While the Democrats are partying in Charlotte, the drone war in Yemen has gone into “overdrive,” leaving scores dead in recent days—to little notice in the US media.
The Melkite Catholic archbishop of Aleppo flees Syria after his offices are sacked by jihadists—as the US State Department establishes an Istanbul office to aid the Syrian rebels.
Security forces in Bahrain used tear gas and rubber bullets after protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at a police station, in what official media called a “terror attack.”
Presumed militants from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) blew up a pipeline pumping liquefied gas to Yemen’s southern Balhaf export terminal, halting operations.
The British anarcho-syndicalist website Solidarity Federation runs a statement from a representative of a “group of young Syrian anarchists and anti-authoritarians from Aleppo.”
Multiple US drone strikes have hit targets in Yemen and Afghanistan during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, killing several—all said to be al-Qaeda-linked militants.
As urban warfare rages in Damascus and Aleppo, rebel gunmen abducted 47 Iranian pilgrims outside the capital—and a mob attack on Alawites was reported in Turkey.
A suicide attack killed 35 at the funeral of a Yemeni tribal leader who fought al-Qaeda militants—as a US drone strike in Hadramout province killed five.
The Syrian National Council and allied Free Syrian Army are portrayed as the sole leadership of Syria’s revolution—as Kurdish nationalists and left-wing parties as well as jihadis have refused to accept their umbrella.
Turkey has called a NATO meeting to discuss a response to the shooting down of one of its warplanes by Syrian forces—as the Free Syria Army establishes a command center in Istanbul, and sends a delegation to Washington.
As thousands of Egyptians fill Tahrir Square to protest the military’s assumption of new powers, Algerian Islamist leaders warned of an “Algeria-like scenario” —a reference to the country’s decade-long civil war.
Yemeni government forces took back AQAP’s major stronghold towns after a month-long offensive. But al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has grown along with US drone strikes—from a handful of militants to a widespread insurgency.
