North Africa
Libya: mysterious air-strikes on Derna
Unidentified warplanes carried out air-strikes on Libya's Islamist-controlled eastern city of Derna—reportedly claiming civilian lives when a hospital was struck.
Tag: ISIS
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.
Iraq
Iraq: mass graves disturbed, HRW says
Mass graves at liberated Mount Sinjar are being disturbed, threatening critical evidence in proving possible genocide committed against the Yazidis, according to Human Rights Watch.
Greater Middle East
Counterpunch: platform for Assad regime flack
Counterpunch runs a piece of abject revisionism on the Syrian Revolution by Bouthaina Shaaban, official public relations advisor for the genocidal regime of Bashar Assad.
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.
Iraq
‘Staggering’ civilian death toll in Iraq: UN report
A UN report details severe impacts on civilians from the ongoing conflict in Iraq, with 19,000 non-combatants killed last year, 3.2 million displaced, and an estimated 3,500 held in slavery.
Afghanistan
Taliban drive to re-take Afghan opium heartland
The Taliban are pushing deeper into Sangin district of Afghanistan's Helmand province—a strategic stronghold due to its wealth in opium production.
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
Erdogan exploits Istanbul terror —of course
Prime Minister Erdogan exploited the ISIS terror attack in Istanbul for illogical propaganda against the PKK—as his military presses its bloody counterinsurgency in Turkey's east.
Watching the Shadows
Obama’s seventh year: a World War 4 Report scorecard
World War 4 Report offers its annual annotated assessment of Obama's moves in dismantling, continuing or escalating the apparatus of the Global War on Terrorism.
North Africa
Libya: ISIS attacks oil export terminals
At least two members of Libya's Petroleum Facilities Guard were killed as ISIS militants launched coordinated attacks on the Sidra and Ras Lanouf oil export terminals.
Greater Middle East
Kurds caught in Russo-Turkish game… again
Amid counterinsurgency against Kurds in Turkey, Kurdish opposition leader Selahattin Demirtaş is received in Moscow—now executing a grisly counterinsurgency in Syria.