Tag: ISIS

Greater Middle East

Egypt: Sufis targeted in Sinai mosque massacre

At least 235 were killed and over 100 wounded in a suicide attack as people gathered for Friday prayers at a mosque in Egypt's North Sinai. Women and children are among the dead. The mosque is said to be run by adherents of a local Sufi order, and includes a zawiya—a lodge used by order members for prayer and chanting. Although no group has yet claimed responsibility for the massacre, followers of Sufi Islam have faced numerous attacks by ISIS cells operating in the Sinai Peninsula.

Syria

SDF declare Raqqa ‘fully liberated’ from ISIS

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced that they have “fully cleared” Raqqa of jihadist fighters and “liberated” the city from ISIS. But the city lies in ruins after months of US-led bombardment, with no water or electricity. The SDF pledges to turn Raqqa over to civilian control, but rival councils loyal to the SDF and FSA each claim to be the city’s legitimate government.

Syria

Conviction in Syrian regime war crime —at last

For the first time, after six years of war and escalating atrocities, a member of the Syrian regime’s military has been convicted of a war crime—a low-level soldier now in Sweden as a refugee, and tried in that country’s courts. Yet there have been several convictions of Syrian rebel and ISIS fighters in European courts. This gross imbalance in convictions persists despite the fact that Assad has killed far more Syrians than ISIS or any other “terrorist” outfit in the country.

Iraq

Yazidis: UN resolution on genocide insufficient

Leaders of Ezidikhan, the newly declared Yazidi autonomous zone in northern Iraq, are protesting that a UN Security Council resolution calling for an investigation into possible genocide by ISIS doesn't go far enough. Yazidi authorities are calling for the scope of the investigation to be widened to include non-ISIS actors also complicit in the genocide—presumably including the Turkish state.

Syria

Further internationalization of Syrian war

Turkey sends more troops into Syria to fight jihadist factions in Idlib province, while Russia delivers more missiles to its military base at Tartus, and the US steps up bombardment of Raqqa in support of Kurdish forces in their drive to take the city from ISIS. Can these multiple foreign forces avoid attacking each other, even if accidentally, and sparking a wider war beyond Syria’s borders?

Syria

Trump and Putin team up to destroy Syria

As ISIS-held Raqqa is bombed into ruins by US forces, rebel-held Idlib is suffering the same fate under Russian and Assad regime warplanes. Civilian casualties are fast mounting in both enclaves. The twin aerial campaigns come just as Trump has cut off aid to the Free Syrian Army, indicating that the long-anticipated imperial carve-up of Syria is now well underway.

Syria

Syria: Russia denies bombing Kurdish forces

With Russian-backed Assad regime forces advancing on the ISIS-held city of Deir ez-Zor from the west and Kurdish forces advancing from the east, a breaking point appears to be approaching in the Kurds’ own tactical alliance with Moscow. Now, with reports that Russian warplanes bombed Kurdish positions outside the city, this breaking point may have arrived. And US advisors are embedded in the Kurdish units, holding the risk of escalation to a global conflict.

Iraq

Yazidis declare autonomous nation of Ezidikhan

In an historic step for the beleaguered Yazidi people of northwestern Iraq, the Supreme Spiritual Council of the Yezidi Nation has proclaimed the establishment of the "Provisional Government of the Autonomous Nation of Ezidikhan." The provisional government arrives just three years after the Yazidi people faced a genocidal assault that brought them to the edge of extinction, following the seizure of their territory by ISIS.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan: illegal mining fuels war

The Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan warned that continued illegal extraction of the country's mineral wealth is leading to serious security and political consequences. Acting ASA director Suraya Popal stated: "Terrorists and strongmen with illegal extractions and revenues from mines weaken the rule of law and fund the insurgency. Thus, extraction of the country's minerals should be done in line with the law and international standards before it's too late."

Afghanistan

Afghanistan attacks ‘may amount to war crimes’

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan released a special report detailing human rights violations committed during attacks on Mirza Olang village, in northern Sari Pul province, possibly constituting war crimes. During the three-day assault, Taliban and Islamic State fighters reportedly killed at least 36 people in the predominantly Shi'ite village.

Afghanistan
Afghanistan

Afghanistan: troop surge or drone war?

Trump was expected to announce a troop surge for Afghanistan n his address from Fort Myer in Arlington, Va. Gen. John Nicholson, the top US military commander in Afghanistan, had been requesting another 4,000 troops, on top of the current 8,500. Instead, Trump was heavy on get-tough rhetoric and light on actual specifics. But as he spoke, a US drone struck presumed ISIS targets in Nangarhar province—the latest in a growing trend toward automated warfare in Afghanistan.

North America

Charlottesville and Barcelona: fearful symmetry

Trump's disparate reactions to the similar attacks in Charlottesville and Barcelona provide a study not only in double standards, but (worse) the president's actual embrace of racist terror. While saying there were "good people" on the side that was flying the Nazi flag and committed an act of terror in Virginia, he used the attack in Spain as an opportunity to unabashedly call for war crimes against Muslims.