Greater Middle East
Saudis crack down on Yemeni smuggling pipeline
Border Guard patrols along Saudi Arabia’s rugged mountain frontier with Yemen report mounting interceptions of hashish, weapons and other contraband.
Author: CounterVortex
Africa
Somalia: Shabab leader dead in US drone strike?
A drone strike targeted Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane as US-backed Ethiopian forces launched a new drive to beat back the insurgent group in Somalia.
Iraq
ISIS massacres 700 Turkmen: report
ISIS fighters massacred 700 Turkmen civilians—including women, children and the elderly—in a northern Iraqi village last month, a UNICEF official reports.
North America
Seeing the women in revolutionary Syria
A poster produced by the "Syrian People Know Their Way" collective reads "Syrian women, revolt against every authority!" and "REVOLUTION." Eclipsed from media portrayals except as victims of violence, Syrian women have been at the forefront of the revolution from the… Read moreSeeing the women in revolutionary Syria
Iraq
ISIS executions go viral; Nusra attacks Golan
ISIS posted videos online of Syrian and Kurdish troops being beheaded, while Nusra Front seized 43 UN peacekeepers near the Israeli line in the Golan Heights.
Iraq
ISIS gets an air force after fall of Syrian base
ISIS supporters posted photos to Twitter of fighters from the militant group in control of warplanes, missiles and tanks seized after the jihadists overran the Syrian air base of Tabaqa.
Palestine
Hamas claims victory, celebration across Palestine
As a ceasefire went into effect, Hamas urged Gazans to take to the streets and "celebrate victory and the fulfillment of the Palestinian people's demands."
Iraq
Turkish border forces bar Yazidi refugees
Thousands of Yazidi refugees who have fled the Sinjar region of northern Iraq have been denied entry into Turkey by military forces, and are stranded in the mountains.
Iraq
Reprisal attacks in Iraq; US prepares Syria strikes?
A wave of terror blasts, including at a Shi'ite mosque, left 35 dead across Iraq, as the Pentagon prepares surveillance flights over ISIS territory in Syria.
Iraq
Multi-faction resistance to ISIS in Syria and Iraq
Kurdish Peshmerga, PKK fighters, Iraqi and Syrian government forces, Shi'ite militias, and Syrian rebels are all mobilizing to resist as ISIS advances on multiple fronts.
Iraq
Iraq: Yazidis resist ISIS; Turkmen threatened
A Yazidi militia is fighting alongside Peshmerga to re-take Sinjar from ISIS, while the UN's Iraq envoy warned of an imminent massacre of Turkmen at ISIS-besieged Amerli.
One Year of Breathing Death
Aug. 21 marked the one-year anniversary of the chemical weapon attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta, found by international investigations to have been the work of the Bashar Assad regime. The Syrian diaspora around the world held protests and… Read moreOne Year of Breathing Death