MOSCOW: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan explained his comments about a plan to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the RIA news agency cited Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov as saying on Thursday.Erdogan said earlier this week his forces in Syria were there to topple Assad, a statement which came as a surprise to Moscow. Ushakov gave no details about […]
GENEVA About 30,000 people are receiving aid after fleeing the besieged eastern zone of the Syrian city of Aleppo in the past few days, taking the total number of displaced people in the city to 400,000, U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Thursday. The U.N. has food for 150,000 people ready in western Aleppo but it still cannot reach roughly 200,000 who remain in the […]
Syrian rebel leaders are in secret talks with Russia to end the fighting in Aleppo, according to opposition figures, a development that shows how the US could become sidelined in some of the Middle East’s most pivotal conflicts. Four opposition members from rebel-held northern Syria told the Financial Times that Turkey has been brokering talks in Ankara with Moscow, whose military intervention last year on the side […]
Submitted by Federico Pieraccini via Strategic-Culture.org, Looking at US history over a fairly long period of time, it is easy to see the destructive path that has accompanied the expansion of the American empire over the last seventy years. While World War II was still raging, US strategists were already planning their next steps in the international arena. The new target was immediately identified in the assault […]
THOMSON REUTERS PRODUCTS Solutions for Corporations Eikon FX Trading World-Check One Enhanced Due Diligence Compliance Learning Org ID ONESOURCE Indirect Tax ONESOURCE Transfer Pricing ONESOURCE Global Trade Management […]
He is now one of just a few surviving witnesses to the Islamic State’s killings in Hamam al-Alil. One evening around 8 p.m. several weeks ago, he said, he watched from his rooftop as eight minibuses drove toward the area where the mass grave was discovered, and he heard gunshot after gunshot. “I saw Daesh bury 200 bodies over here,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for […]
By Paritosh Bansal and Serajul Quadir | DHAKA DHAKA Before Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury orchestrated Bangladesh’s worst militant attack, he sought and won approval for it from Islamic State. A Canadian of Bangladeshi origin, he was told by his contact in the militant group, Abu Terek Mohammad Tajuddin Kausar, to target foreigners, according to a senior police official who has seen communications between the two men. Chowdhury, located […]
By Angus McDowall and Tom Perry | BEIRUT BEIRUT Syrian rebels on Wednesday vowed to fight on in east Aleppo in the face of sudden government advances that have cut the area held by the opposition by a third in recent days and brought insurgents in the city to the brink of a catastrophic defeat. Gains by the Syrian army and its allies since last week have […]
ABU DHABI // Heads of state and representatives from more than 40 countries will attend a conference in Abu Dhabi this weekend to ratify a global declaration on protecting endangered cultural heritage. The two-day conference, hosted by the UAE and France, will involve global cooperation for supporting a Unesco mandate to protect cultural heritage during armed conflicts. Participants will aim to safeguard historical sites and monuments that […]
By Isabel Coles and Saif Hameed | MOSUL/BAGHDAD, Iraq MOSUL/BAGHDAD, Iraq The United Nations issued a fresh warning on Wednesday about the humanitarian situation in eastern Mosul where the U.S.-backed Iraqi army is locked in heavy fighting with Islamic State militants. More than six weeks into the offensive against Islamic State’s last major city stronghold in Iraq, the army is trying to dislodge militants dug in among […]
LONDON Outgoing CIA Director John Brennan has said it would be the “height of folly” for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to tear up Washington’s deal with Tehran because it would make it more likely that Iran and others would acquire nuclear weapons. “It could lead to a weapons programme inside of Iran that could lead other states in the region to embark on their own programmes,” Brennan […]
GENEVA/BAGHDAD: A fleeing seven-year-old child was among dozens more civilians allegedly executed by the Daesh group in Mosul in recent weeks, the UN said on Tuesday.Since the battle to retake the last Daesh bastion in Iraq began six weeks ago, the United Nations rights office has reported hundreds of alleged execution-style killings by Daesh, stressing that some of the purported atrocities have not been definitively confirmed.The most […]
5811 25 by Shannon K. O’Neil October 28, 2016 Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer’s CEO Frederico Curado (R) salutes workers next to an new Embraer E190-E2 during its unveil in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, February 25, 2016. Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA is in early talks with Iran, with a focus on commercial aviation, following the end of international sanctions, Chief Executive Curado told journalists on Thursday (Reuters/Nacho […]
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon on Tuesday blamed “unintentional” human mistakes for the American-led airstrikes in September that killed dozens of Syrian government troops. The attacks were conducted under the “good-faith belief” that the targets were Islamic State militants, according to the official inquiry. The investigation, led by an Air Force general, concluded that the strikes did not violate the law of armed conflict or the rules for […]
Submitted by Giuseppe Macri via InsideSources.com, The Obama administration’s revolving door with Google has been anything but subtle over the last eight years, and a new report from a government watchdog out this week shows the Silicon Valley giant hoped to extend that relationship to what many expected would be a Hillary Clinton presidency. According to Campaign for Accountability, a non-profit government watchdog, that door was already […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The ferocious ground assault and aerial bombardment in eastern Aleppo has forced some 16,000 people to flee for their lives in the last few days, according to Stephen O’Brien, the United Nations under secretary general for humanitarian affairs. “The parties to the conflict have shown time and again they are willing to take any action to secure military advantage even if it means killing, […]
In a not entirely shocking statement, it appears ISIS has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s OSU attacks by Abdul Razak Ali Artan…. 1)BREAKING: #ISIS’ ‘Amaq News Agency reports that #OhioState attacker Abdul Razak Artan was an ISIS “soldier” pic.twitter.com/1XQAQJXcSR — Rita Katz (@Rita_Katz) November 29, 2016 Ironically, this tweet arrived minutes after White House press Secretary Josh Earnest explained… OSU attacker “may have been motivated by extremism” & […]
MINSK France is working with Britain to draft a United Nations resolution on chemical weapons as quickly as possible, the French foreign affairs minister said on Tuesday. “We have taken over the drafting (of the chemical weapons resolution) with Britain. We are not giving up,” Jean-Marc Ayrault told Reuters head of a meeting to discuss the Ukraine crisis in Minsk. He added they hoped to be able […]
But the changes were not enough. Alexandrians dug deeper into provincialism and their faith. In a city once famed for its European-style liberalism, the Muslim Brotherhood became a powerful force. The ultraconservative Salafi movement built its base. And on New Year’s Day in 2011, the city became the scene of some of Egypt’s worst sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians in modern history. The seeds of the […]
By Maher Chmaytelli and Ulf Laessing | BAGHDAD/MOSUL, Iraq BAGHDAD/MOSUL, Iraq A full siege is developing in Mosul as poor families struggle to feed themselves after prices rose sharply following the U.S.-backed offensive on the Islamic State-held city in northern Iraq, humanitarian workers said on Tuesday. Some of the poorest families are finding it hard to feed themselves while others are hoarding and hiding food as they […]
BEIRUT Syrian rebels were fighting pro-government militias on the southeastern edge of east Aleppo’s opposition-held enclave on Tuesday, a rebel official said, as Damascus and its allies try to build on major gains in the city in recent days. A major assault by government forces backed by allied militia has driven rebels from the northern part of their eastern Aleppo enclave and they now hold only two […]
Opec’s most powerful members were rushing on Tuesday to rescue a supply deal designed to end the longest oil price crash in a generation. Saudi Arabia, Opec’s largest producer, and its arch rival Iran have both set out their positions ahead of Wednesday’s ministerial meeting in Vienna, with the kingdom hinting it could walk away from a deal if its conditions are not met and Tehran publicly […]
“Putin looks tough and wily, while America looks incompetent and unable to sustain its commitment, and that’s a big win because you have a lot of countries in the region which are re-evaluating their relationships,” Mr. Hokayem said. “Now, Russia is a relatively weaker power to the U.S., but with Trump there’s no expectation that the U.S. will serve as a guarantor of regional security, so Russia […]
ABU DHABI // Regional terrorism and the influence of Iran over countries such as Iraq, Syria and Lebanon have led to increased militarisation in the region, according to a new report. The report, Iran and the Gulf Military Balance, says Tehran poses a growing missile threat to maritime traffic in the Arabian Gulf and the flow of petroleum exports. This has led to “a de facto military […]
