful, practitioner-oriented resources in the national security space.

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