Iraq
Iraq’s Assyrian Christians fear ISIS threat to heritage
Monthly Archives: July 2014
Syria
The Islamic State (formerly ISIS) clashed with the Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front in Deir Izzour, where the IS took over Al Rez, bombarded areas in Al Shhil said to have served as Al Nusrah’s main headquarters in Syria, arrested people in Albu Kamal, and was targeted by regime airstrikes near Al Bisri. […]
Lebanon
The Islamic Action Party and other Lebanese Islamist groups and leaders, including Hizb ut-Tahrir, denounced the Islamic State’s recent claim to have formed a caliphate. In north Tripoli, an attacker on a motorcycle threw a grenade into a cafe, wounding four patrons who were eating during the hours of the Ramadan fast; and security forces […]
Al Nusrah Front
Urduni, Lebanon’s elusive new ’emir’
Egypt
Security forces arrested four members of Ansar Bayt al Maqdis (Ansar Jerusalem) in the Cairo suburb of Helwan and in Nasr City over links to explosions on June 30 that killed two bomb disposal experts; the bombings have been claimed by another group, Ajnad Mir. A car bomb exploded near the Air Force hospital in […]
Shabaab
Exclusive: US discloses secret Somalia military presence, up to 120 troops
France
Top Kurdish spy chief says French jihadists fighting in Iraq
France
French firms look to conquer Iran
Libya
In Benghazi, a Salafist imam who had spoken out against terrorism was gunned down, and a child was killed by gunfire between fighting “gangs.” The Benghazi Joint Security Room is asking mediators to help get Ansar al Sharia to evacuate Jalaa Hospital. Mohamed Al-Harizi, a top official in the Islamist Justice and Construction Party, was […]
Tunisia
Following the death of six security forces in a landmine blast yesterday, four more soldiers were killed by a landmine today in Ksar el-Gallel in Kef. The military claimed to have destroyed a hideout for terrorist groups in Mount Ouergha and to be actively searching for the “terrorist elements.” A young man died in a […]
China
China bans Ramadan fast in Xinjiang region
Chechnya
Chechen in Syria a rising leader in extremist group
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb calls for reconciliation between jihadist groups
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has issued a statement praising the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham’s (ISIS) gains in Iraq and calling for reconciliation between jihadist groups in Syria. The statement was authored prior to the ISIS declaring that it ruled over a caliphate and rebranding itself the “Islamic State.”
Afghanistan
Afghan monthly casualties increase in June
Iraq
Sunni and Kurdish members of parliament left the assembly after the Shia-led State of Law coalition failed to name a replacement for Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. More than 2,400 people were killed in Iraq last month, the highest monthly toll in seven years. The US has ordered the evacuation of some embassy personnel in […]
France
Russia seeks UN ban on oil trade with ‘terrorists’ in Syria
Syria
The Islamic State (formerly ISIS) took over Albu Kamal and clashed with the Al Nusrah Front and the Islamic Front in Deir Izzour near Al Shhih, said to be the home town of Al Nusrah’s emir; battled the Islamic Front and Jaysh al Islam in eastern Ghouta in Reef Dimashq; and was attacked by regime […]
Iran
Iran’s deputy foreign minister said his country is willing to provide weapons to Iraq if asked, but does not plan to send troops. He admitted, however, that Iran would be sending “military consultants” to Iraq to help it resist the advance of the Islamic State. He also blamed the rise of the IS on American […]
Iran
US dawdles on Iraq as Russia, Iran jump in
Iraq
Patriarchs call on region’s Christians to hold on to their lands
Lebanon
The al Qaeda-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades called for Hezbollah to withdraw from Syria, dared it to fight in Iraq, and threatened further attacks in Lebanon. Security forces blocked roads to Beirut’s Roumieh prison due to fears that the prison might be attacked. A roadside bomb detonated near an Army patrol in Tripoli. Security forces and […]
Ansar al Sharia
Benghazi attack suspect has been talking to US interrogators: officials
Nigeria
A suicide car bombing in Maiduguri in Borno killed over 50 people, including 16 vigilante youth, and wounded 68 others. A bombing in Asikolaye in Kaduna wounded two people and damaged shops and cars. Boko Haram fighters yesterday stormed the Borno village of Shani, bombing and torching the police station, homes, and shops. A member […]
Mali
A MINUSMA force vehicle carrying Burkinabe peacekeeping troops was hit by a roadside bomb near Goundam, about 30 km west of Timbuktu; one peacekeeper was killed and six others injured, three of them seriously. On June 25, the UN Security Council extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Mali for another 12 months, but […]
Tunisia
Kidnapped Tunisian diplomats Mohamed Ben Cheikh and Aroussi Gontassi returned to Tunisia on June 29; they were held by Ansar al Sharia, which had been demanding the release of two Libyan Islamist militants held in Tunisian prisons. Tunisian officials denied that any “Libyan terrorists” had been released but said they had information about the kidnappers […]
Libya
The government legalized the ownership of firearms. The central bank said individual travelers cannot take more than $10,000 in or out of the country. The spokesman for Khalid Haftar’s forces said Turks had been “too quick” to leave following an ultimatum issued last week to Turks and Qataris in eastern Libya. Ali Al-Sanani, a well-known […]
Iraq
ISIS militants outline chilling 5-year plan for global domination
Islamic State
ISIS raises flag at Turkish border
Iraq
Does the Islamic State have a Scud missile
Al Qaeda
Iraq, Syria and the Middle East – An essay by Tony Blair