Iraq
Iraq: ISIS poses Kurdish dilemma for Washington
The Kurdish Regional Government appeals to Obama for arms to fight ISIS—while Baghdad demands the Kurds return arms seized from its own disintegrating national army.
Tag: al-Qaeda
North Africa
Mali: French pursue jihadis; talks open with MNLA
France expands military operations across the Sahel to chase down jihadist insurgents, as Mali opens peace talks with Tuareg separatists that have seized much of the country.
Africa
Deadly Ramadan in Somalia
Militant group al-Shabab has lived up to its promise to step up attacks in Somalia, mainly against government installations and personnel, during the holy month of Ramadan.
North Africa
Libya: Tripoli clashes; Benghazi suspect killed
As rival militias battle for control of Tripoli's airport, a suspect in the 2012 attack in Benghazi is found dead in Libya's eastern town of Marj, also under control of a local militia.
Watching the Shadows
Convictions of ex-Qaeda media director overturned
A US appeals court overturned two out of three convictions of al-Qaeda media secretary Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al-Bahlul, finding he was improperly tried by a military tribunal.
Iraq
Iraq: mass murder of Sunni prisoners
Iraqi security forces and pro-government militias have unlawfully executed at least 250 Sunni prisoners in six Iraqi cities and villages, Human Rights Watch reports.
Iraq
ISIS seize nuclear, chemical materials: reports
Iraq's government warned the UN that ISIS militants have seized nuclear materials from a Mosul research facility and chemical agents from a stockpile outside Baghdad.
Iraq
Bob Dreyfuss betrays Syria in The Nation
As Syrians put their lives on the line to oppose a genocidal regime, Bob Dreyfuss in The Nation calls on the US to back Bashar Assad to beat back ISIS.
Iraq
ISIS declare new ‘caliphate’; Syrian rebels resist
ISIS announced the establishment of a new "caliphate," with its own leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as caliph. But even Islamist rebels in Syria are fighting back against ISIS forces.
Greater Middle East
Jordan acquits radical cleric of terrorism charges
Radical cleric Abu Qatada, whose detention in the UK was declared illegal by the European Court of Human Rights, was cleared of terrorism charges by a court in Jordan.
Iraq
Iraq: cultural cleansing in Mosul
The ISIS militants that have seized Mosul are engaged in a campaign of cultural cleansing—targeting not only the citiy's inhabitants, but its artistic and historical treasures.
Iraq
Iraq: Sufis resist ISIS in Kirkuk
Fighting erupted between ISIS and militants of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order in Kirkuk governorate, as the Sunni rebel coalition that has seized a third of Iraq starts to fray.