Yago Riedijk was born and raised in well-to-do Dutch suburbia but abandoned it all in his early twenties for so-called Islamic State (IS). Old pictures show a smiling teenager perched behind a child on a motorbike. A smattering of hairs on his chin suggests he is cultivating a beard. He left the Netherlands in 2014. If he returns, he faces… Read more »
Iran’s president has warned its neighbours not to let “terrorists abuse their territory” after a suicide car bombing killed 27 Revolutionary Guards. Hassan Rouhani blamed the United States and Israel for Wednesday’s attack in the south-eastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, near the Pakistan border. But he said Iran reserved the right to take action if other countries in the region failed… Read more »
The RAF killed or injured 4,315 enemy fighters in Iraq and Syria between September 2014 and January this year, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.Yet the MoD says only one civilian was killed in the airstrikes, according to figures released to the charity Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).Of those harmed, 4,013, or 93%, were killed, and 302, or 7%,… Read more »
This week I found an article about Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the corruption charges he currently faces. Netanyahu is set to be indicted on three separate bribery charges, with a hearing date currently pending. The charges make Netanyahu’s goal of a fifth term come the April elections seem very unlikely, probably having lost the trust of Israel’s people… Read more »
During this round of region reports I read an article about the war crime charges facing security forces in Israel. The security forces are believed to be responsible for the deaths of 189 people in 2018 and causing upwards of 6,000 to be wounded. Those killed and wounded were Palestinian protests who “did not pose an imminent threat of death… Read more »
For this round of region reports I read about Egyptian President, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and how he could stay in power until 2034. Despite his presidential term due to close in 2022, the Egyptian government plans to pass a new bill that would allow the president to serve an extra 12 years. WIth the extended term, the president would also… Read more »
Jerusalem (CNN)Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be indicted on bribery and breach of trust charges arising from three separate corruption investigations, pending a hearing, Israel’s attorney general announced Thursday evening.The announcement, so close to April’s general election, marks a dramatic moment in Israeli politics and is a major blow to Netanyahu as he seeks a fifth term in office.He… Read more »
Eastern Syria (CNN)The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces has started a ground operation to clear the last ISIS enclave in Syria, a spokesman for the group told CNN Friday.SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said thousands of civilians have been evacuated and kidnapped fighters have been freed in Baghouz, in eastern Syria,”Only the terrorists remain in Baghouz.” Bali said in a tweet.At its… Read more »
Eastern Syria (CNN)She was covered from head to toe in black. Identifying herself only as Um Bassam, the mother of Bassam, she told me she was 25 years old, the mother of four children, a widow, and from the city of Aleppo. All around her were clusters of other women with similar stories, also clad in black, faces concealed, with their… Read more »
Tens of thousands of Algerians have been protesting against 81-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s decision to run for a fifth term on 18 April. It is a rare show of dissent in the North African country, where more than 30% of people aged under 30 are unemployed. Are the demonstrations a surprise? Yes, they are the biggest protests against President Bouteflika… Read more »