Pakistan
Pakistan faces growing anger over sectarian bombings
Monthly Archives: February 2013
United Arab Emirates
Rise of Islamists frays strategic UAE-Egyptian relations
Syria
Syrian Kidnappings Raise Fear of Expanded Conflict
Afghanistan
ISAF supports President Karzai’s decree that Afghan forces should not receive ISAF air support. Security forces killed three Taliban fighters and detained several others. Thirty-five Taliban fighters in Herat reconciled with the government.
Iran
Report: Iran confiscates Buddha statues to stop promotion of Buddhism
Iran
A parliamentary leader said Iran would never close the Fordow nuclear site in exchange for easing economic sanctions. The Fordow plant produces 20 percent enriched uranium, which can be turned into weapons material. Iran’s navy plans to establish a new base near Pakistan’s border.
Iraq
Terrorists killed at least 37 Iraqis and wounded more than 130 others in a series of bombings in Shiite-dominated neighborhoods in Baghdad. Many of the attacks took place at markets.
Syria
Hezbollah and Syrian rebels battled near Syria’s border with Lebanon. The clash showed the growing role for Hezbollah in Syria’s civil war.
Bahrain
Security forces broke up a terrorist cell. Eight nationals with links to Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon were arrested.
Israel
IDF Chief Benny Gantz said “the likelihood of chemical weapons use by Syria is very low.” Israel is believed to have conducted a strike on antiaircraft missiles near a chemical weapons-linked facility in Syria in late January. At least seven Syrians wounded in fighting between rebels and Assad’s forces continue to receive treatment in Israeli […]
Egypt
Egyptian authorities seized a weapons cache in El Arish. “The seized weapons include 21 anti-aircraft shells, six anti-tank mines and an anti-aircraft gun,” an official said. In another incident, one ton of explosives was found in a car headed from Cairo toward the Sinai. These seizures come two days after two tons of weaponry was […]
Somalia
Police arrested the son of a senior politician in Somaliland. The son and a woman detained with him, both of whom are from Finland, are accused of supporting Shabaab attacks in Puntland. The president of Puntland accused Shabaab of last week’s murder of a senior cleric.
Nigeria
Boko Haram is suspected of kidnapping a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers from a construction site in Bauchi. The military is establishing a task force to deal with terrorist attacks.
Africa
How Europe Bankrolls Terror
Mali
French and Malian troops secured Bourem, a former Islamist stronghold about 50 miles north of Gao. The Community of Sahel-Saharan States pledged 760,000 euros to support the AFISMA mission in Mali. The US has conducted at least 22 refueling missions to support the intervention in Mali.
Pakistan
A bombing in Quetta killed 79 Pakistani Shiites and wounded more than 170. Security forces killed a Taliban fighter and detained 12 more during operations in Bannu and Taxila.
Afghanistan
President Karzai said that he will issue a decree that prevents the Afghan military from requesting ISAF air support. Officials in Badghis province said Pakistanis are training the Taliban.
Iraq
A suicide bomber killed the head of Iraq’s intelligence academy and two of his bodyguards in an attack outside of his home in Tal Afar. Police killed a suicide bomber in Diyala and arrested nine members of a rocket attack cell in Baghdad.
Yemen
The United Nations warned Yemen’s former president and vice president that they would face sanctions if they interfered in the political process. A Dutch citizen was kidnapped in the capital of Sana’a; no group has claimed responsibility.
Somalia
A Shabaab suicide bomber killed two people at a beach hotel in Mogadishu. Shabaab claimed it killed five Ugandan soldiers in two ambushes in Jannaale
Hezbollah
Brother of Hezbollah Cabinet minister charged with importing counterfeit drugs
Afghanistan
Kabul vendors of stolen U.S. goods fret about future
Palestinian Territories
Hamas officials denied that they are engaged in indirect negotiations with Israel over potentially easing Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. Hamas’ Salah Bardawil, who was recently part of the Hamas delegation expelled from Bulgaria, claimed Israel was behind the Burgas terror attack last July, which the Bulgarian government says was carried out by Hezbollah.
Egypt
The Al-Taloul water station in the northern Sinai was shut down by a group of armed men who said that the plant was built on their land. Hamas condemned the recent flooding by Egyptian authorities of smuggling tunnels between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
Canada
Canada is “actively lobbying European Union countries” to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. EU foreign ministers are scheduled to meet on Monday, where they will discuss the Bulgarian government’s findings of the Burgas terror attack, which it says was carried out by a Hezbollah cell. One member of the cell was a Canadian citizen.
Muslim Brotherhood
After the Arab Spring: Al-Jazeera Losing Battle for Independence
Iran
The UN Secretary General said Iran was on the same path toward developing a nuclear weapon as North Korea. Ayatollah Khamenei denied Iran was developing nuclear weapons but warned that no state could stop Iran if it chose to do so. Iran blamed Israel for killing an Iranian general in Syria and said it would […]
North Korea
North Korea uses cash couriers, false names to outwit sanctions
Hezbollah
Hezbollah’s leader Nasrallah warned Israel not to attack Lebanon and said Hezbollah doesn’t need Iranian weapons. The warning followed an Israeli attack on a convoy carrying weapons to Hezbollah.
Syria
Government troops bombarded the Golan bordering Israel. Rebels overran a base east of Aleppo airport and captured a large amount of ammunition. Druze clerics urged soldiers to defect from the Assad regime and join the opposition. Government forces kidnapped 300 people in northwestern Syria in retaliation for the abduction of 42 Shiites.