Protesters and police clashed in Istanbul after police demanded the removal of a banner that accused Prime Minister Erdogan of supporting al Qaeda in the Kurdish region of Rojava in Syria. A security analyst said fighters have been entering Syria illegally through southern Turkish towns for the past three years.
Capital Journal: Allies Fear a US Pullback in Mideast
Afghan elders want President Karzai to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement; Karzai insisted it wouldn’t be signed until after elections in April 2014. Police killed five Taliban fighters. Two people were killed in a bombing in Nangarhar. A border policemen killed two of his colleagues in Kandahar.
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham captured a Free Syrian Army supplies distribution warehouse in Atmeh, seized four tent-laden trucks, and hauled the warehouse’s three FSA officers and a Suqour al Sham commander into sharia court in Dana on the Turkish border. Fighting raged in East Ghouta over the weekend, where at least […]
America forgetting lessons of Iraq, Afghanistan, general says
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham killed five people, including a local TV cameraman, in bombings and attacks in Baghdad and Mosul. The government said it would assist the tribes in Ninewa in their fight against al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters killed three policemen during an attack on a checkpoint in Seyoun. President Hadi said al Qaeda has been degraded militarily over the past year.
Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, denounced the deal on Iran’s nuclear program. Israeli officials had learned through intelligence, prior to being briefed by the Obama administration, that the US was conducting secret negotiations with Iran. Defense Minister Ya’alon finalized a deal with his US counterpart that will provide Israel with six V-22 Osprey aircraft.
Security forces closed off main squares in Cairo and Giza to prevent the Muslim Brotherhood from carrying out large-scale protests. The army denied that gunmen had attacked the headquarters of the Arish Military Prosecution. A bill that places some restrictions on the ability of citizens to assemble and protest was signed into law by President […]
Syria Seen as Most Dire Refugee Crisis in a Generation
The fine print of the Iran nuclear agreement
Mujadadi Claims He Will Leave Afghanistan if BSA Not Signed
Terror-linked group met in UK parliament
Mali votes in parliamentary elections amid high security
Syria conflict: Children ‘targeted by snipers’
Turnout was low in parliamentary elections today. Demonstrators protested in Kidal against the elections, and gunmen stole ballot boxes and election materials in Goundam and Lere, near Timbuktu. Tuareg separatists smashed car windows in Gao, and destroyed ballot boxes in Tataye. Sixteen people were killed in clashes between ethnic Peul and separatist Tuareg near the […]
Iran nuclear deal fuels anger, jitters in Mideast
The PET intelligence agency estimated that about 80 Danes have gone to Syria to fight since 2012; it said at least seven have been killed in Syria and some 40 have returned. The agency warned that most of the recruits come from “Islamist” environments, and that an increasing number of them have ties to criminal […]
The PST intelligence agency said at least 30 to 40 people have left Norway to fight in Syria, including two teenaged girls from a Somali-Norwegian family. Norway is bolstering security at its onshore gas facilities in the wake of this year’s deadly In Amenas attack and the Utoya massacre in 2011.
According to Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim, some of those arrested have ties to al Qaeda-linked groups as well as Gaza-based terror groups.
Secret US-Iran talks set stage for nuke deal
Palestinians sit tight, count down to end of talks
NSA Report Outlined Goals for More Power
Deal Reached With Iran Halts Its Nuclear Program
Iranian officials and the EU announced that a deal has been reached between Iran and the six world powers on the Iranian nuclear program. It provides that Iran will suspend enrichment of higher-grade uranium for six months in exchange for $6 billion to $7 billion in US sanctions relief as well as renewed trade in […]
Seven Taliban fighters were killed in a premature detonation inside a mosque in Nangarhar. The Afghan government accused ISAF of killing two civilians in a night raid; ISAF said the two people killed were Taliban fighters. The Taliban killed an Afghan soldier in an IED attack in Khost.
The Islamic State of Iraqi and the Sham killed 23 people in a series of bombings and attacks. In one attack in Tuz Khurmatu, a suicide bomber killed 12 people. Security forces in Mosul captured a senior ISIS commander who operates in Baghdad.
The Al Nusrah Front and other Islamist groups captured Syria’s largest oilfield, in Deir Azzour province; it is not known if it is operational. Regime airstrikes in Aleppo killed 40 civilians. Gunmen in Hama failed to assassinate National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar but killed his driver.
The formation of the Islamic Front has been characterized as a blow to al Qaeda, but the new Islamist alliance shares al Qaeda’s goals and continues to fight alongside the global jihadist group.
Afghanistan’s Loya Jirga delegates back US jurisdiction over troops