Tag Archives: ISIS

Pope Francis on Sunday met the father of Alan Kurdi, the boy whose body washed up on a Turkish beach six years ago became an image of the suffering of Syrians trying to escape war. The pontiff, winding up a historic trip to Iraq, met Abdullah Kurdi at the end …

Pope Francis headed to Iraq on Friday for his most risky foreign trip since his election in 2012, and said he felt duty-bound to make the “emblematic” visit because the country had suffered so much for so long. An Alitalia plane carrying him, his entourage, a security detail, and about …

The diplomatic crisis between Ankara and Tehran has escalated following the latest statement from Iran’s Ambassador to Baghdad Iraj Masjedi, who reiterated an opposition to Turkish military intervention in Iraq, a new move that highlights a broader rivalry between the two countries in the region. “Turkish forces should not pose …

Syria said U.S. air strikes against Iranian-backed militias in the east of the country on Friday were a cowardly act and urged President Joe Biden not to follow “the law of the jungle”. An Iraqi militia official close to Iran said the strikes killed one fighter and wounded four. U.S. …

Several rockets hit the Iraqi military air base of Balad north of Baghdad on Saturday, injuring one Iraqi contractor, Iraqi security officials said on Saturday. No group immediately claimed the attack. It was the second salvo of rockets to hit a base hosting U.S. forces or contractors in less than …

Facebook Inc. said on Wednesday it would temporarily reduce political content appearing on New Feeds for some users in Canada, Brazil and Indonesia this week and in the United States within the coming weeks. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in January that he wanted to “turn down the temperature” …

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed common challenges and maintaining security and stability in the region. In a phone conversation, Prince Faisal congratulated Blinken on his new position as the pair discussed historic ties between their nations as well as …

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 U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for thousands of foreign fighters and mercenaries to immediately leave Libya, with Guterres demanding that they “leave the Libyans alone.” Libya has been divided since 2014 between the internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) in the capital Tripoli, …

A car bomb detonated near a Russian military base in northeastern Syria on Friday in the first such militant attack in the area against the ally of Damascus, a war monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported several wounded in the attack after midnight in the …

A Syrian doctor living in Germany who was arrested on suspicion of having committed crimes against humanity in Syria faces more charges including one case of murder, German prosecutors said Monday. The suspect, identified as Alaa M., was arrested on June 19. He was first charged with two instances of …

A former ISIS prisoner and Nobel prize winner has called on world leaders to condemn the language used by the founder of Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) who referred to “devil worshippers” when talking about the Yazidi faith. Dr Hany El Banna, who is also chairman of the UK’s Muslim Charities …

Libya’s warring factions signed a permanent ceasefire agreement on Friday, but any lasting end to years of chaos and bloodshed will require wider agreement among myriad armed groups and the outside powers that support them. Acting U.N. Libya envoy Stephanie Williams said the ceasefire would start immediately and all foreign …

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday said the United States will not change policy toward Syria to obtain the release of U.S. journalist Austin Tice and other detained Americans. “Our ask is that the Syrians release Mr. Tice, tell us what they know. They have chosen not to …

Saad Hussein, a 42-year-old Yazidi Iraqi, is one of the last in the northern region of Nineveh producing the anise-flavoured spirit, arak, from local dates. Forced to flee his home town of Bashiqa, close to Mosul, when it fell to Islamic State in 2014, he returned after the defeat and …

Eighteen-year old Fatima Sultani gazes at the peak of a mountain near Afghanistan’s capital Kabul after completing a morning climbing session, considering her next challenge. She and her team of nine young Afghan mountaineers, including three women, are hoping to climb Afghanistan’s Mir Samir mountain and after that travel to …

Washington has made preparations to withdraw diplomats from Iraq after warning Baghdad it could shut its embassy, two Iraqi officials and two Western diplomats said, a step Iraqis fear could turn their country into a battle zone. Any move by the United States to scale down its diplomatic presence in …

The US has ramped up its military presence in Syria after a number of skirmishes with Russian forces intensified tensions in the country. US officials said six Bradley Fighting Vehicles and about 100 troops were part of the deployment to north-east Syria. Incidents between US and Russian forces that patrol …

A Saudi teen who picked up ice skating three years ago at a friend’s birthday party is now dreaming of taking part in the Olympic Games. “It all started at my friend’s birthday party three years ago where we ice skated and I fell in love with the sport. I …

Washington has identified a critical financial facilitator for Daesh based in Turkey in a move to unsettle the remaining global financial networks of the terrorist group. In a statement on Tuesday, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said that the Daesh facilitator, Adnan Muhammad …

Human Rights Watch on Monday called for an investigation into a spectacular gorge in northern Syria that has been used as a dumping site for dead bodies over several years. The 50-metre-deep hole in a desert area of Raqa province was once controlled by the Islamic State group, when it …

Egypt’s military said on Sunday that 15 of its men had died or been wounded in operations in the Sinai Peninsula recently, and that 126 suspected militants had been killed. The military publishes updates on its operations in Sinai every few months, without giving a specific time frame. The statement …

As Europe and the United States struggle to contain the coronavirus pandemic, experts warn that disaster looms in war-torn Syria, where hospitals are unable to meet existing needs and hygiene conditions are dire. The outbreak has infected more than 1.8 million people and killed more than 112,000 around the world …

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 …