Monthly Archives: August 2014


United States

President Obama said the US is pursuing a “longterm strategy” against the Islamic State, and yesterday invoked the War Powers Act to justify authorizing airstrikes against Islamic State militants threatening Iraq’s Mosul Dam; the Pentagon has conducted 40 airstrikes since Aug. 16 to support operations of Iraqi security forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga to retake […]


Iraq

The US launched airstrikes against the Islamic State near the Mosul Dam in support of Kurdish offensive operations to retake the dam. The chief of Iraq’s military objected to US airstrikes and the arming of Kurdish forces as violations of Iraq’s sovereignty. The Peshmerga retook control of the towns of Batmay and Telskef north of […]


Yemen

Six al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters and three Yemeni soldiers were killed during raids and clashes in Qatn in Hadramout province. The US killed three AQAP fighters in a drone strike along the border with Saudi Arabia in Hadramout.


Lebanon

Two Lebanese security forces were released by their Al Nusrah Front captors after negotiations by the Muslim Scholars Committee. In return, the militants reportedly were assured that the “security grip on Arsal Syrian refugee camps will be eased.” A negotiator, Sheikh Mustafa al-Hujeiri a.k.a. Abu Taqiyeh, said there may be more kidnapped security personnel as […]


Kenya

A leaked national intelligence report said that three Kenyans — Sheikh Ahmed Iman Ali, Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir, and Abu Sandheere — are suspected of masterminding Shabaab’s September 2013 Westgate Mall attack. A think tank report warned that terrorism presents a threat to economic growth in at least eight of Kenya’s counties.


Libya

A sergeant in Operation Dignity’s forces in Benghazi was killed and decapitated. Saiqa forces were said to be pushing out of their Benina airbase stronghold in Benghazi, which has been under attack by Ansar al Sharia; Operation Dignity forces claimed to be trying to abide by the ceasefire ordered by Parliament. Benghazi University rejected the […]


Iraq

Kurds push to drive militants from Mosul Dam with US air support



France

UK prime minister: Our generational struggle against a poisonous ideology




Iraq

Officials: US airstrikes pound ISIS near Iraqi dam


Iraq

Mount Sinjar dispatch: ‘The pilot was afraid for my safety. Within days he would be dead’


Iraq

Plight of Iraqi Minorities Worsens With Forced Conversions and Killings








Syria

The Islamic State clashed with regime forces in Raqqah in Al Tabaqa; and in Aleppo, where the IS also battled the Islamic Front, the Al Nusrah Front, and Kurdish forces. In Deir Izzour, the Islamic State told families of Labor City oilfield workers to vacate their homes so foreign fighters could move in. The Syrian […]



Lebanon

The US issued a travel warning for Lebanon noting that the Islamic State, the Al Nusrah Front, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, and Hezbollah all operate there, and stressed the increasing frequency of suicide bombings. A Free Syrian Army fighter was arrested in Sidon. Assad regime forces warned residents of the border town of Tfail to […]


Iraq

Strange bedfellows: terror groups, Kurdish factions unite against ISIS


Mali

Islamist militants carried out a suicide car bombing outside a patrol base in Ber, about 40 miles east of Timbuktu, killing two UN peacekeeping troops from Burkina Faso and injuring nine other troops. Three peacekeeping troops were injured earlier this week by land mines, in two separate attacks.