Iraq
Barzani bows to Turkish incursion, PKK betrayed
Kurdish strongman Masoud Barzani has invited a Turkish military force into his territory, with the apparent aim of driving the PKK from northern Iraq.
Tag: Nusra Front
North America
Another day, another massacre…
Was the San Bernardino attack politically motivated terrorism or just someone's personal revenge? Either way, pundits right and left are going to be squirming…
Iraq
Patrick Cockburn serves up more lies on Syria
Patrick Cockburn's "briefing" to the House of Commons opposing British air-strikes on ISIS was a shameful betrayal of the Syrian democratic resistance—denying its very existence.
Greater Middle East
Syria: civil wars in the civil war
A growing split between secular and Islamist elements of the FSA is unfortunately mirrored by a breach between Kurds and Ankara-backed Arab and Turkmen forces.
Greater Middle East
Russian warplane down: heightened contradictions
After Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane over Syria, Vladimir Putin openly accused Ankara of backing ISIS—echoing a charge Kurdish forces have been making for months.
Iraq
Security Council adopts resolution to fight ISIS
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling on all member states to fight to eradicate ISIS, calling it "a global and unprecedented threat."
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.
Greater Middle East
Russia bombs ISIS —not!
The Syrian regime says Russian air-strikes hit "ISIS dens"—but a look at the map indicates the strikes were nowhere near ISIS territory, and targetted rebel forces hostile to ISIS.
Greater Middle East
China enters Syrian war?
China is reported to be sending warships to Syria to augment the Russian build-up there—as word emerges of a Uighur jihadist group allied with the Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front.
Iraq
Sectarian massacres continue in Syria and Iraq
The Nusra Front fired hundreds of missiles into beseiged Alwaite villages in Syria, while ISIS claimed responsibility for suicide blasts that targeted Shi'ite areas of Baghdad.