Ibrahim Aziz Ouattara, a French jihadist who was arrested and deported from Mali, was charged in Paris on April 5. He had traveled to Mali using the identity of Khalifa Dramé, who is also being sought by the authorities. A Frenchman who traveled with two other Frenchmen and al Qaeda operative Naamen Meziche to Pakistan […]
President Obama authorized the provision of military aid to Somalia, signaling a move toward more normal relations. Attorneys for Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden and former spokesman for the al Qaeda emir, may seek to move the trial out of New York City. Walli Mujahidh, a co-conspirator in a plot to […]
Joint Afghan and Coalition forces in Takhar arrested a facilitator “with ties to multiple terrorist organizations,” including the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and killed another IMU facilitator; and detained a known insurgent in Wardak. An insurgent roadside bomb in Wardak detonated under a busload of civilians, killing nine and injuring another 28.
The military claimed that 100 militants and 13 soldiers were killed in clashes in the Tirah Valley. A deputy superintendent of police and his guard were gunned down in Quetta; the police official had been awaiting transfer to Islamabad because he had received death threats for cracking down on terrorist groups.
Egypt suspended commercial flights from Iran after protests by Salafists. Egyptian authorities seized a variety of arms and ammunition from a weapons cache approximately three miles from the border with Israel. A second cache of weapons was discovered in central Sinai. A shipment of tear gas from the United States arrived at the Abadeya Port […]
A Palestinian rights group denounced Hamas for cutting the hair of youths with “unbecoming” hairstyles. Hamas said PA security forces arrested three of its members near Hebron. A Hamas leader called on Gaza-based militants to kidnap Israeli soldiers. A senior Palestinian official said US opposition to a Fatah-Hamas unity deal has faded.
Eric Harroun, Who Fought With Syrian Rebels, Loses a Court Fight
Navy Deploying Laser Weapon Prototype Near Iran
A suicide car bomber killed 16 people in central Damascus. Syrian rebels and the Kurdish YPG militia are said to be fighting together against the regime in Aleppo. A UN team is waiting for the go-ahead to examine allegations of chemical weapons use. A Syrian rights group said nearly 9,000 government-allied troops have died in […]
Timbuktu fears French troops withdrawal from Mali
Police clashed with thousands of demonstrators in Istanbul who protested the proceedings against 275 military officials, politicians, and academics accused of plotting a coup against the Erdogan goverment. Three people were killed at a university in Diyarbakır province in a fight over the distribution of PKK and Hezbollah propaganda.
Algeria struggles to assuage anger in south
700 Special Ops vets call for Benghazi committee
A force of 1,000 French troops has begun sweeping a valley north of Gao to rid the area of remaining Islamist militants. On the first day of the operation, no militants were found but 340 artillery shells and high-caliber rockets were discovered and neutralized. Malians in Timbuktu remain anxious that the militants will return, and […]
President Jonathan set up a committee to explore the idea of granting amnesty to members of the al Qaeda-linked Boko Haram. The Acting US Ambassador to Nigeria stated his government’s preference for dialogue over force in dealing with Boko Haram. Suspected Boko Haram gunmen stormed the home of the deputy governor of Adamwa state, killing […]
François Hollande’s camel ‘eaten in Mali’
Today’s attack, which killed at least 16 people, including 12 civilians, is the third suicide bombing in the Syrian capital in 18 days.
Afghan attacks raise fears over Taliban strength
General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Afghan forces would be in the lead throughout Afghanistan by May or June, and that it will be up to them to determine whether areas currently contested by the Taliban revert to Afghan control. He also said he had grave concerns that the Syrian […]
Clashes broke out in Cairo at Egypt’s main Coptic Christian cathedral after assailants attacked the funeral of four Copts killed in earlier sectarian violence. One person has been killed and at least 80 wounded in the latest violence. Copts blamed the Morsi government for failing to provide adequate security, and some claimed the police were […]
Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel cannot rely on anyone, not even its closest ally, to deal with the Iranian nuclear program. Authorities arrested three Islamic Jihad terrorists near Hebron. The arrest of five members of a Hamas terror cell in March was released for publication.
President Abbas met with Secretary of State Kerry a day after meeting a senior Israeli official in Ramallah. Kerry reportedly offered Abbas incentives to return to negotiations with Israel. A Palestinian teenager was detained in the possession of firebombs and IEDs. A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel.
A court sentenced seven al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters to jail terms of between two to five years. One of the AQAP fighers was a Dagestanian, another was a Tunisian. Separatists killed a Yemeni soldier during fighting in Lahj.
Some 23 armed militants from Ansar al Sharia stormed into the lab at the Benghazi hospital on the pretext that out of date materials were on the premises; the lab was closed for three hours as a result. Gunmen also stormed into a Tripoli hospital and killed two patients. The air force targeted a six-truck […]
The Foreign Ministry criticized a recent UN letter telling Damascus that the UN inquiry into the use of chemical weapons in Syria would extend beyond their alleged use by Syrian rebels in March near Aleppo. Russia believes the inquiry should focus only on that incident.
Leaving Corruptistan: Washington Favors Exit over Fight with Karzai
Afghanistan calls Pak-Afghan strategic pact ‘meaningless’
The French military peacekeeping force in the Ivory Coast has begun training a battalion of 235 Ivorian soldiers for deployment to Mali with a West African force. France is reportedly considering the purchase of unarmed Reaper surveillance drones from the US.
The commander of AMISOM forces claimed that Shabaab has been “wiped out” along the highway that connects the capital of Mogadishu and Baidoa. Three people were wounded in a bombing in Afgoye.
US Reviews Military Options for Syria