No Shadows in the Desert: Murder, Vengeance, and Espionage in the War Against ISIS

by Samuel M. Katz

Overview

The inside story of the covert operation that took down the heads of ISIS

No Shadows in the Desert reveals the untold story of the behind-the-scenes fight against ISIS—one coordinated by heads of state and ultimately fought in the alleyways and open deserts of the Middle Eastern battlefield by spies and soldiers. Samuel M. Katz draws upon his sources within the global intelligence and counterterrorism community, as well as the international special operations and espionage fraternity, to tell the story of the covert campaign against ISIS by the operatives who ventured deeply and secretly into enemy territory.

In this first-ever look at the secret inner workings of an Arab secret service, Katz tells the story of Jordan’s GID, the masters of human intelligence on the espionage battlefields of the Middle East, who proved pivotal and crucial go-to allies of the CIA and America’s other intelligence agencies in the war against ISIS and the war on terror. With the revealing and intimate insight of the intelligence officers who fought ISIS, No Shadows in the Desert is a rare glimpse into how a strategic partnership helped change how terrorism is fought in the Middle East and beyond.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781488051166
Publisher:	Hanover Square Press
Publication date:	04/21/2020
Sold by:	HARLEQUIN
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	656,713
File size:	24 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Samuel M. Katz is an internationally recognized expert on Middle East security issues, international terrorism, and military special operations and counterterrorism. He has authored or coauthored over twenty books, including the New York Times bestseller Under Fire: The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi.

Table of Contents

Glossary 11

October 26, 2019 15

Author Note 19

Prologue: Slider One-One 23

Book 1 A New Storm Over the Horizon 29

1 What Could Go Wrong? 31

2 The Fall of Mosul 42

3 The Line in the Sand 58

4 Send in the Vipers 79

Book 2 The Human Bazaar 99

5 Held Captive 101

6 The Point of No Return 114

7 Barbaric 119

8 The Extortionists 126

9 Shock and Horror 132

10 Kill the Monsters 150

Book 3 Guillotine 159

11 Amman Station 161

12 The Kill List 174

13 Tradecraft 187

14 The Third World War 210

15 Say, Die in Your Rage 225

Book 4 Payback 237

16 Desert One 239

17 Just Rewards 254

18 Find, Fix and Finish 268

19 Dirty Battles, a Dirty War 287

20 Dawn before Daylight 303

Postscript: Caution and Vigilance 309

Acknowledgments 315

Endnotes 319

Index 343

Editorial Reviews

01/27/2020

Middle East security expert Katz (The Ghost Warrior) delivers a dramatic account of the secret mission by U.S. and Jordanian intelligence agents to avenge the “capture, torture, and immolation” of Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh by ISIS fighters in Syria. After the engine in Moaz’s plane caught fire on Dec. 24, 2014, he parachuted into the Euphrates River near Raqqa and was captured. He was likely killed on January 3, though ISIS maintained that he was alive until February, when they released horrific video footage of his death. According to Katz, ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani (who is believed to have participated in the killing) hoped to break Jordan’s resolve to be part of the international coalition fighting against the Caliphate; instead, the video had the opposite effect. Katz chronicles the multinational effort—led by the GID, Jordan’s intelligence agency—to locate the five terrorists responsible for Moaz’s death and design and implement missions to execute them. Against the backdrop of this spy tale, Katz briskly untangles the history of the Syrian civil war and the campaign against ISIS. Though Katz’s staccato prose can be clunky, he packs a wealth of information into the book and skillfully draws on an extensive network of sources in the U.S. and the Middle East. Espionage fans will savor this detailed and immersive account. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Middle East security expert Katz offers a revealing account of how Jordan, the United States, and global allies engaged in covert acts of vengeance to eliminate top leaders of the Islamic State group. … An authoritative book that captures a critical moment in the war against IS and underscores the group's ruthlessness.” –Kirkus Reviews


“Espionage fans will savor this detailed and immersive account.” –Publishers Weekly


"This detailed but swift narrative will fascinate readers of nonfiction espionage." -Library Journal

"This informative book provides a fascinating account of the GID’s involvement in the battle against ISIS." -Taylor & Francis Online


“No Shadows in the Desert contains impressive access to named and unnamed officials, detailing how Jordan leveraged its networks against ISIS to enact revenge…This informative book provides a fascinating account of the GID’s involvement in the battle against ISIS.” -The Intelligence and National Security Journal

From the Publisher

03/01/2020

In 2014, Jordanian Airforce First Lieutenant Moaz al-Kasabeh was captured while leading a mission against ISIS. His captors beat and tortured him and then burned him alive, an act that Jordan's King Abdullah was determined to avenge. Katz (Harpoon), a prolific writer on international terrorism and military operations, presents a gripping account of reprisals against the five top ISIS leaders who masterminded the murder. The author skillfully pieces together the story of the uneasy alliance of Jordan's General Intelligence Department (GID), Russia, and the CIA and other U.S. allies, who managed to work together to kill al-Kasabeh's murderers, the last one in 2017. Included are chilling stories of EMNI, ISIS's intelligence department that thrived on murdering citizens as well as details about Al-Adnani, the ISIS henchman responsible for promoting al-Kasabeh's murder on social media and for planning the 2015 attacks on the Paris headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, bombings at a French soccer match, and at the Brussels airport and subway system. VERDICT This detailed but swift narrative will fascinate readers of nonfiction espionage. See James Verini's They Will Have To Die Soon for a first-person account of bloody warfare with ISIS.—Karl Helicher, formerly with Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

Library Journal

2020-01-26
Middle East security expert Katz offers a revealing account of how Jordan, the United States, and global allies engaged in covert acts of vengeance to eliminate top leaders of the Islamic State group.

In 2014, a young Jordanian Air Force pilot was captured and burned to death by terrorists after his fighter aircraft crashed near Raqqa, Syria, during a combat sortie aimed at destroying an arsenal and other targets. In the carefully staged and filmed execution, the airman was caged, covered with gasoline, and set afire. Terrorists hoped the “horrifying” death, later broadcast widely, would rally Muslims to their cause. Instead, writes Katz, it prompted retribution that lit “the fuse of the Islamic State’s destruction.” In this absorbing narrative, the author uses the story of the pilot and the subsequent killing of top IS leaders responsible for his capture and murder (including the war minister and the social media guru) as a way to explore the inner workings of the international anti-terror alliance, especially the close military intelligence ties between the CIA and Jordan, deemed a “buffer that helped an unstable region maintain periods of peace and status quo.” Against the background of the terrorist organization, which “caught everyone by surprise,” Katz details the fall of oil-rich Mosul; the complex relationships within the multinational anti-terror coalition, with its many air forces held together by electronic communication; and the coalition’s combat sorties against terrorist targets in Iraq and Syria. The author draws on interviews with soldiers and intelligence officials to recount decision-making inside the CIA “espionage hub” at Amman Station, Jordan’s top-flight anti-terrorist agency the General Intelligence Directorate, and the ruling council of IS, whose massive media operation (“likened to CNN and Britain’s BBC”) worked ceaselessly to win Muslim allies and recruit “middle-class jobless college-educated sons in the kingdom.”

An authoritative book that captures a critical moment in the war against IS and underscores the group’s ruthlessness.

Kirkus Reviews