Tag Archives: ISIS

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other senior members of Congress held talks in Jordan on Saturday with King Abdullah II and other top Jordanian officials. Pelosi said in a statement the visit was at “a critical time for the security and stability of the region… With the deepening crisis …

At least three people were killed and four wounded when three mortar bombs hit the northern Iraqi town of Shirqat on Tuesday, police officials and hospital sources said. Police officials in the area said Islamic State militants were involved in the attack and the mortars were fired from a nearby …

U.S. forces have quietly sent at least 30 suspected foreign Islamic State fighters captured in Syria last year and in late 2017 to stand trial in Iraq, interviews with the men, Iraqi sources and court documents show. FILE PHOTO: Islamic state fighters and their families walk as they surrender in …

Using social media to create awareness of social issues was brought to focus on the second day of the ‘Investing in the Future’ (IIFMENA 2018) conference, in Sharjah. The first panel discussion titled ‘Youth, Social Media and Creating Positive Change,’ which was organised in partnership with UNHCR, focused on the …

A Japanese freelance journalist held hostage by militants in northern Syria for three years has been freed and has confirmed he is safe and well. In a video sent from the Turkish border, Jumpei Yasuda spoke in English and gave his name, confirming he had been held hostage for 40 …

As U.S. military bases go, Um Jurius isn’t much to look at: a collection of armored vehicles, makeshift wooden benches covered with camouflage netting and groups of tents pitched in the sand. The fire base has sprung up in the past month in the northern Iraqi desert, just over a …

After more than three years of combat operations, Iraq announced Saturday that the fight against the Islamic State group is over after the country’s security forces drove the extremists from all of the territory they once held. Iraqi and American officials warned, however, that key challenges remain despite the military victory. …

U.S.-backed forces said on Saturday they had seized a major natural gas field in Syria’s Deir al-Zor province from Islamic State militants in rapid advances since the start of an operation earlier this month to capture areas east of the Euphrates river. Commander Ahmed Abu Khawla told Reuters that the …

By Graham E. Fuller Every once in a while President Trump manages to get something right. This time it is the decision to call off the broad US covert assistance to the Syrian opposition forces fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Asad. Asad has been notoriously brutal in putting down the …

The Syrian government army and self-defense units have driven Islamic State (a terrorist group outlawed in Russia) militants from gas fields in al-Hala and Zamla south of Raqqa (520 kilometers away from Damascus), Suriya television said on Sunday citing a spokesman for the Syrian army command. According to Suriya, after …

The head of Islamic State in Afghanistan, Abu Sayed, was killed in a strike on the group’s headquarters in Kunar province earlier this week, the Pentagon said on Friday. Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement that other members of the Islamic State group were also killed in the …

An Army sergeant has been arrested in Hawaii and charged with seeking to provide classified military documents and training to ISIS, according to court records unsealed Monday. Sgt. Ikaika Erik Kang, 34, an air traffic control operator with the 25th Infantry Division at U.S. Army Pacific Command, was taken into …

Exclusive for THE LEVANT NEWS – By General(ret) Elias Farhat* —     Executive summary i-There is much talk about terrorism, but little action. Some of the measures taken have not been sufficient , while others either raise suspicions as to their real aims or are clearly supportive of terrorist …

THE LEVANT NEWS — U.S.-backed forces fighting Islamic State in Syria launched a new phase of their offensive on Thursday, a statement said, but they have not yet begun to attack the militant group’s stronghold of Raqqa city in an apparent delay in the operation. The multi-phased campaign by the …

THE LEVANT NEWS — The Syrian army said an air strike late on Wednesday by the U.S.-led coalition hit poison gas supplies belonging to Islamic State, releasing a toxic substance that killed “hundreds”, but the coalition denied carrying out raids in the area. A statement by the army, flashed on …

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi | AMMAN Islamic State militants launched two suicide attacks on U.S.-backed Syrian rebels near the border with Iraq, leaving at least 12 dead in the fighting and many wounded, rebel sources said on Sunday. They said eight Islamic State fighters and four of their own men died. …

By Lesley Wroughton and Yeganeh Torbati | WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Moscow this week will be an early test of whether the Trump administration can use any momentum generated by striking a Syrian air base to craft and execute a strategy to end the Syrian …

According to an Israeli intelligence report, 3,000 members of the Uyghur Muslim minority joined al-Qaeda and ISIS in the war in Syria. China fears their return, which led them to cozy up to Assad to ensure their elimination. A report by the Israeli Foreign Ministry found that thousands of Chinese …

By Patrick Markey for Reuters | MOSUL, IRAQ — Heavy rain slowed Iraqi government forces battling Islamic State on Thursday around Mosul’s Old City, where militants holed up in narrow alleyways and homes resisted with sniper fire, suicide attacks and car bombs. Troops from the federal police and elite Rapid …

The Levant News — Up to 1,000 additional US troops could deploy to northern Syria under provisional plans drawn up by the Pentagon, a US defense official said on Wednesday. The plans, which still need to be approved by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, would mark a …

The Levant News – The Syrian army and its allies have captured the main water pumping station that supplies Aleppo in a sweeping advance against Islamic State that has brought them to the bank of the Euphrates, a group that monitors the conflict said on Tuesday. The Syrian Observatory for …

By Michael Martina and Ben Blanchard for Reuters| BEIJING – Vowing to plant their flag in China and that blood will “flow in rivers”, a video released this week purportedly by the Islamic State group shows ethnic Uighur fighters training in Iraq, underscoring what Beijing sees as a serious threat. …

The Levant News — Syria’s army and allied forces advanced inside Palmyra on Thursday after ISIS pulled most of its forces back from positions inside the ancient desert city, a war monitor reported. The Syrian army, backed by Russia’s air force and Shi’ite militias supported by Iran, is attempting to …

The ISIS group in Syria attacked the Syrian army near the city of Palmyra on Thursday, killing dozens of soldiers and advancing to within four kilometers (2.5 miles) of the city, a war monitor said. The Syrian army, backed by Russian jets, recaptured Palmyra, the site of a Roman-era city …

By Ulf Laessing and Maher Chmaytelli for Reuters | MOSUL/BAGHDAD, IRAQ Fighting between Iraqi troops and Islamic State militants has cut water supplies across a large part of Mosul, where poorer families are already struggling to feed themselves, and a local official said the increasingly encircled city was in crisis. …

THE LEVANT NEWS EXCLUSIVE – By Niazy G. Atay* – Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian crisis expanded to military action with the Operation Euphrates Shield (OES), initiated on 24 August. Hotly-debated issue of Turkey’s intervention to Syria at international and domestic levels came into existence following the reconciliation with Russia …

By John Davison for Reuters | BASHIQA, IRAQ | For the first time since Islamic State militants swept into Bashiqa two years ago forcing him to flee, 61-year-old Barakat has finally found work – on Sunday he will be coming back to help clear debris from the destruction wrought upon …

The Levant News – Syrian President Bashar al Assad said on Tuesday Damascus would have to “wait and see” if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump would change Washington’s policy on Syria but that he was ready to cooperate with him in fighting militants. In his first comments on Trump’s election victory, …

The Levant News – An air strike targeting Islamist militants has killed at least seven people near the southwestern Libyan city of Sabha, a local official and media reports said on Tuesday. Gunmen later seized the remains of the suspected militants from a morgue, said the official, who did not …

MOSUL, Iraq: Elite Iraqi troops battled ISIS in the streets of Mosul Friday as U.S.-backed forces in Syria pressed an advance on extremist bastion Raqqa after a sandstorm eased. The high winds in the desert which separates the Syrian Kurdish-Arab militia alliance from the extremists’ stronghold in the Euphrates Valley …

The Levant News — Libyan forces in the final stages of a six-month campaign to recapture Sirte from ISIS said they freed 14 civilians on Sunday from a small residential area where some militants are holding out. The forces, composed of fighters mainly from Misrata, say they are exercising caution …

By Rodi Said | AIN ISSA, SYRIA — A U.S.-backed alliance of Syrian armed groups has launched an operation to retake the northern city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State in Syria, the group said on Sunday. The new offensive ratchets up pressure on Islamic State at a …

By Babak Dehghanpisheh for Reuters | NEAR HAMMAM AL-ALIL, IRAQ — Iraqi troops advancing towards Mosul battled on Saturday for the last town left between them and the Islamic State stronghold to the north, which is already under assault from special forces fighting inside the city’s eastern districts. Saturday’s attack on Hammam …

By Babak Dehghanpisheh and Michael Georgy  for REUTERS| ZARQA/SHURA, IRAQ —After ISIS conquered villages in northern Iraq, it spelled out in minute detail the rules of its self-proclaimed caliphate, from beard length to alms to guidelines for taking women as sex slaves. Islamic State documents and posters, obtained in villages …

The Levant News — Russia on Wednesday told anti-government rebels holed up in Syria’s Aleppo to leave by Friday evening, signaling it would extend a moratorium on air strikes against targets inside the city. The Russian Defence Ministry, which is helping forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad try to retake …

BY GEORGE FRIEDMAN AND JACOB L. SHAPIRO for Mauldin Economics — The Islamic State captured Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, from the Iraqi government after a seven-day battle in June 2014. The US-backed Iraqi assault to recapture Mosul began with great fanfare on Oct. 18. This piece will lay out the …

By Stephen Kalin and Maher Chmaytelli | EAST OF MOSUL/BAGHDAD, IRAQ — An elite Iraqi army unit advanced towards the built-up area of the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul on Monday after two weeks of fighting to clear surrounding areas of the insurgents. Military commanders said that the U.S.-backed offensive …

By Stephen Kalin and Ahmed Rasheed for REUTERS | Iraqi Shi’ite militias launched an offensive toward the west of Mosul on Saturday, an operation that will tighten the noose around Islamic State’s Iraq stronghold but has alarmed Turkey and could inflame tensions in the mainly Sunni area. The battle for …

The Levant News — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday it was the duty of the U.S.-led coalition to prevent Islamic State militants from escaping into nearby Syria from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The coalition is providing air and ground support to Iraqi government and Kurdish …

By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali for REUTERS| WASHINGTON — The United States expects Islamic State to use crude chemical weapons as it tries to repel an Iraqi-led offensive on the city of Mosul, U.S. officials say, although adding that the group’s technical ability to develop such weapons is highly …

By Ahmed Rasheed and Michael Georgy | BAGHDAD/ERBIL — Residents of Mosul said Islamic State was using civilians as human shields as Iraqi and Kurdish forces captured outlying villages in their advance on the jihadists’ stronghold. The leader of Islamic State and one of its main explosives experts were reported …

By Angus McDowall and Tom Perry for Reuters | BEIRUT — Pro-Turkey’s Syrian rebels said they captured the village of Dabiq from Islamic State on Sunday, forcing the jihadist group from a stronghold where it had promised to fight a final, apocalyptic battle with the West. Its defeat at Dabiq, …

By Babak Dehghanpisheh and Maher Chmaytelli for Reuters | BAGHDAD — Iraqi government forces, with air and ground support from the U.S.-led coalition, launched an offensive on Monday to drive Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, the militants’ last major stronghold in the country. Helicopters released flares overhead …

By Ahmed Rasheed FOR REUTERS | BAGHDAD – ISIS has crushed a rebellion plot in Mosul, led by one of the group’s commanders who aimed to switch sides and help deliver the caliphate’s Iraqi capital to government forces, residents and Iraqi security officials said. Islamic State (IS) executed 58 people …