North Africa
Mali: US airlifts French forces
In a mission slated to last two weeks, US Air Force C-17 transport planes are ferrying troops and material from France to Mali for the offensive against jihadist rebels.
Tag: struggle within Islam
North Africa
Mali poised for multi-sided war
With French troops fighting on the ground in Mali, jihadist militias advance on the capital, while Tuareg rebels pledge to re-establish a separatist state in the north.
Afghanistan
Pakistan: Sufi leads anti-corruption protests
Thousands of Pakistanis chanitng “we want change” filled the streets of Islamabad in a massive anti-corruption protest led by Sufi cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri.
Afghanistan
Pakistan: Shi’ites stage die-in —for real
Shi'ites in Quetta, capital of Pakistan's Balochistan province, spent three nights in the freezing cold with the bodies of their slain loved ones at one of the city's main intersections.
North Africa
French air-strikes open Mali intervention
France carried out air-strikes against Islamist rebels in Mali, helping government forces halt a drive southward by the militants who control the country’s desert north.
North Africa
Mali: shrines destroyed; intervention approved
Islamist militants in Timbuktu destroyed more Sufi shrines days after the UN Security Council approved an intervention force to retake Mali’s breakaway north.
North Africa
Mali: final bid to avoid intervention?
Mali’s government is in talks with Islamist rebels who control the country’s north, while Gen. Carter Ham in Washington warned that al-Qaeda has established a haven in the country.
Greater Middle East
Amnesty: human rights ‘catastrophe’ in Yemen
A report by Amnesty International documents a "raft of gross and deeply disturbing abuses" committed by both Islamist rebels and government forces in the battle for southern Yemen.
Afghanistan
Pakistan to Lebanon: Shi’ites under attack
Bomb attacks on Shi’ite processions marking Ashura claimed lives in Pakistan, while Sunnis and Shi’ites clashed in Kabul and a planned attack on Shi’ites was thwarted in Lebanon.
Greater Middle East
Egypt: cries for revolution against ‘pharaoh’ Morsi
Clashes between opponents and supporters of President Mohamed Morsi swept Egypt, as protesters filled the streets to decry Morsi's decree granting himself sweeping powers.
North Africa
Mali: Europe prepares intervention
Military experts from Africa, the United Nations and Europe have drafted plans to retake control of northern Mali, as West African nations prepare a request for armed intervention.
Iraq
Iraq exports Islamist militants to Syria?
Arabic-language news services report that 15 accused al-Qaeda members who recently escaped from a prison in Tikrit, Iraq, are now leading insurgent groups in Syria.