One evening, I watched as a convoy of trucks headed out of town, packed with fighters, weapons at the ready.
Qaim has been a significant crossing point for foreign fighters, weapons and money entering Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency.
In September last year I watched Isis and Jabhat al-Nusra move their fighters, weapons and prisoners from their bases in Syria in anticipation of impending attacks.
Tal Abyad controls the road connecting the terror group's capital of Raqqa to Turkey, from which it receives fighters, weapons and supplies.
Israel intensified its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, sending ground forces to the outskirts of the main urban areas as aircraft attacked suspected Hamas fighters, weapons dumps, rocket-firing positions and arms-smuggling tunnels.
According to one senior officer, the Tuareg commanders of three of the four Malian units fighting in the north at the time defected to the insurrection "at the crucial moment," taking fighters, weapons and scarce equipment with them.
While the exact number of Taliban fighters or the command structure are not known, military officials say he organized fighters, weapons, supplies and finances across much of southern and southeastern Afghanistan, the centers of the Taliban insurgency.
Russia and Iran have committed fighters, weapons, aircraft, and a readiness to justify any inhumanity and tell any lie on behalf of their client in Damascus, and now Assad is close to the ultimate Pyrrhic victory.
In losing towns such as Manbij, it has lost access to the Turkish border, which means the supply of foreign fighters, weapons and ammunition is drying up.
