Warplanes flying from the USS George HW Bush carried out the first US air-strikes against ISIS targets in Syria, with planes from five Arab countries also participating in the raids.
Unidentified warplanes carried out air-strikes on targets controlled by Islamist militias in Tripoli. Libya said the planes were foreign, but the US, Italy and France denied involvement.
With Field Marshal al-Sisi consolidating his rule in alliance with Mubarak-era "left-overs," a Qaedist insurgency is rapidly spreading from the Sinai to the rest of Egypt.
A United Arab Emirates court gave sentences of up to 15 years in prison to 69 academics, lawyers and other professionals who are among 94 on trial for planning an Islamist coup.
A new pipeline that would link Iran to China via Pakistan, bypassing the strategic Strait of Hormuz, would pass through the insurgent regions of Baluchistan, Kashmir and Xinjiang.
The United Arab Emirates began the trial of 94 charged with plotting to overthrow the government. The defendants are members of al-Islah, a nonviolent political association.
The Emirates Centre for Human Rights reports that the United Arab Emirates has arrested an 18-year-old blogger as part of a wider effort to crack down on government opposition.
With two US warships headed for Libya, 25 nations led by the US are converging on the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz for naval maneuvers on an unprecedented scale.
A US court in Virginia sentenced convicted Somali pirate negotiator Mohammad Shibin to a dozen life sentences for piracy, hostage taking, kidnapping, conspiracy, and other charges.
Yemen war crime investigators called upon the UN Human Rights Council to renew their mandate and allow the continued inquiry into Yemen's internal conflict, calling the situation in the county "extremely alarming." The Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen, in their initial report, released in August, found evidence that "members of the Saudi-led coalition, the Yemeni government, and the Houthi armed group have been committing abuses, including indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on civilians, arbitrary and abusive detention, and recruitment of children." At the time of the report, the experts recommended that their mandate be renewed. However, Saudi Arabia and other coalition members have pressed the council to discontinue the inquiry. (Photo via WikiMedia Commons)
A UN human rights panel suggests that parties to the conflict in Yemen have been perpetuating crimes under international law. The Group of International and Regional Eminent Experts on Yemen was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor and report on the human rights situation in the country, and examine all possible war crimes since the war began in September 2014. The report concluded that air-strikes carried out by Yemen's government and its coalition, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have caused a majority of the civilian casualties. Other violations included persistent sexual violence and enlistment of young children into the armed forces of both sides in the war, which pits the government and its allies against the Houthi rebel forces. (Photo via Wikipedia)
Following peace talks hosted by Eritrea, the government of Ethiopia announced a peace deal with the Oromo Liberation Front rebels. The deal guarantees rebel leaders the right to participate in Ethiopia's political process in exchange for laying down arms. The OLF has long been backed by Eritrea, and the pact comes one month after a formal end was declared to the two-decade state of war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, with Ethiopia ceding its claim to the contested border town of Badme. This points to a softening of positions under Ethiopia's new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed. The Badme deal was also said to have been quietly brokered by the United Arab Emirates, which has emerged as politically isolated Eritrea's most significant foreign patron, part of an apparent design to encircle Yemen. (Photo: Yassin Juma)
