By John Davison and Abdelaziz Boumzar | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq From a distance, the exhausted Iraqis fleeing parts of Mosul controlled by Islamic State appeared to be pushing their worldly possessions on handcarts. By the time they reached Reuters journalists it was clear that their cargo was far more precious, and more tragic. One man lifted a grubby, fluffy blanket to reveal the dust and blood-covered […]
BEIRUT Ahrar al-Sham, a powerful Syrian rebel group, on Friday said the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State was behind a deadly mosque attack near Syria’s Aleppo that a war monitor said killed dozens of people on Thursday evening. Jets hit around a mosque in al-Jina village near Atarib in the western part of Aleppo province, a few miles (km) from Idlib province on Thursday, killing at least […]
By John Davison | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq After five months of intense fighting, Iraqi forces have begun to drive back Islamic State into the dense and narrow-alleyed Old City of Mosul, with the mosque where its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate in 2014 firmly in sight. Iraqi leaders say the battle to recapture Mosul is reaching its final stages, trumpeting each gain made against […]
By John Davison | MOSUL AIRPORT, Iraq MOSUL AIRPORT, Iraq Outside a mosque on the edge of Mosul airport’s ripped up runway, Iraqis made homeless by war sit on suitcases, taking a brief rest before beginning their onward journey, on foot or in buses. Men push wheelchairs carrying elderly relatives or carts loaded with small children over dusty and uneven ground, part of an exodus of people […]
BEIRUT Two suicide bomb attacks killed at least 31 people and wounded dozens more in Damascus on Wednesday, state media reported, in the second such spate of bombings in the Syrian capital in five days. The first suicide bomber targeted the Palace of Justice, the main courthouse in central Damascus near the Old City. Justice Minister Najem al-Ahmad told reporters the initial death toll was 31, mostly […]
By Philip Pullella | VATICAN CITY VATICAN CITY Managers who close businesses, shut factories or restructure firms without fully considering the impact on workers and their families are committing a “very grave sin”, Pope Francis said on Wednesday. Addressing tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square for his weekly audience, Francis strayed from his text after mentioning he was worried about how families might be […]
Photo A damaged classroom after shelling in the rebel-held town of Hass in Idlib Province. Credit Ammar Abdullah/Reuters GENEVA — Syrian military airstrikes on rebels were responsible for severing water supplies to 5.5 million people in the Damascus region for weeks starting last December, the United Nations said on Tuesday, rebutting government claims that insurgents were to blame. In a bombing campaign to drive rebel forces from […]
SEOUL North Korea warned the United States on Tuesday of “merciless” attacks if an aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Carl Vinson, which is joining South Korean forces for exercises, infringes on its sovereignty or dignity. North Korea, which has alarmed its neighbours with two nuclear tests and a string of missile launches since last year, said the arrival of the U.S. strike group was […]
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi | AMMAN AMMAN A prominent Iraqi Sunni politician on Monday warned Washington the acceleration in a military campaign in western Mosul to drive out Islamic State jihadists was causing a sudden surge in civilian casualties that threatened to undermine the effort to crush the militants. Khamis Khanjar, who has used his leverage to lobby the U.S. administration and the Iraqi authorities to ensure the […]
A major Nor’easter threatens to shut down travel due to heavy snow and strong winds from Washington, D.C., to New York City and Boston early this week, as weather forecasters on Sunday put the U.S. East Coast on a blizzard watch, warning some 50 million people of potential snowfall from 12 to 18 inches, coupled with wind blasts in some areas from Monday night into Wednesday. New […]
HODEIDAH At least 22 civilians were killed on Friday and dozens wounded when a Saudi-led coalition air strike hit a market in western Yemen causing a fire to break out, a local official said. Missiles launched by fighter jets of the Arab alliance hit a market selling the mild narcotic leaf qat, which is popular among Yemenis, near the Red Sea fishing town of Khoukha. Rescue workers […]
By Tom Perry and John Davison | BEIRUT/MOSUL, Iraq BEIRUT/MOSUL, Iraq U.S.-backed Syrian militias said on Friday they were strong enough to seize Raqqa from Islamic State with support from the U.S.-led coalition, underlining their opposition to any Turkish role in the planned attack. The campaign against the city, Islamic State’s Syrian base of operations, is gathering pace as Iraqi forces press ahead with their efforts to […]
A couple travelling the world on a Vespa scooter have been taking in the sights of the UAE on the latest leg of their trip. Italian Paolo Zambon and Canadian Lindsay Doig have clocked up more than 60,000km on the two-wheeler on their on-off journey, which has taken them to 12 countries as far afield as Italy and Australia. The couple, who live in Vancouver, have been […]
The report from January was one of hundreds that Mr. Abdul Kareem has made inside Syria in recent years, building his reputation as a unique voice covering the war from rebel-held areas that other Western journalists have fled for fear of kidnapping and beheading by jihadists. Continue reading the main story Along the way, Mr. Abdul Kareem has interviewed foreign fighters from Britain, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere […]
Photo A convoy of American armored vehicles in Manbij, northern Syria, on Sunday. The formal troop cap for Syria is 503, but commanders have the authority to temporarily exceed that limit to meet military requirements. Credit Delil Souleiman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images WASHINGTON — The United States is sending an additional 400 troops to Syria to help prepare for the looming fight for Raqqa, the capital of […]
BEIRUT U.S.-backed Syrian forces said on Thursday they were closing in on Islamic State-held Raqqa and expected to reach the city outskirts in a few weeks, as a U.S. Marines artillery unit deployed to help the campaign. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a militia alliance including the Kurdish YPG, is the main U.S. partner in the war against Islamic State in Syria. Since November it has been […]
KABUL The death toll from an attack on a military hospital in Kabul by gunmen dressed as medics has risen to 49 with dozens wounded, a senior health official said on Thursday. Salim Rassouli, director of Kabul hospitals, said 49 people had been killed in the attack on the Sardar Mohammad Khan military hospital on Wednesday, with at least 63 wounded. Some uncertainty remained over the exact […]
For the teaser video of Age of Triumph, the last update to Destiny before developer Bungie focuses on its sequel, it was hinted that players will be returning to the Vault of Glass. The Vault of Glass was the very first raid for the massively popular space shooter, with many players considering it as the best raid ever released for Destiny. However, as Bungie released all the details for […]
Poisoned. Stabbed. Driven to suicide. These are just some of the unpleasant ways women in 19th-century opera meet their demise. Mimi, from La Bohème, is no different. Giacomo Puccini’s masterpiece – which comes to Dubai Opera for three performances from today until Saturday – sees the opera’s heroine end her days in poverty, coughing up blood, too poor to buy medicine, and estranged from her one true […]
By Fatos Bytyci | PRISTINA PRISTINA Kosovo signalled on Wednesday it would turn its security force into a national army, plans opposed by its ethnic Serb minority that drew immediate criticism from NATO and the territory’s biggest foreign supporter, the United States. Nearly two decades after the Kosovo war, relations between Belgrade and Pristina remain strained and Serbia continues to regard Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, […]
Photo A convoy of United States armored vehicles in Manbij, northern Syria. A Pentagon spokesman said Monday that the deployment was intended as a “visible sign of deterrence and reassurance” to dissuade Turkish-backed militias and other groups from attacking the area. Credit Delil Souleiman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images WASHINGTON — The top American military officer met Tuesday with his Russian and Turkish counterparts to discuss how to […]
By Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kubo | TOKYO TOKYO Rattled by North Korean military advances, influential Japanese lawmakers are pushing harder for Japan to develop the ability to strike preemptively at the missile facilities of its nuclear-armed neighbour. Japan has so far avoided taking the controversial and costly step of acquiring bombers or weapons such as cruise missiles with enough range to strike other countries, relying instead […]
By Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Faced with a growing test of resolve for a new U.S. president who vowed while campaigning to get tough on North Korea, Donald Trump’s aides are pressing to complete a strategy review on how to counter Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear threats. Pyongyang’s latest missile launches and the assassination in Malaysia of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged […]
MOSUL, Iraq: Crawl through a labyrinth of narrow tunnels in near total darkness and suddenly they appear: two great winged bulls dating from the Assyrian empire found intact under the ground of Mosul.But as fighting rages to evict the Daesh group from the main city in northern Iraq, it will be a race against time to save the archaeological treasures uncovered in the tunnels.The jihadists dug the […]
