The Pentagon’s top general in the Middle East warned Wednesday that the U.S. is “going to have huge problems” with a massive Islamic State resurgence over the coming decade without a sweeping new international plan to de-radicalize young men and women across the Middle East.
The U.S. designation last week of a new Turkey-based member of the notorious Rawi Network for allegedly facilitating money transfers to the Islamic State (IS) in Syria has raised fresh concerns among observers that jihadists continue to use Turkey to fund their activities in Syria.
Lebanon’s prime minister has declared a national day of mourning after his nation’s worst explosion in years devastated Beirut killing scores of people and injuring thousands.
At least 15 people were killed in a mystery air attack on a base used by Iranian forces and Iranian-backed militias, a war monitor group focused on Syria said Tuesday.
Iran will strike a reciprocal blow against the US for the killing of top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Qasem Soleimani, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday in a meeting with Iraq Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, according to Khamenei’s official website.
When President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reopens Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia for prayers next week, it will be the crowning symbol of his mission to reassert Turkey’s role as a Muslim power on the global stage. Yet Turkey’s rarely seemed more alone.
The United States and six Gulf countries on Wednesday imposed sanctions on six targets Washington has accused of supporting Islamic State operations, including by funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to leaders of the group in Iraq and Syria.
Iraqi Christians want prayers for Christian and Kurdish families suffering from Turkish bombardments and incursions in Northern Iraq, aid workers say.
An international humanitarian aid organization has said Christians living in the formerly ISIS-controlled Nineveh Plains of Iraq are now in danger of extinction, the Christian Post reports. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) published a report this week in which it states that political and sectarian tensions are driving Christians out of the area.
Airstrikes targeting positions of Iran-backed militias in eastern Syria killed nine fighters on Sunday in the second such raid in 24 hours, a war monitor said.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) heard last week that President Donald Trump’s partial withdrawal of American troops from northeast Syria in 2019 created a vacuum in which Turkey and Turkish-backed militia have been able to threaten local vulnerable civilian populations including Christians and Yazidis. Condemning Turkey’s latest airstrikes and ground operations in the region, the USCIRF called for the US government to “utilize all diplomatic and economic leverage to protect vulnerable religious minorities in northern Iraq — as well as neighboring northeastern Syria — from Turkey’s indiscriminate military operations,” the Christian Post reported.
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi on Sunday said Iran is now the most dangerous country in the Middle East, not just because of its nuclear program, but also through its conventional weapons and support for terror activities against Israel.
U.S. Central Command Gen. Ken McKenzie has repeatedly said of late that the American force of 5,200 soldiers in Iraq will be drawing down soon, but the fight against the Islamic State is not yet complete and will not be turned over to Iraqi Armed Forces alone.
British and French officials say migrants fleeing war, persecution, and poverty are using increasingly desperate measures to reach Britain. In the latest case, four migrants tried to cross the English Channel on a makeshift raft made from two windsurfing boards tied together. They were reportedly using shovels as paddles.
The Palestinian prime minister says his government will declare a new Palestinian state, perhaps as early as next month, if Israel goes ahead with plans to annex parts of the West Bank.
An airstrike in eastern Syria on Sunday killed five non-Syrian fighters backed by Iran, a Britain-based war monitor said.
If war is coming to outer space, then the United States is late to the battlefield. But, its recently unveiled Space Force is already changing the ground rules in the Middle East.
U.S.-led coalition forces have reportedly hit back against an Islamic State cell in Syria. They captured a midlevel leader linked to increasing attacks by the terror group in the Deir el-Zour countryside, the Voice of America (VOA) network said Thursday.
Israeli airstrikes in eastern Syria have killed 14 Iranian and Iraqi fighters, a group monitoring the Syrian war says.
President Trump threatened Iran with severe retaliation Wednesday after the U.S. military claimed Iranian ships had made ‘dangerous and threatening approaches’ toward American navy vessels in the Persian Gulf last week.