Yearly Archives: 2012


Afghanistan

The Taliban killed the head of the Hajj department in Logar. Police captured the Taliban’s shadow governor for Sayyidabad district. ISAF has closed 202 bases.


Iran

A summit of the 120-nation “Non-Aligned Nations” Movement opened in Tehran. Iran was not clear if the Palestinian organization Hamas would be allowed to attend.


Iraq

Insurgents killed three policemen, two soldiers, and five civilians in attacks in Baghdad and Kirkuk. The Army took control of the border with Syria. Sheikh Hameed al Hayis, the head of the Anbar Salvation Council, said he would turn himself over to the government.


Syria

More than 300 bodies were found in a town outside the Syrian capital Damascus. Syria’s opposition accused the Assad regime of mass executions. Iran’s national security chief met with President Assad and his top aides.


Yemen

Security forces detained two suspected al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in Aden. “Gunmen” killed a southern separatist after opening fire on a crowd in Aden.


Somalia

Gunmen killed a policeman and a civilian in a shooting in Mogadishu. Locals in Awdinle killed three Shabaab fighters after they beheaded a man and a woman accused of spying for the government.







Egypt

An Egyptian court convicted 76 people for the attack on the Israeli embassy last year; 75 of those convicted received a suspended one-year sentence. A presidential delegation met with Islamist extremists in Sinai in an apparent attempt to broker a deal over militant attacks.



Libya

Libyan leaders denounced the destruction of Sufi shrines yesterday by a conservative Salafi group. A congressional session convened over the recent incidents did not address allegations of collusion between the shrine’s attackers and security forces.


United Kingdom

Two convicted al Qaeda plotters, Salahuddin Amin and Rangzieb Ahmed asked the European Court of Human Rights to overturn their convictions due to alleged torture by Pakistani authorities. A leading UK barrister said the case could be the first time the ECHR intervened in judgments of fact, a development he termed “unacceptable.”


Pakistan

Badruddin Haqqani, a senior Haqqani Network leader, and Emeti Yakuf, the emir of the Turkistan Islamic Party, are thought to have been killed in drone strikes. Security forces killed 28 Taliban fighters in Bajaur and detained a commander in Nowshera. Nine civilians were killed in a mortar attack in Khyber.



Iran

Iran has duty to support Assad: intelligence official


US discussing more missile defense in Asia, says it’s against NKorea threat, not China


Afghanistan

The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan’s emir for Bajaur, Mullah Dadullah, and his deputy, Shakir, were among 12 fighters killed in an airstrike in Kunar. Police killed 17 Taliban fighters during raids in Kabul, Logar, Ghazni, and Paktika. The Taliban killed seven Afghan soldiers in Kandahar.


Iraq

Insurgents killed a policeman, a politician, and a civilian in shootings in Mosul, and wounded a colonel and and three soldiers as they were patrolling in Dhuluiyah.


Syria

Fierce fighting caused rebels to abandon a Damascus suburb. The UN reported that 200,000 refugees have fled Syria.


Lebanon

A Sunni cleric who reportedly led an Islamist militia was shot and killed by a sniper during clashes between Sunnis and Alawites in Tripoli. The government deployed hundreds of soldiers along with tanks to Tripoli to quell the fighting.


Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh accepted an invitation to attend a non-allgned summit in Iran. PLO president Abbas threatened to boycott the summit if Hamas attended.


Yemen

Gunmen opened fire on Transportion Minister Waed Abdullah Bathib’s car in Sana’a; he was not wounded. Bathib is a member of the Yemen Socialist Party in Aden.


Egypt

Egypt reopened a border crossing with Gaza, signaling improved relations with Hamas. Egypt has closed 120 smuggling tunnels across the border as part of the recent military operations in Sinai.


Somalia

Security forces killed four Shabaab fighters in Mogadishu. A Shabaab military officer surrendered to the government in Puntland. Somali and AMISOM forces are reported to be advancing on Kismayo.