Tag Archives: al-qaeda

Two Yemeni men held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba since 2004 have been cleared for transfer to another country, a U.S. review board determined last week, bringing the prison back into the spotlight. Abd al-Salam al-Hilah and Sharqawi Abdu Ali al-Hajj were both cleared for transfer as …

Washington’s ability to collect intelligence and act on threats will diminish when U.S. troops leave Afghanistan, CIA Director William Burns said on Wednesday ahead of an expected announcement of a pullout by President Joe Biden. Burns’ testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee underscored a key risk inherent in Biden’s decision …

U.S. intelligence agencies have told the Biden administration that the Taliban could overrun most of Afghanistan within two to three years if U.S. troops leave before a power-sharing deal is reached between the warring sides, a news report said on Friday. Such a takeover potentially would allow al Qaeda to …

At least seven soldiers were killed when fighters of the Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab stormed a jail in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland early on Friday, police and the group said. Al-Shabab said it had freed at least 400 prisoners, many of them its members, in its assault on the …

Abu Arkan Ibrahim picked up a rifle and joined the Iraqi insurgency against U.S. troops when they occupied his hometown of Fallujah in 2003. He was badly burned in the fighting. Now, he fears the departure of the Americans he once battled. Over the past 17 years, the municipal employee …

The United States should extend the May 1 deadline for pulling all its troops from Afghanistan, and make force cuts contingent on progress in peace talks as well as by the Taliban in reducing violence and containing al Qaeda, a bipartisan report to Congress said on Wednesday. Washington should not …

International troops plan to stay in Afghanistan beyond the May deadline envisaged by the insurgent Taliban’s deal with the United States, four senior NATO officials said, a move that could escalate tensions with the Taliban demanding full withdrawal. “There will be no full withdrawal by allies by April-end,” one of …

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the release of an Islamist convicted of beheading U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl, a decision that has left his family in “complete shock”, lawyers said. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was the main suspect in the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter …

The United States on Wednesday blacklisted two Iranian foundations controlled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and their subsidies, saying the institutions enabled Iran’s elite to sustain a “corrupt” system of ownership over large parts of the economy. The designations announced by the U.S. Treasury Department target Execution of Imam …

Afghanistan’s insurgent Taliban on Tuesday called on the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden to stick to the February agreement to withdraw U.S. troops. The United States has been pulling out troops under the deal which envisages the withdrawal to be complete by May, subject to certain security guarantees, …

Despite over a year of negotiations, Sudan is facing a fresh obstacle to its removal from a U.S. terrorism list that has hindered its economy: a demand that it normalize relations with Israel, three sources familiar with the matter said. However, three Sudanese government officials told Reuters on Thursday that …

Iran’s central bank said on Saturday it was taking legal steps to counter a lawsuit filed in a U.S. court by creditors seeking to seize $1.7 billion of its assets held by Deutsche Boerse’s (DB1Gn.DE) Clearstream unit. The German stock exchange operator said earlier the creditors had filed the suit …

The FBI cracked the iPhone encryption of the Royal Saudi Air Force trainee who killed three American sailors in a December attack at a naval base in Florida, and found evidence linking him to al Qaeda, Attorney General William Barr said on Monday. The shooter, Second Lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, …

 By Ammo.com – With American military personnel now entering service who were not even alive on 9/11, this seems an appropriate time to reexamine the events of September 11, 2001 – the opaque motives for the attacks, the equally opaque motives for the counter-offensive by the United States and its …

By Seyed Hossein Mousavian*   There is copious academic research on why the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is mired in ethnic and sectarian violence. However, the specific question of what workable models can be presented that would not only be effective in ending conflicts but also bring …

The UAE Armed Forces have said that since April 2015 the UAE has trained and equipped about 60,000 Yemeni forces to fight Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in order to restore peace, and rebuild and stabilise Yemen. Addressing a press conference in Dubai alongside UAE Minister of State …

On the corner couch of a spacious room, a woman wearing a brightly patterned robe sits expectantly. The red hijab that covers her hair is reflected in a glass-fronted cabinet; inside, a framed photograph of her firstborn son takes pride of place between family heirlooms and valuables. A smiling, bearded …

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince sounded the alarm to the international community that if action is not taken soon to rein in Iran’s mischief in the region and world, that war is inevitable. He called on world leaders to help check Iran’s blatant violations by squeezing it economically and politically. “If …

Iran said pro-Damascus forces would press ahead with attacks on an insurgent enclave near the Syrian capital, as ground fighting raged on there in defiance of a U.N. resolution demanding a 30-day truce across the country. Turkey, too, said its military operations in another theater of war in the north …

Rescuers in Syria’s eastern Ghouta said the bombing would not let up long enough for them to count the bodies during one of the bloodiest air assaults of the seven-year war, while the U.N. Security Council called for a 30-day humanitarian truce. The vote at the United Nations came as …

Syria’s former al-Qaeda affiliate claimed responsibility Saturday for the downing of a Russian warplane in northern Syria, apparently using a surface-to-air missile to target the aircraft. The pilot was killed after he ejected and exchanged gunfire with militants on the ground, the Russian Defense Ministry and a monitoring group said. …

A Russian Sukhoi-25 fighter jet has been shot down in a rebel-held area in Syria’s north-western province of Idlib. The Russian defence ministry said the pilot had ejected but was killed in a ground fight. Video posted on social media appeared to show the plane being hit, while other video …

A drone strike early Saturday killed seven suspected Al Qaida militants in southern Yemen, a security official said. The US military is the only force known to operate armed drones over Yemen. The official said the strike happened after midnight and targeted a car in Shabwa province. “All seven passengers, …

At least 40 people have reportedly been killed in an explosion and a series of air strikes across the rebel-held north Syrian province of Idlib. The blast, on Sunday night outside the headquarters of the Islamist rebel faction Ajnad al-Qawqaz in the city of Idlib, left 25 people dead. The …

Isis has been defeated in Iraq and Syria. The caliphate declared in 2014, which was once the size of Great Britain, is no more. Its de facto capitals, Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, were captured after long and bloody sieges in the second half of 2017. But Isis was always …

The al-Qaida terror organization has released a new audio message from its elusive leader in which he slams the Syrian Jihadi group Liberation of the Levant Organization, or more commonly known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), for going after senior jihadists loyal to al-Qaida in Syria. In the 35-minute undated …

A Saudi army soldier convicted of treason has been sentenced to 23 years in jail. Investigations revealed that the man, who has not been named, embraced the radical ideology of Al Qaida, glorified Osama Bin Laden and supported Daesh. The convict also attended conferences by the Islamic Nation party in …

Yemeni forces, trained and armed by the UAE, have booted Al Qaida militants out of a town in the southern province of Shabwa, local military officers said. A large convoy of military vehicles carrying at least two hundreds soldiers, locally known Shabwani Elite Forces, stormed the town of Houta, forcing …

Aden’s Security Department yesterday inaugurated ‘Section 1’ and correctional centre at the Mansoura Central Prison. Many human rights and civil society organisations attended the event. Brigadier General Shalal Shaya, Aden’s Security Director thanked the UAE for its support, which was involved in the rebuilding and maintenance of the prison. Aden …

In a new video released by the al Qaeda-linked Uighur jihadist group Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), a large convoy of its fighters and equipment is shown parading somewhere in northwestern Syria. The caravan is shown in several scenes in the TIP’s newly released “Truth About Chinese Media 3,” a video …

The Israeli military, which has been launching airstrikes against Syria, could be preparing to cross into its territory now. It says it’s ready to act to protect the Druze village of Hader, located on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, after a car bomb killed nine people and injured …

Security forces in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, have ended a 15-hour siege of a hotel stormed by armed militants. The gunmen entered the building after two bombs were detonated in the area. At least 20 people were killed, and it is feared more bodies will be found as security forces …

Saudi Arabia is to monitor interpretations of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) teachings to prevent them being used to justify violence or terrorism, the Culture and Information Ministry has said. In a decree, King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud ordered the establishment of an authority to scrutinise uses of the hadith …

Two car bombs in separate parts of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu killed at least 22 people on Saturday and injured several others, police said. The first explosion – in the city’s K5 Junction area which is lined with government offices, hotels, and restaurants – destroyed several buildings and set dozens of …

Syrian government forces pushed into one of the last remaining urban strongholds of the Islamic State group in the country’s east on Friday, following days of fierce fighting and intense Russian airstrikes that involved cruise missiles from the Mediterranean, activists and officials said. The push into the town of Mayadeen …

The 2017 Gulf Crisis between Qatar and its GCC neighbors has developed into a clash of narratives that concerns not only the various regional interests in the Middle East, but also vital U.S. national interests. The Quartet (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt) has justified its embargo against Qatar due to its alleged political, ideological and financial support to non-state terror …

Three members of the US Special Operations Forces were killed and two others were wounded in southwest Niger near the Mali-Niger border when a joint US-Nigerien patrol was attacked Wednesday, two administration officials told CNN. The administration officials added that the two wounded US troops had been evacuated to the …

A service member remains missing after a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed off the coast of Yemen during what officials described as a training exercise. U.S. forces rescued five other troops who also went down in the crash and are still searching for the sixth service member, according to U.S. …

THE LEVANT EXCLUSIVE — By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD — If you want to understand how things are done in the Arab world, the inner working of Arab politics, you have to keep your ear close to the ground. You can access to little titbits of information, raw data, that you’d …

A senior Saudi official on Thursday denied as “baseless” a New York Times report that Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has been confined to his palace and barred from traveling abroad after being replaced by the king’s son as next in line to the throne. The official told Reuters that Mohammed …

On June 20, the US central command announced the death of the Islamic State ideologue Turki Mubarak Binali which the extremist group’s official networks also confirmed. Binali’s death is a significant victory in the ideological war against IS. Who is Turki Mubarak Binali? The Islamic State is reeling under its …

A car bomb targeting a police station killed at least seven people in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu on Thursday, police said, and al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab said it was behind the attack, the second this week. A Reuters witness saw bodies lying on the ground at the Waberi police station, near …

The Levant News Exclusive – By Sarah Safa* — We live in a world of horror and violence where blood shedding, torture and genocide became not only normal but an important feature of what is called today “Hard Power”. Governments, if democracy is truly practiced when people should be asked …

By Michael Clarke and Raffaello Pantucci for The National Interest — On August 14, Guan Youfei, a rear admiral in China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy, visited the Syrian capital of Damascus, escorted around the city under heavy guard. Guan’s visit reportedly included meetings with senior military officials and Russian officers, …