CIA director nominee John Brennan testified that US drone strikes meet “rigorous standards” in “full compliance with the law” and that civilian casualties are “exceedingly rare, and much, much rarer than many allege.” He also said the US remains “at war with al Qaeda and its associated forces.” The US is urging the European Union […]
Giving up: Der Spiegel is pulling out its only correspondent from Pakistan
The Taliban killed a police chief and three bodyguards in Balkh and claimed that eight soldiers defected in Ghazni. An ISAF helicopter crashed in Kapisa; the Taliban claimed they shot it down.
Is This the Secret U.S. Drone Base in Saudi Arabia?
Iran’s leader Khamenei rejected an offer from the US for direct talks over its nuclear program. State television broadcast videos it said were taken from a US spy drone captured in December 2011. The US and Western nations imposed a new round of economic sanctions on Iran.
Several hardline Muslim clerics issued a fatwa calling for the killing of prominent opposition leaders. The government condemned the action and beefed up security around the opposition leaders’ homes.
Inching closer to the center of Damascus, rebels overran government positions on a key road. Government forces responded with air and artillery attacks. After 16 days of fighting, government troops took control of the central town of Karnaz.
Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said he was in talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over forming a national unity government. A Palestinian court sentenced a man to a year in jail for cursing President Abbas on Facebook.
Pentagon leaders favored arming Syrian rebels
Obama Relents on Secret Drone Memo
Major Saudi cleric defends Bin Laden on Al Jazeera
Jail for journalist working on rape story in Somalia
Yesterday’s attack was likely executed by the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda in Iraq’s affiliate in Syria.
Ahmadzai Claims Spy Agencies Oppose Afghan Local Police
Shabaab fighters ambushed an Ethiopian military convoy in Gedo; several Shabaab fighters and Ethiopian soldiers are reported to have been killed in the fighting. Shabaab killed two Ethiopian soldiers in an IED attack in Baidoa.
For US Leader in Afghan War, Much Time Making Peace
Pakistani Militant, Price on Head, Lives in Open
Suspected Boko Haram fighters killed six park rangers and captured several more in an attack at the Sambisa game reserve. The attack was apparently in reprisal for a military assault on a Boko Haram camp last week.
Hundreds of protesters in Tunis and Gafsa called for regime change and clashed with police, continuing protests that began yesterday when opposition leader Chokri Belaid was shot dead by two unknown assassins. Ennahda party officials as well as opposition parties rejected the plan announced by Prime Minister Jebali yesterday to dismiss the government and form […]
Algerian warplanes and attack helicopters repelled a three-hour coordinated assault on an army barracks by some 50 militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades. Two militants died in the assault and six soldiers were wounded; one militant was captured. Many of the attackers were Tunisian and Libyan and carried Libyan weapons.
Police detained two men and a woman on suspicion of leading efforts “to recruit several Malaysians for terrorist activities.” One of the men is said to be Yazid Sufaat, a former Malaysian army captain who was jailed for seven years for links to Jemaah Islamiyah but freed in 2008. Before his arrest in 2001, he […]
A proposed Kabul religious conference on the impermissibility of suicide attacks has drawn opposition from the Afghan Taliban and from Pakistani religious parties, and a frustrated President Karzai has appealed to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
A video biography of one of the two members of the Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem (MSC) who carried out the June 18, 2012 cross-border attack that killed one Israeli civilian was posted on jihadist forums.
Officials from several countries are said to be trying to find two members of Hezbollah alleged to be behind the Burgas terror attack. Meanwhile, new details on the attack have been released by those involved in the investigation.
Five people are reported to have been killed in the attack. The drone strike is the first to have been recorded in Pakistan in nearly four weeks.
Salafists Feel Betrayed By Hamas’ Moderate Stance
Satellite images broadcast on Israel’s Channel 2 show an unscathed facility, but they also show that a road near the facility is clearly burnt, likely the location where a Syrian weapons convoy was struck.
China said it was “extremely concerned” about North Korea’s threat to go beyond a third nuclear test. A foreign ministry spokesperson said: “We oppose any behavior which may exacerbate the situation and any acts which are not beneficial towards the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.”
Ahmadinejad visits Cairo: How sect tempers Islamist ties between Egypt, Iran
At the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit in Cairo, President Ahmadinejad called for a strategic alliance with Egypt and proposed a loan to the cash-strapped country. Egypt’s response was cool.