Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. So when President Trump raised the white flag on Obamacare Friday, did he pick up the phone and gave the exclusive to Breitbart, The Daily Caller or LifeZette? Nope. He called reporters at The Washington Post and The New York […]
BEIRUT: US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance on Sunday entered a military airport held by Daesh in northern Syria while the militant group warned the Tabqa dam is at imminent risk of collapse because of airstrikes and increased water levels.The advance by Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tabqa airbase comes as the alliance prepares an attack on Daesh’s de facto Syrian capital Raqqa, seeking to effectively surround the city before […]
BEIRUT: At least 16 civilians were killed and dozens wounded on Saturday in an airstrike on an opposition-held area outside Syria’s capital Damascus, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. It said it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the strike on the town Hammuriyeh in the opposition bastion of Eastern Ghouta.“Sixteen civilians, including a child, were killed and around 50 others wounded in […]
Continue reading the main story “There are other people on the battlefield, too,” he said. “It’s close quarters.” American officials said that even the timing of the strike was still in question. Col. Joseph E. Scrocca, a spokesman for the American-led command in Baghdad, said in a statement Friday that the strike under investigation happened between March 17 and Thursday. Continue reading the main story The civilian […]
By Nidal al-Mughrabi | GAZA GAZA A senior Hamas militant was shot dead near his home in the Gaza Strip on Friday, the group said, blaming Israel for the killing. An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to comment on the incident in the Hamas-run Palestinian coastal enclave. Mazen Fuqaha, a militant from the occupied West Bank whom Israel released in a prisoner swap in 2011 and exiled to […]
WASHINGTON The head of U.S. forces in Africa told reporters on Friday that greater authority to fight al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants in Somalia would lead to more flexibility and quicker targeting, but that a decision had not yet been made by the White House. Al Shabaab has been able to carry out deadly bombings despite losing most of its territory to African Union peacekeepers supporting the […]
“The fighting is raging on as I speak and is expected to last several weeks until the dam, airfield and city are free from ISIS control,” said Col. Joseph E. Scrocca, a spokesman for the American-led command in Baghdad. Continue reading the main story As the operation unfolded, Syrian state television and local residents asserted that at least 30 Syrian civilians were killed in an airstrike that […]
“Reflecting on the past year or so, we should be encouraged by the significant progress we as a coalition are making,” Mr. Tillerson said. Continue reading the main story Mr. Trump has long insisted that citing “radical Islamic terrorism” is key to defeating the Islamic State. “You can’t solve a problem if you refuse to talk about what the problem is,” he said in November 2015. Yet […]
In the wake of the terror attacks in England, France, Germany and elsewhere, can we finally admit that the war on terror is an utter and complete failure? 10 Ways to Reduce Terrorism So if the war on terror has failed, what should we do to stop terrorists? I. Stop Overthrowing the Moderates and Arming Crazies We know it’s a difficult concept to grasp, but if we […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — At least 30 Syrian civilians have been killed in an airstrike by the United States-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in a rural area of Raqqa Province, according to residents, activists and state television. The attack, which hit a school where civilians had taken shelter Tuesday night, marked the second time in a week that Syrians had accused the United States of involvement in […]
MOSUL Islamic State militants shelled areas recaptured by Iraqi forces in western Mosul, hitting civilians fleeing the fighting early on Wednesday as troops edged their way through the narrow, dangerous streets of the Old City. Heavy mortar fire killed at least five civilians and wounded more than 20 in Mosul Jadida and Rifak districts – areas that the militants had recently lost to Federal Police and Rapid […]
Iona Craig, who reported on the aftermath of the botched Navy SEAL raid in Yemen for The Intercept from Yeman, did so with the help of the Pulitzer Center. Iona Craig. Grants from the Pulitzer Center go a long way for international journalists who eke out a difficult existence covering tough stories from dangerous places. The details of her recent Yemen experience should give pause to most […]
By Stephanie Nebehay | GENEVA GENEVA North Korea has nothing to fear from any U.S. move to broaden sanctions aimed at cutting it off from the global financial system and will pursue “acceleration” of its nuclear and missile programmes, a Pyongyang envoy told Reuters on Tuesday. This includes developing a “pre-emptive first strike capability” and an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM), said Choe Myong Nam, deputy ambassador at […]
By Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The Trump administration is considering sweeping sanctions aimed at cutting North Korea off from the global financial system as part of a broad review of measures to counter Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile threat, a senior U.S. official said on Monday. The sanctions would be part of a multi-pronged approach of increased economic and diplomatic pressure – especially on […]
By Idrees Ali | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON In March 2014, the U.S. military paid an Afghan man just over $1,000 to compensate for killing his civilian son in an operation near the border with Iran, according to U.S. military records released to Reuters. Six months later, another Afghan father was given $10,000 by the U.S. military after his child, also a civilian, was killed in an American-led […]
That concern gives weight to arguments for greater reliance on special operators as the Trump administration for now eschews larger deployments of conventional troops and proposes deep cuts in foreign aid and State Department budgets. Continue reading the main story The global reach of special operators is widening. During the peak of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly 13,000 Special Operations forces were deployed on missions […]
BEIRUT Syrian government forces battled rebel groups at the fringes of Damascus on Sunday, after the insurgents launched an attack from the east of the heavily fortified capital, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the army and allied forces had engaged in heavy clashes with rebels in the Jobar district, at the eastern edge of Damascus. Insurgent groups attacked government positions in […]
BEIRUT The leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement denounced the United Nations on Saturday as weak after the withdrawal of a report accusing Israel of imposing an “apartheid regime” on Palestinians. A senior U.N. official resigned on Friday after the secretary general asked her to remove the report, published by the United Nation’s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), from the internet. U.N. Under-Secretary General […]
By Abdelaziz Boumzar | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq Thousands of Iraqis surged out of western Mosul on Saturday during a lull in heavy fighting in districts around the densely populated Old City where Iraqi forces are facing fierce resistance from Islamic State militants. Five months into the battle to take Islamic State’s last bastion in Iraq, government forces have cleared the east and half of western Mosul, […]
Photo Part of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system in the Golan Heights on Friday. Israeli officials said a separate system, Arrow, had intercepted a missile that appeared to be heading toward Israeli territory. Credit Atef Safadi/European Pressphoto Agency JERUSALEM — The Syrian armed forces fired antiaircraft missiles at Israeli warplanes that had struck targets deep in Syria early Friday, in what appeared to be the most […]
“At this particular time, its purpose was to host this meeting of very senior people in Al Qaeda,” Captain Davis said. Officials emphasized that widely recognized military guidelines allow sites to be targeted for attacks based on what they are being used for at a given moment — and not on their general purpose or even typical use. Continue reading the main story Mohamed Ibrahim, who lives […]
BEIRUT The head of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said a U.S.-backed assault to drive Islamic State from its de-facto capital Raqqa would begin at the start of April and the YPG would be taking part, despite fierce opposition from neighbouring Turkey. A spokesman for the U.S. Pentagon said no decision had been made yet on the Raqqa offensive, which is part of a two pronged attempt […]
WASHINGTON The Pentagon on Friday denied accusations by a Syrian rebel group that the United States had targeted a mosque in Syria and, in a rare move, showed an aerial image to illustrate the mosque was intact and the building destroyed was in fact across the street. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis, addressing a Pentagon news conference, said he believed dozens of al Qaeda fighters were killed […]
By John Davison and Ahmed Rasheed | MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD MOSUL, Iraq/BAGHDAD Iraqi forces battling Islamic State in Mosul edged into the Old City and around the al Nuri mosque on Friday trying to seal off a main road to prevent militants sending in suicide bombers to attack their positions. Troops are meeting fierce resistance as militants retreat into the Old City, where street fighting is expected in […]
