Iraq
Syria war toll passes quarter million
Nearly a quarter of a million people have died in Syria's war since March 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights—over a third civilians.
Tag: Syria
Greater Middle East
Turkey slips toward internal war
As Turkey continues to bomb Kurdish anti-ISIS fighters in Iraq, violence is quickly spreading within Turkey itself—with bombings and armed clashes from Istanbul to the Kurdish east.
Iraq
PKK-aligned Yazidi militia battles ISIS
Young Yazidis—including women—are returning to Iraq's Mount Sinjar from which they were "cleansed" by ISIS last year, fighting to reclaim their homeland from the jihadists.
Iraq
Turkey continues to bomb anti-ISIS forces
The US and Turkey have reached an agreement to keep Kurdish forces out of the northern Syria "buffer zone" as Ankara expands its air-strikes in both Syria and Iraq.
Iraq
US betrays Rojava Kurds (inevitably)
Washington has given Turkey a green light to crush the revolutionary Kurds—in Turkey, Syria and Iraq alike—as the price of Ankara's cooperation against ISIS.
Iraq
Turkey launches Syria intervention
With US support, Turkey is moving to seize its "buffer zone" in Syria—ostensibly against ISIS but actually against the Kurdish forces that have been the most effective against ISIS.
Greater Middle East
Turkey in new crackdown on ISIS —and PKK
As Turkey opens Incirlik Air Base to US warplanes, it has launched sweeps against supporters of both ISIS and their enemies in the PKK and allied leftist forces.
Greater Middle East
Pentagon claims kill of ‘Khorasan Group’ leader
The Pentagon announced that Muhsin al-Fadhli, a longtime al-Qaeda operative from Kuwait, was killed in an air-strike in Syria, where he was leading the so-called "Khorasan Group."
Greater Middle East
Turkey: ISIS terror blast targets solidarity meeting
A suicide bomb attack in the southern Turkish town of Suruc killed at least 30 at a meeting of young activists to organize solidarity with the reconstruction of Kobani.
Greater Middle East
North Korean troops fight in Syria?
Pro-opposition sources in Syria say a force of North Korean soldiers has arrived in Damascus, and been mobilized to the rebel-controlled suburbs of Ghouta district.
Iran
Iran, world powers reach nuclear agreement
The Iran nuiclear deal comes as the US is in a de facto alliance with Tehran against ISIS, and includes a lifting of sanctions on a notorious commander of counterinsurgency forces in Syria and Iraq.
Greater Middle East
Syria: Alawites clash with regime, Iran troops
Syrian regime forces backed by Iranian troops clashed with residents of two Alawite villages outside Hama following a wave of mass arrests in the area.