President Karzai said the US wants to maintain nine military bases in Afghanistan following the end of NATO combat operations in 2014. He said the US is requesting bases in Kabul, Bagram, Mazar-e-Sharif, Jalalabad, Gardez, Kandahar, Helmand, Shindand, and Herat, but Afghanistan must first be granted security guarantees.
Insurgents killed three university students in Baghdad and two soldiers in Diyala. Security forces killed a suicide bomber before he could attack a police station in Mosul and detained seven wanted men in Wasit.
Al Qaeda gunned down a police officer in the provincial capital of Lahj. A Finnish couple and an Austrian were freed after an undisclosed ransom was paid. President Hadi warned that al Qaeda is “recuperating.”
Army intelligence forces arrested four members of an al Qaeda cell in Ain el-Rummaneh and seized “a quantity of explosives and detonators in their possession.” The four are described as Lebanese and Syrian nationals; a search is on for the remaining cell members.
Dagestan Islamists Rebuffed Boston Bombing Suspect
Hezbollah leader Nasrallah said Syria will provide the terror group with “game-changing weapons” as a strategic response to Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah weaponry in Syria. US Secretary of State Kerry warned that Russia’s plan to supply Syria would destabilize Israel’s security; he also said President Assad would not be part of any transitional Syrian government. […]
Intelligence report identified vulnerability before Boston bombing
US funds worth $50 million stolen from Afghan bank: SIGAR
Afghanistan – Senate Speaker Lashes Out at Foreign Troops Over Border Posts
AQIM mounts media campaign
An American citizen was stabbed near the US embassy in Cairo. Authorities discovered a cache of weaponry in the South Sinai. Two senior Muslim Brotherhood officials failed to show up for a speaking engagement at a Washington, D.C. think tank; their current whereabouts are unknown.
Turkish PM Erdogan: Syria has crossed red line, used chemical weapons
Tunisia is seeing an influx of radical preachers from outside the country. The leader of Ennahda suggested the Salafists do this more than one year ago.
Ahmed Abassi, a Tunisian national, has been indicted for fraudulently applying “for a work visa in order to remain in the United States to facilitate an act of international terrorism.” Abassi, who previously lived in Canada, is tied to a terror plot linked to al Qaeda elements in Iran to blow up a commuter train between Canada and the US.
During a visit to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al Qaradawi said, “Our wish should be that we carry out Jihad to death.” A Hamas official denied reports that Qatar and Hamas’ relationship is weakening. Nine Hamas members were reportedly detained by PA security forces in the West Bank. A poll found […]
Israeli Intelligence Brushes Off Sensational Spy Account, Emphasize Operational Dangers
Militiamen continue to blockade the Foreign and Justice ministries. Prime Minister Zeidan said militiamen threatened him with a grenade and a gun during negotiations yesterday. Security forces evicted irregular brigades from 56 sites in and around Tripoli.
Preachers take over public spaces in Tunisia
French ministers boycott talks with Muslim scholar
Gunmen from a local militia ambushed police officers in central Nassarawa state, killing 46. The ambush occurred as police were setting out to arrest the leader of the militia. The governor said the gunmen were from the Ombatse cult, which has already attacked officials, churches, and mosques. Ombatse, a banned group likely linked to Boko […]
More than 3,000 Free Syrian Army fighters as well as entire units have defected to al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, yet the US government seems determined to fund the FSA.
Foreign Minister Fabius urged the UN to designate the Al Nusrah Front a terrorist group. Al Nusrah, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, was added to the US terrorist list in December. France still seeks a diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict, and wants to increase support for the Syrian National Coalition.
Islamists Rely on TV Sheiks to Woo the Masses in Egypt
At Benghazi hearing, State Dept. officials challenge administration review of attacks
Diplomat Says Questions Over Benghazi Led to Demotion
An official from the MSC in Jerusalem eulogized a leading Salafi jihadist killed on April 30 in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. Tensions persist between Hamas and the Salafi jihadist groups in the coastal enclave.
Police killed eight protesters, who are said to have been infiltrated by “militants,” at an anti-Pakistani demonstration. Militants killed three truck drivers during the protest. The Taliban killed five Afghan soldiers and a policeman in Farah, and three civilians in an IED attack in Helmand.
A suicide bomber killed a Kurdish security guard in Kirkuk. Gunmen killed three Iraqi policemen in Fallujah. Jordan and Iraq are starting work on an oil pipeline from Basrah to Aqaba.
South Korea is considering buying Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense battery system. Israeli authorities announced the arrest of two Hamas operatives who were planning kidnapping operations and other terrorist attacks against Israelis. Israel warned the US that Russia plans to provide Syria with S-300 missile batteries.
A senior Palestinian official said “resistance to Israel remains on our agenda….I mean resistance in all of its forms.” Five Hamas members were arrested by PA security forces in the West Bank. A senior Hamas official said that “as long as the [Syrian] government has missiles they should be fired at Israel not at its […]