Iraq

More Reported Attacks on Iranian Military, Intelligence Officials as Parliament Reacts

Members of Iran’s parliament Tuesday chanted “death to Israel,” and they voted to increase the level of uranium enrichment to 20% and to halt U.N. nuclear inspections in reaction to the killing Friday of the country’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. At the same time, Arab and Iranian media reported the killings of two more high-level Iranian military and intelligence officials within the past 48 hours.

Trump to cut troop levels in Afghanistan but stops short of full withdrawal

President Donald Trump will sharply reduce the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan from 4,500 to 2,500 by mid-January, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday, stopping short of a threatened full withdrawal from America’s longest war after fierce opposition from allies at home and abroad.

Archaeologists find 1,000 year-old coins in Jerusalem

Israeli archaeologists have unearthed a jar containing 1,000-year-old coins in the Old City of Jerusalem, CBN News reports. Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) inspector Yevgenia Kapil made the discovery during preliminary digging for a Western Wall elevator installation in October.

Top Iranian official says Israeli-Arab normalizing ties is a failed US-Israel plot against Iran

A senior official in Iran’s Islamist regime has described the recent normalization of ties between Israel and Arab states as a US-Israeli plot against Iran, which will ultimately fail, Jerusalem Online (JOL) reported. Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei made his comments Wednesday at an international conference in Tehran on the decline of America.

EU Awards Top Rights Prize To Belarus Opposition

The European Union has awarded its top human rights prize to the Belarus opposition movement and its leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. They received the Sakharov Prize for their challenge to what EU leaders view as Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko’s long, hard-line reign.

State Dept. says it will impose “snap back” sanctions on Iran, despite US withdrawal from Nuclear Deal

As the US believes Iran has continued to develop nuclear weapons, and as the United Nations arms embargo on Iran expires next month, the State Department announced Wednesday that it is pressing forward with “snap back” sanctions that are provided for under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Iran Nuclear deal, Fox News reports. Under the terms of the JCPoA, snapback sanctions can be re-imposed if Iran is perceived to be violating the terms of the agreement. However, as the Trump administration withdrew from the JCPoA in 2018, UNSC members Britain, China, France, Germany, and Russia have unequivocally stated the US has no authority to unilaterally enforce snapback sanctions once the current embargo is lifted on October 18.

Donald Trump Iraq, Afghanistan troop drawdown fulfills promise, fuels criticism

President Trump checked off a key campaign promise Wednesday with a major drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq and an even greater reduction in Afghanistan coming soon, but skeptics say the moves reflect U.S. political imperatives and not the chaos and violence both countries are likely to face down the road.

CENTCOM: US Will Cut Troop Levels in Afghanistan to 4,500

The U.S. military is reducing troops in Afghanistan from 8,600 to about 4,500 by early November, the head of U.S Central Command said Wednesday, hours after he announced the withdrawal of more service members from Iraq this month.

Iraq, Jordan, Egypt Discuss Closer Ties

It was a highly touted summit, with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustapha Kadhimi reaching out to potential allies Egypt and Jordan in what appeared to be a bid to loosen Iran’s grip on Iraqi politics. Pro-Iranian militias have been accused of interfering in Iraqi government decisions and attacking protesters who oppose them.

Iran unveils two new missiles as UN fails to extend expiring arms embargo

Iran announced Thursday that is has unveiled two new missiles, each of which has been named after a senior military official killed in US drone strikes this year, Fox News reports. The announcement follows a United Nations Security Council vote in which only the Dominican Republican backed a US request to extend an arms embargo on Iran which expires in October; the embargo will therefore not be extended.

Israel has taken out 1/3 of Syrian air defenses in last two years

Israel has destroyed one-third of Syrian air defenses in the past two years, and close to a thousand surface-to-air missiles have been launched towards Israel Air Force jets during missions for its “war-between-wars” campaign targeting Iranian infrastructure in the war-torn country.

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