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Germany
The Parliament authorized the deployment of up to 850 German soldiers in 2015 to Afghanistan to participate in NATO’s “Resolute Support” training mission. The government is also planning to send some 100 Bundeswehr soldiers to northern Iraq to train Kurdish Peshmerga forces.
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Houthis
Yemen’s Houthis consolidate control over state institutions
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Iraq
One ISIS thug suspected of killing 150 girls, women
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United States
Since Dec. 15, the US and partner nations have conducted 61 airstrikes in Iraq and six in Syria against the Islamic State; 45 of the airstrikes in Iraq were in support of Peshmerga and Iraqi forces in the region. President Obama announced the resumption of diplomatic ties with Cuba and Havana’s release of US citizen Alan Gross and a prisoner exchange of a US intelligence “asset” for three Cuban spies. The FBI has indicated that North Korea is likely behind a major cyberattack at Sony Pictures; the company has pulled a film on North Korea that was slated for release.…
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European Union
EU court takes Hamas off terrorist list
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Afghanistan
Taliban mount assault on Kunar border district, Afghan officials say
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Afghanistan
How foreign imams radicalized Syria’s war
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Iraq
UN Security Council renews cross-border Syria aid authorization
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Somalia
A ministry of national security spokesman stated that military intelligence arrested at least seven suspected Shabaab fighters in Kahda district and Shabelle province; 228 were arrested during a security operation in Mogadishu. The jihadist group claimed that it has collected $9 million in zakat (alms) in areas under its control.
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Egypt
The army stated that it has killed 17 militants, arrested 11 others and destroyed 64 “militant sites” in north Sinai in the past three days. The Interior Ministry has expelled 40 Cairo police cadets for ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The British Embassy in Cairo has reopened after unspecific security issues were “resolved.”
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Libya
Pro-government and Islamist forces are fighting over two of the country’s largest oil ports in eastern Libya, shutting both down. The Islamist Libya Dawn carried out its first airstrikes of the conflict, hitting security forces in the port cities of Sidra and Ras Lanuf. Pro-government allied Zintanis claim to have captured “a senior Libya Dawn commander near Abu Khammash” and that there were three army airstrikes near Zuwara and Zultan.
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Tunisia
The Tunisian government has declared security forces “ready to cope” as fighting rages at the Ras Jedir border crossing in Libya and as the country’s presidential run-off election looms. Tunisians go to the polls on Dec. 21.
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Nigeria
“Scores” of suspected Boko Haram fighters were arrested near the capital of Borno state after fleeing the town of Bama disguised as refugees. The UN estimates that the number of refugees displaced by the jihadist group in northern Nigeria has reached 1.5 million.
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US airstrike targets Pakistani, Afghan Taliban in Nangarhar
The strike is the fifth that has targeted Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan fighters and leaders operating inside Afghanistan since the last week of November.
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Australia
Prime Minister Abbott ordered an investigation into the Dec. 16 siege at a Sydney cafe by Man Haron Monis, an Iranian Sunni extremist who had been accused of violent crimes and was out on bail, that left three people dead and several others wounded. Iran claimed that it had asked Australia to extradite Monis 12 years ago.
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Iraq
ISIS reportedly destroys at least 6 border control stations on Jordan-Iraq border
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Al Nusrah Front
Al Nusrah Front shoots two men for blasphemy
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Islamic State
ISIS broadens recruitment beyond fighters
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Lebanon
Lebanese increasingly chasing second nationality as backup
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Iraq
40% of Anbar’s cities in ruins: Iraqi official
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India
Home Minister Singh announced that the government has banned the Islamic State terrorist group. Police are investigating the likelihood that Mehdi Masroor Biswas, who was arrested for running a prominent pro-ISIS Twitter account, has links to Islamic State operatives. The Intelligence Bureau warned of the possibility of lone-wolf terrorist attacks.
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The Peshawar attack: sickening, but no surprise
Pakistan’s refusal to sever ties with the so-called “good Taliban” has allowed groups like the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan to fester.
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Afghanistan
US Seeks to Use Letters Found in Bin Laden Raid in Terrorism Trial
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Egypt
IS threat led to closure of Western embassies in Egypt
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Afghan Taliban releases statement condemning attack on Pakistani school
The Afghan Taliban has released a statement condemning the Pakistani Taliban’s attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar.
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Australia
In Sydney Hostage Siege, Australia’s New Anti-Terrorism Measures Proved Ineffective
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Turkey
Turkey’s Religious Schools Rise as Erdogan Exerts Sway
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Pakistani Taliban assaults military high school in Peshawar
More than 100 high school students are said to have been killed as Taliban fighters fanned out and killed everyone in their path.
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Syria
The Al Nusrah Front, Ahrar al Sham, and elements of the Free Syrian Army have taken two key regime bases in Idlib province. Al Nusrah has used an American TOW anti-tank missile against regime forces. The US-led coalition has conducted nine airstrikes in Syria since Dec. 13; eight of them “destroyed nine ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL buildings and two ISIL staging positions and also struck another ISIL fighting position” near Kobane; one destroyed an Islamic State vehicle near abu-Kamal. European Union countries have pledged to help rebuild Aleppo if a UN-proposed ceasefire is successful. The UN chief for humanitarian…
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Spain
During raids in Barcelona, Ceuta, Melilla, and the Moroccan municipality of Castillejos, Spanish and Moroccan police arrested seven people, including four women and a minor, suspected of links to an lslamic State recruitment network that sent women to Iraq and Syria. Two of the female suspects were allegedly about to join the Islamic State. Authorities estimate that some 100 Spaniards have joined the Islamic State and that as many as 2,000 Moroccans have traveled to Iraq or Syria for jihad.
