Africa
Somalia: US air-strikes on Shabaab camp
US drones and warplanes killed more than 150 al-Shabab militants in Somalia, with the Pentagon citing an "imminent threat" to US and African Union forces.
Tag: al-Qaeda
Greater Middle East
Syria: whose side is Israel on?
The Israeli security establishment and its neocon allies are divided between those who would destabilize Assad and those who would prop him with up as the Devil they know.
Greater Middle East
Are Rojava Kurds taking the Russian bait?
Syria's Rojava Kurds are accused of coordinating with Russian air-strikes to take territory held by Islamist factions—while Turkey warns them against any further advance.
Greater Middle East
US must choose between Turkey and anti-ISIS fight
The US aids Syrian Kurds against ISIS even as it acquiesces in Turkey's counterinsurgency against allied Kurdish forces just across the border—undermining anti-ISIS unity.
Greater Middle East
Kurds caught in Russo-Turkish game… again
With Turkey insisting that the Syrian Kurds be barred from upcoming Geneva peace talks, Russia is pressing for their participation—while pursuing its grisly campaign of aerial terror.
Africa
AQIM claims Burkina Faso attack
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb issued a statement saying the Ouagadougou attack was carried out by "mujahideen brothers" of its West African franchise, al-Mourabitoun.
Southeast Asia
Jakarta: ISIS franchise exploited sectarian tensions
The ISIS-affiliated network that carried out the Jakarta attacks emerged from the sectarian conflict between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province.
Greater Middle East
Rights groups criticize arms sale to Saudi Arabia
Human Rights Watch called on the US to cancel a pending arms sale to Saudi Arabia in the absence of serious investigations into alleged laws-of-war violations in Yemen.
Africa
Mali: who is behind Bamako attack?
The deadly hotel siege in Mali's capital was apparently ordered by Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar—who was twice reported killed in military operations over the past two years.
Greater Middle East
AKP-ISIS collaboration in Ankara massacre?
Several PKK sympathizers have been arrested in connection with the Ankara suicide blasts—but the Turkish left charges that the ruling AKP collaborated with ISIS in the attack.
Greater Middle East
Lines drawn in imperial scramble for Syria
The US and Russia each groom their own rival proxy forces to fight ISIS and the Nusra Front—which in turn pledge to turn Syria into "another Afghanistan."
Greater Middle East
Tatar militants pledge to Syria’s Nusra Front?
In a claim convenient to Russian war propaganda, a group of Tatars calling themselves the Crimean Jamaat reportedly pledged loyalty to Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syrian franchise.