ISIS bombings kill 18 in southern Yemen
June 27th, 20160 ADEN — At least 18 people were killed in three coordinated ISIS bomb attacks on Yemeni government forces in the southern port city of Mukalla on Monday, medics and security sources said.They said dozens of other people were wounded in the bombings, which occurred just as soldiers were about to break their day-long fast during the...
U.S.-backed forces enter strategic ISIS stronghold in Syria
June 24th, 20160 DAMASCUS — The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces pushed into the outskirts of the ISIS stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria on Thursday and were advancing slowly to the center of town, an adviser to the predominantly Kurdish force and a monitoring group said. The town lies along the only ISIS supply line between the Turkish...
Yemeni Government: Nothing has been agreed in talks
June 24th, 20160 KUWAIT CITY — The Yemeni government said Thursday Houthi rebels must withdraw from all territory they have seized since 2014 and hand back control of state institutions ahead of any political settlement. It added that nothing has been agreed upon in two months of negotiations. The statement from the government delegation to...
Offensives against ISIS could displace 2.3 million Iraqis
June 23rd, 20160 BAGHDAD — Upcoming military offensives in Iraq against ISIS, including an assault on the northern city of Mosul, could displace at least 2.3 million people, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Iraq said on Thursday. The prediction of such a vast humanitarian emergency creates additional complications for the Iraqi...
Israeli troops kill Palestinian bystander
June 21st, 20160 Mahmoud BadranJERUSALEM — Israeli troops mistakenly killed a Palestinian bystander on Tuesday while responding with gunfire to a petrol bomb and rock attack on Israeli vehicles in the occupied West Bank, the military said.An earlier statement from the military had identified the Palestinian as an assailant. The mayor of his village...
Bahrain strips opposition imam of nationality
June 21st, 20160 Isa Qassim at a 2011 demonstration. Photo: ReutersMANAMA — Dozens of supporters of Ayatollah Isa Qassim, spiritual leader of Bahrain's Shi'a Muslim majority, gathered at his home on Tuesday to protest the revocation of his citizenship, with some men wearing white shrouds signaling their readiness to die.Protesters have been at the...
Turkish troops kill 11 Syrians trying to cross border
June 20th, 20160 Turkish border guards shot dead at least 11 Syrians, mostly from one family, as they tried to cross into Turkey from northwestern Syria, activists and a monitoring group said on Sunday.At least two women and four children were among those killed in the shootings overnight as the refugees sought to cross into Turkey from the border...
Israel waging a “water war” on West Bank Palestinians
June 16th, 20160 RAMALLAH — Palestinians are decrying Israel’s practice of siphoning off water supplies from large areas of the occupied West Bank.In a statement issued on Thursday, the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah Israel is waging a water war against the Palestinians.“Israel wants to prevent Palestinians from leading a...
UN: ISIS committing genocide against Yazidis
June 16th, 20160 Yazidi refugees fleeing ISIS, Aug. 2015. Photo: ReutersGENEVA — ISIS is committing genocide against the Yazidis in Syria and Iraq to destroy the religious community of 400,000 people through killings, sexual slavery and other crimes, United Nations investigators said on Thursday.Such a designation, rare under international law, would...
Saudi Arabia condemns the Orlando attack
June 14th, 20160 Abdullah Al-SaudWASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia condemned the terrorist attack in Orlando, which claimed 49 lives at a gay club.Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Abdullah Al-Saud said the kingdom sends its deepest condolences to the families of the victims."We stand with the American people at this tragic time," he said. "We pray for the...U.S. allies tighten grip around Islamic State stronghold in Syria
U.S.-backed militia drew within firing distance of the last road into an Islamic State stronghold in northern Syria on Thursday, part of a wave of new offensives putting unprecedented pressure on the self-declared caliphate.The effective encirclement of Manbij by a militia called the Syria Democratic Forces is part of an assault launched...
Falluja refugees say ISIS uses food to enlist fighters
June 9th, 20160 Civilians who fled their homes due to clashes gather at the Iraqi army's Camp Tariq, south Falluja, IraqFALLUJA —Iraqis who fled ISIS-held Falluja as government and allied forces advanced on the city said they had survived on stale dates and that militants were using food to enlist fighters whose relatives were going hungry. The...
Assad vows to fight on, says Aleppo to be Erdogan’s graveyard
June 9th, 20160 Syria's president Bashar al-Assad.DAMASCUS — President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Tuesday to fight on in what he called Syria's war against terrorism, showing no sign of compromise in his first major address since failed peace talks in April. Assad said he would win back "every inch" of Syria and said Aleppo would be a graveyard for...
Three Jordanian intelligence officers killed in attack in Palestinian camp
June 8th, 20160 AMMAN — Three Jordanian intelligence officers and two other security personnel were killed in an attack on their security office in a Palestinian refugee camp outside the Jordanian capital, Amman. One suspect was arrested, officials said on Monday, saying it appeared to be an "individual and isolated act." The incident at the Baqaa...
France to accept 400 refugees per month from Greece
June 3rd, 20160 PARIS — France will accept 400 refugees per month from Greece as part of the EU relocation deal it signed last year, the country's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Thursday. "This week, as part of the relocation, 97 additional refugees have arrived in France coming from Greece and Italy," Cazeneuve said in a statement. He......
20,000 children caught in crossfire in deadly fight for Isis-held city
June 2nd, 20160 IRAQ - As many as 20,000 children are trapped on the frontlines of the battle for control of Islamic State-held Fallujah, the UN has warned, as US-backed Iraqi government forces continue their assault on the city. Unicef has called on combatants in Fallujah to allow safe passage for the children and families...
Yemen warring parties ‘closer’ to agreement
May 27th, 20160 KUWAIT — The U.N. envoy said Wednesday the warring parties in Yemen were closer to agreement at peace talks in Kuwait as he headed to New York to brief the Security Council."We are moving towards a general understanding that encompasses the expectations and visions of the parties," Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a......
Migrants boat capsized in Mediterranean, 5 dead
May 27th, 20160 ROME — A large wooden fishing boat overcrowded with migrants capsized off the coast of Libya, the Italian navy said on Wednesday, with some 562 people rescued and five found dead.Photographs show the blue fishing boat rocking violently before capsizing, sending migrants tumbling into the sea. Some then climbed onto the hull of...
Annual Jewish pilgrimage starts in Tunisia
May 26th, 20160 TUNIS — An annual Jewish pilgrimage to Africa's oldest synagogue started Wednesday in Tunisia where security forces were deployed heavily to ward off potential terrorist attacks.Small groups of pilgrims including families with children began arriving in the searing heat at the Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba in...
Top Shi’a cleric urges restraint in assault on Iraq’s Falluja
May 25th, 20160 Iraqi federal police advance with paramilitary fighters towards Falluja, May 24BAGHDAD — Iraq's top Shi'a Muslim cleric urged government forces battling to retake Falluja from ISIS militants to spare civilians trapped in the city on Baghdad's western approaches.Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's appeal reflected concerns that a large...
Father of Lebanese soldier killed by Nusra admits revenge murder on TV
May 24th, 20160 The body of Hussein Hujairi, showing signs of torture, in a photo circulated by Lebanese mediaBEIRUT — The father of a Lebanese soldier kidnapped and killed by al-Qaeda's Syrian wing said on television on Tuesday that he had killed the nephew of a man he accused of being involved in the murder and had dumped the body near his son's......
Bombs kill nearly 150 in coastal Syrian cities
May 24th, 20160 Syrians inspect the damage after explosions hit Tartous. Photo: SANADAMASCUS — Bombs killed nearly 150 people and wounded at least 200 in Jableh and Tartous on Syria's Mediterranean coast on Monday in the government-controlled territory that hosts Russian military bases, monitors and state media said.ISIS claimed responsibility for...
ISIS suicide bombing kills 40 army recruits in Aden
May 24th, 20160 The site of the suicide bombing in Aden, May 23. Photo: ReutersADEN — A suicide car bombing claimed by ISIS killed at least 40 Yemeni army recruits and wounded 60 in the southern city of Aden on Monday, medics said, in one of the deadliest attacks yet on government interests.The attack occurred as the recruits lined up to enlist......
Extremists mobilize in Syria as peacemaking collapses
May 19th, 20160 VIENNA — Extremist militants in Syria including al-Qaeda are mobilizing again for all-out war against President Bashar al-Assad, taking advantage of the collapse of peace talks to eclipse nationalist rival insurgents that signed on to a faltering truce.Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, the Nusra Front, was excluded from a ceasefire put in...
Yemeni government suspends participation in peace talks
May 19th, 20160 KUWAIT — The Yemeni government on Tuesday suspended its participation in U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait and said it would only return if its opponents, the Houthis, committed to withdraw from cities they have seized since 2014 and hand over weapons.A wide gap still separates the Iran-allied Houthis and the......
