Overview: This report is the first publication from a continuing, open-source study of the coalition campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). With Australian blood and treasure committed to the efforts of the coalition, it is important for ASPI to provide research and constructive commentary on the campaign. The report examines...

Prime Minister Tony Abbott claims Australian use of air strikes and Australian special forces to fight Islamic state militants in Iraq amounts to "a mission" rather than "a war".

The greatest threat to Australia as a result of the Iraq violence will be a new theatre for Australians to earn battle experience – possibly returning home as experienced and networked Islamic extremists.

The UN refugee agency annual statistics show that more than 51 million people were forcibly displaced at the end of 2013, the largest number since the end of World War II. Half of the world's refugees in 2013 were children. UNHCR's annual Global Trends report, which is based on data compiled by governments and non¬-governmental...

This paper seeks to explain the reasons for the failure of the war against Al Qaeda so far, but looks at this debate from the perspective of the British rather than the American experience of the war on terror.