Tag Archives: DAASH

THE LEVANT NEWS – by Graham E. Fuller — Turkish policies towards the Middle East have been in wild oscillation over the past many weeks, even months. Ankara has now finally and begrudgingly initiated military action against ISIS in cooperation with the US. But it has also initiated air attacks …

THE LEVANT EXCUSIVE- US President Barack Obama on Sunday rejected any alliance with Bashar Al Assad against Daash – also known as the Islamic State – arguing that the Syrian ruler was illegitimate and that any such pact would backfire. “Assad has ruthlessly murdered hundreds of thousands of his citizens. …

THE LEVANT EXCLUSIVE – By Julia Lugovska – US-led strikes have targeted a gathering of Islamic State leaders in Iraqi town near the Syrian border late on Friday, 8 November. This meeting possibly included ISIS top commander Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, reported one of the local TV channels on Saturday and …

THE LEVANT EXCLUSIVE – By Catherine Shakdam  – As if Iraq needed to be reminded of the horror which has now hijacked its lands and laid siege to its people, Iraqis have now to bare the threat of IEDs – improvised explosive device – According to a new report published …

THE LEVANT – Ethnic Kurds are helping members of the Islamic State group in the battle for the key Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, sharing their knowledge of the local terrain and language with the extremists, according to Iraqi and Kurdish officials. It is not clear how many Kurds are …

THE LEVANT – Islamic State militants tortured and abused Kurdish children captured earlier this year near the northern Syrian town of Kobani, beating them with hoses and electric cables, an international rights group said Tuesday. Human Rights Watch based its conclusions on interviews with several children who were among more …

THE LEVANT – Islamic State group militants shot and killed 36 Sunni tribesmen, women and children in public Monday, an Iraqi official and a tribal leader said, pushing the total number of members slain by the extremists in recent days to more than 200. Sheik Naim al-Gaoud, a senior figure …

THE LEVANT – By Geoffrey Cook – This Op-Ed is an extension of a long article that was published a few weeks ago on these pages.  It was an analysis of the recent the criminal incident against Gaza.  I rewrote the article considerably for a publication in the Middle East.  The …

THE LEVANT EXCLUSIVE – Washington (As your journalist continues narrating this segment of the day-long questioning of the “Radicalization and the Politics of Alienation” in the current Middle East from here in the American Capital, the United States — along with its Arab allies — finally strike the pitiless “Caliphate” …