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Iran
Iran Cools Nuclear Work as Vote Looms
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Iran
U.S. struggling to contain nuclear threats from North Korea, Iran
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Iraq
Iraqi intelligence says Syrian and Iraqi Islamic extremist groups ramping up cooperation
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Iran
Iran sanctions spur boom for Pakistani diesel smugglers
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MUJAO leader says Belmokhtar is alive
Hamad el Khairy, the head of the MUJAO’s sharia committee, said reports of Belmokhtar’s death are “merely unfounded lies” and have “no basis of truth.”
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Pakistan
The Taliban killed three policemen and five electrical workers in an attack on a power substation in Peshawar; four workers are missing. The military killed five Taliban fighters in airstrikes in North Waziristan.
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Afghanistan
President Karzai said Taliban emir Mullah Omar can run for president. The Taliban killed three policemen in Paktia and another in Herat.
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Iraq
The government executed four al Qaeda operatives, including Manaf al Rawi, the former emir for Baghdad. Al Qaeda in Iraq executed three oil workers and captured two more at a Korea Gas Company camp in Al Qaim in Anbar province.
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Kurdistan Workers’ Party
Turkey-PKK Peace Deal Gains Momentum With Regional Implications
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Syria
The regime is fortifying its headquarters in Damascus. Iraqi intelligence says al Qaeda in Iraq and the Al Nusrah Front are cooperating increasingly in Syria and that the two al Qaeda affiliates are operating from bases along the border between Iraq and Syria. March 2013 was the deadliest month yet in the conflict, with 6,005 deaths. Some 400,000 Syrians have fled to Lebanon since the war started.
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Israel
Defense Minister Ya’alon said Israel is prepared to act and has acted against the transfer of strategic weapons to Hezbollah from Syria. After an IDF jeep was struck by shots from Syria, the IDF struck the source. A mortar shell from Syria also landed in Israel. A military court convicted a Palestinian of the murder of two Israeli civilians in 2011.
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Palestinian Territories
Hamas confirmed the reelection of Khaled Meshal as the head of the group’s Politburo. Hamas accused the Palestinian Authority of arresting 83 of its members in March. Prime Minister Fayyad remains in the hospital due to an inflamed pancreas.
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Egypt
The Muslim Brotherhood accused the US of “blatant interference” in Egyptian internal affairs. Authorities arrested 15 suspected Islamist militants in the Sinai, and seized a weapons cache in the Sinai that included antiaircraft missiles.
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Somalia
The African Union killed a senior Shabaab commander who led forces in the Bay and Bakool region. African Union forces are replacing Ethiopian troops who have withdrawn from the Bay area.
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Egypt
Saudi Religious Police Work to Improve Image
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Hamas
Hamas orders schools in Gaza to be segregated by gender
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Greece
First prayer in Thessaloniki mosque after 90 years
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Taliban attack on power grid station in Peshawar kills 8
The attack plunged areas of the provincial capital into darkness. Four electrical workers are missing and thought to have been kidnapped by the Taliban.
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Libya
Libyans try to rebuild community after holy Sufi site destroyed
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Lebanon
State-run media reported that Salafist cleric Sheikh Salem al-Rafehi escaped an assassination attempt as he was leaving al-Taqwa Mosque in Tripoli; an MP is urging his supporters not to be “dragged into strife” by the incident. Gunmen in Wadi Khaled kidnapped eight Syrian Alawites and are holding them for the release of Mohammed Hussein al-Ahmad, a Lebanese Sunni said to be held by Syrian forces.
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Al Nusrah Front
Syrian Newspapers Emerge to Fill Out War Reporting
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Mali
The European Union’s Military Training Mission in Mali has begun training the country’s estimated 6,000 soldiers; about 3,000 will be trained this year and some 670 should be combat-ready this summer. The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) issued a report on its operations in Mali since January, claiming nine operations, mostly in Gao, involving foreign as well as Malian fighters.
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Netherlands
Four Dutch suspects, two men aged 21 and 35 and two women aged 33 and 52, faced charges of “attempting to transfer, possession or use of a toxic substance, possibly sarin.” The only suspect named is “Islam A.,” a Dutch-Turkish citizen. Officials said the arrests were not terrorism-related and local media speculated the incident involved a lovers’ tiff, but prosecutors indicated the suspects had sarin in their possession.
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Canada
The two Canadian jihadists killed during the January siege of the In Amenas oil facility in Algeria have been identified; the two men, Xristos Katsiroubas and Ali Medlej, had become friends in London, Ont., and were known to Canadian intelligence as early as 2007. Two of their associates are also believed to have gone overseas possibly for jihad, but their whereabouts are unknown.
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United Nations
The UN General Assembly approved the first global arms treaty, designed to prevent any export of conventional arms that would violate arms embargoes; promote acts of genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes; or could be used in attacks against civilians, schools, and hospitals. The treaty’s effectiveness will depend on its ratification and implementation.
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Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka monks arrested over anti-Muslim attack
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Malaysia
Is political Islam in Indonesia in decline?
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Indonesia
Acehnese public seek approval of separatist flag
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Egypt
US accuses Egypt of stifling freedom of expression
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Pakistan
Taliban in Karachi: the real story
