CIA
Exclusive: Dozens of CIA operatives on the ground during Benghazi attack
Monthly Archives: August 2013
Al Qaeda
Sources: Al Qaeda plot tied to embassy closings on Sunday
Nigeria
The head of police said Nigeria’s war on terror is not over as insurgents in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states continue to inflict harm despite the imposition of a state of emergency. Joint Nigerian and Nigerien operations resulted in the arrests of Boko Haram terrorists who had been driven out of northern Nigeria into Niger. […]
Pakistan
Pakistan: The great trickle-down brainwash
Mali
After an unprecedented 53% national turnout in the presidential election on July 28, frontrunner former prime minister Ibrahim Boubacar Keita will face ex-finance minister Soumaila Cisse in a runoff election on Aug. 11. Malian refugees have begun returning home from Mauritania.
US has ‘eliminated most of the threat’ in Pakistan, SecState Kerry claims
Kerry told a Pakistani news channel that the US drone strikes could end “very, very soon” as “we have eliminated most of the threat.”
Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham
Iraq security forces outmatched as ‘open war’ returns
Hezbollah
Nigeria: Kano Arms Cache – ‘Lebanese Suspects Knew About Bunker’
NSA
Guardian account of NSA program XKeyScore misleading, officials say
United States
The State Department said it would close a number of US embassies and consulates in the Middle East on Sunday, Aug. 4 as a precautionary measure due to an al Qaeda threat. In the first Secretary of State visit to Pakistan since 2011, John Kerry and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif agreed to resume partnership […]
Syria
Rebel shelling hit a weapons depot in a regime-controlled area of Homs, setting off explosions that killed 40 people and injured at least 160 more, some critically. President Assad made his first known public trip outside Damascus since March 2012, visiting the former rebel stronghold of Daraya. Clashes between allied Islamist forces and Kurdish fighters […]
Jordan
Border police arrested a group of Jordanians and other Arabs who were trying to smuggle a large quantity machine guns and ammunition into Jordan from Syria. A leading Muslim Brotherhood figure plans to run for mayor in Amman despite a recent MB decision to boycott municipal elections.
CIA
Dozens of CIA operatives on the ground during Benghazi attack
Pakistan
White House backpedals on Kerry’s pledge to end drone strikes in Pakistan
Yemen
US drones killed five al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in a strike at a training camp in the Qatan Valley in Hadramout province. President Hadi is in the US to discuss security issues with Defense Secretary Hagel.
Egypt
Security sources said that jihadists in the Sinai have ties to Gaza, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, among other countries. Militants killed at least one Central Security conscript in an attack on a hotel in the Sinai. A senior minister said deliberations were still occurring over whether the government would move to disband the Muslim Brotherhood.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan-ISAF reach agreement to waive customs fines, penalties
Mali
Who is Mali’s ‘IBK’: junta’s man or people’s president?
US drones kill 5 AQAP operatives in Yemen
The strike is reported to have taken place at an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula training camp in the Qatan Valley in the eastern province of Hadramout.
Israel
Authorities filed an indictment against a member of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta sect who had offered to spy for Iran. Prime Minister Netanyahu praised the latest round of Iran sanctions passed by the US House of Representatives. The head of the IDF’s Northern Command said Hezbollah is better armed and trained than it was in […]
Al Qaeda
Aleppo rebel religious committee forbids ‘colonial’ croissants
Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham
Erdoğan, Kurds, Syria and Turkish military
Hezbollah
‘Hezbollah maintains complex network of front companies trading in counterfeit medicine’
Bulgaria
Suspect in Burgas bombing flew to Lebanon before blast: report
Afghanistan
Despite West’s Efforts, Afghan Youths Cling to Traditional Ways
Turkey
Sources say Turkey has no plans to follow the EU’s lead in designating Hezbollah as a terrorist group. A bipartisan group of 46 US Congressmen sent a letter to President Gul asking him to publicly condemn “anti-Semitic” comments by government officials. Prime Minister Erdogan has accused an “interest rate lobby” of being behind a number […]
Tunisia
Tunisian Constituent Assembly speaker Mustapha Ben Jafar ordered the suspension, but not the dissolution, of the assembly. Education Minister Labyedh resigned yesterday, putting additional pressure on the ruling Islamist Ennahda party in the face of growing opposition demands for the dissolution of the assembly. Ennahda party chief Rachid Ghannouchi said his party insists that Prime […]
Algeria
Interior Minister Kablia said Algeria is stepping up security measures along the Tunisian border after the murder of eight Tunisian soldiers by jihadists in the Jebel Chaambi area. The Foreign Ministry strongly condemned “appallingly false” allegations by “some circles” in the Tunisian media seeking to cast blame on Algeria for Tunisia’s deteriorating security situtation and […]
Bangladesh
The high court in Dhaka ruled that the Jamaat-e-Islami party is illegal because it is against secularism. The decision, which the JI plans to appeal, would prevent the Islamist party from slating candidates in the general election early next year.
New Zealand
Prime Minister Key said that there are al Qaeda operatives and trainees in New Zealand. He is seeking the removal of restrictions barring the country’s intelligence service from spying on New Zealand citizens or residents. Critics have accused him of scaremongering; the parliament is currently debating the issue.