In an unfortunate turn of events in the Middle East and North Africa, there has been a recent trend of failed states emerging, with Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen all having essentially lost control due to a variety of internal and external factors between them. One that has the potential to collapse and is largely ignored, however, is Saudi Arabia…. Read more »
(Reuters) 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, long a mainstay of Islamic State’s propaganda, underscores the group’s declining fortunes this year as it suffered battlefield defeats in Syria… Read more »
(Reuters) An elite unit of the Iraqi army paused its week-long advance on Mosul as it approached the city’s eastern edge on Tuesday, waiting for other U.S.-backed forces to close in on Islamic State’s last major urban stronghold in Iraq. On the ninth day of the offensive on Mosul, government forces and allied Kurdish Peshmerga fighters are still fighting their… Read more »
(Haaretz) ISIS fighters have reportedly massacred scores of people around its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul in the past week, UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said on Tuesday, citing preliminary information from sources in the area. On Sunday, ISIS reportedly killed 50 former police officers being held in a building outside Mosul, and last Thursday Iraqi security forces discovered the… Read more »
(NPR) A U.S. official says the Navy has destroyed three radar locations in Yemen after missiles were fired at a U.S. destroyer off the Yemeni coast. The official says: “Earlier this evening (9 p.m. EDT / 4 a.m. local time in Yemen), the destroyer USS Nitze launched Tomahawk cruise missiles targeting three coastal radar sites in in Yemen along the… Read more »
The situation has taken a disappointing turn of events recently, in Syria. The U.S. and Russia recently ended their cooperation agreement over ending the Syrian conflict, and have shut down diplomatic relations with each other. The United States blamed Russia’s aggressive actions towards U.S.-backed rebel groups, and its reckless bombing campaign towards Aleppo in support of the Syrian government, which was found… Read more »
(Reuters) The Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday it had deployed an S-300 missile system to its Tartus naval base in Syria. “The missile battery is intended to ensure the safety of the naval base … It is unclear why the deployment of the S-300 caused such alarm among our Western partners,” the ministry said in a statement. U.S. media… Read more »
(Fox News) ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is at death’s door after being poisoned by a mystery assassin in Iraq, it has been reported. Three other senior jihadis were also afflicted by the toxin in Al-Ba’aj, southwest of Mosul – Islamic State’s biggest city in Iraq. The four have reportedly been rushed for treatment at a secret location.
(New York Times) Shimon Peres, one of the last surviving pillars of Israel’s founding generation, who did more than anyone to build up his country’s formidable military might, then worked as hard to establish a lasting peace with Israel’s Arab neighbors, died on Wednesday in a Tel Aviv area hospital. He was 93. His death was announced by his son… Read more »
(PressTV) Yemeni forces have targeted and destroyed an Emirati military vessel in a rocket attack near the Red Sea port city of Mokha, al-Masirah TV says. A military source said Ansarullah fighters and allied army forces launched rockets at an HSV-2 Swift hybrid catamaran operated by the Emirati navy off the shores of the Red Sea port city of Mokha early on Saturday,… Read more »