Secret Wars Uncovered

The shocking facts behind battles that were fought covertly. Digging deep into archives and quizzing experts and journalists, this series uncovers some of the most controversial, covered up and shocking military operations since the Second World War. This first episode begins in Crimea, when the Crimean Peninsula was annexed from Ukraine by the Russian Federation between February and March 2014.

Reports that arose in March 2019 of UK Special Boat Service troops killed in Yemen

In October 1993, an elite battle unit of the US army began a fairly straight-forward mission in Somalia's capital to arrest two top lieutenants of the warlord Mohammed Aidid, who controlled the city. Dubbed the Battle of Mogadishu, within minutes it descended into chaos as one of the Black Hawk helicopters circling overheard was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, spun out of control and crashed.

On 3 March 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina gained its independence from Yugoslavia, leading to a complex war fuelled by ethnic tensions fought on many fronts

The shocking facts behind covert battles. Digging deep into archives and quizzing experts and journalists, this series uncovers some of the most controversial, covered up and shocking military operations since the Second World War

Laos: The American involvement in Laos in the 1950s was long kept under wraps - but the story of their efforts to remove the communists, led by the CIA, is a devastating one

Central America: In the 1980s, El Salvador and Nicaragua fought vicious civil wars - and spearheading the fight against communism, the US engaged.

Mali: It is a deadly war in the desert, and one we know barely anything about. In the northern Malian town of Timbuktu, formerly a rich city, a war has been raging since 2012.

Coups d'Etat: The military coup is an age-old method to topple governments and take control by force. Go behind the scenes of some of the most dramatic in recent history.

Gaza: Through a dissection of some of its deadly skirmishes and the parties involved, see the story behind the Gaza-Israel conflict and the devastating impact it has had.