The Turkish government has evacuated the site of the Tomb of Süleyman Şah and relocated the tomb’s priceless artifacts to protect it from the Islamic State. The Syrian government is calling the move a “flagrant aggression,” as Turkey did not request permission to traverse sovereign Syrian territory to reach the tomb.
U.N. may release list of Syrian war criminals; Greece apparently caves in on bailout crisis
Reuters reported on Thursday afternoon that “the United States and Turkey have signed an agreement to train and equip moderate Syrian opposition fighters,” an agreement that will evidently include several hundred U.S. troops, including special operations forces, training five thousand Syrian fighters over the next three years at bases outside Syria.
A horrific video of Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) supporters brutally murdering three Syrian soldiers in Raqqa, Syria, after a bearded cleric reads out charges against the men has resurfaced thanks to The Daily Mail. However, as The Right Scoop points out, the video was uploaded in November 2014. Raqqa is the capital of Islamic State’s self-declared “caliphate.”
Men who left the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) revealed sixteen letters from commanding officers that detail horrifying orders to bomb and murder innocent civilians. Each letter received a stamp to indicate the province it is from.
President Bashar al-Assad must be involved in any peaceful solution to the war in Syria, said the United Nations envoy to Syria, according to various media reports.
Reuters reports that the Islamic State has taken over most of the Western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, putting them dangerously close to the Ain al-Asad air base, where 320 U.S. Marines are engaged in training soldiers from the Iraqi 7th Division.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) told the U.S. House Committee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade on Tuesday that the U.S. needed a more aggressive course of action against the Iranian regime.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gave a half-hour interview to the BBC on Tuesday in which he discussed, among other things, just how much his government is cooperating with the United States and its anti-ISIS coalition.
Cyber-war is everywhere, most assuredly including the conflicts where physical bullets and bombs are flying. The struggle to topple the Assad regime in Syria, for example, has been “marked by a very active, if only sporadically visible, cyberbattle that has engulfed all sides,” according to a weekend article at the New York Times.
Hezbollah backs down from war with Israel; Clashes between Nusra front and Free Syrian Army spreading in Syria; Jundallah takes credit for massive mosque attack in Pakistan; Egypt’s military begins ‘wide military offensives’ in North Sinai; Greece clashes with eurogroup ‘No more bailout, no more troika!’; In Denmark you are now paid to take out a mortgage
Death of Saudi’s King Abdullah raises concerns about policy changes; Saudi Arabia trapped in a corner over Syria policy; More on the political realignment of the Mideast following the Gaza war
Miss Lebanon may lose her title over selfie with Miss Israel; Lebanon on edge after Israeli air strike kills Hezbollah commanders; Europe, under intense financial pressure, expected to start quantitative easing
Belgium police raided ten locations where it was suspected that home-grown jihadists returning from Syria were planning terror acts. One location was in the town of Verviers, where two suspected terrorists were killed after a shootout, and the others were spread across the capital city Brussels, which is also the capital city of the European Union.
Turkey banned all media, including social networks, from reporting claims that the nation’s intelligence agency sent weapons to the rebels in Syria in 2014. Documents alleging this contradict Turkish government claims they do not aid the rebels, but only sent humanitarian aid.
Russia is on a long-term holiday that started two weeks ago and ends on Monday, January 12. At that time, the banks and the stock exchange will reopen, and it’s feared that both the ruble and the Moscow stock exchange will fall sharply.
A video recently surfaced that allegedly shows a branch of the Syrian army forming a platoon of suicide bombers. The video, uncovered and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) on December 30, has not been independently verified outside of MEMRI experts.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited his Syrian troops in Jobar to discuss the damage various anti-government factions have done to the state. Speaking just northeast of Damascus as the beleaguered country entered its fourth year of a civil war, he had little hope to offer his troops.
Hamas’s popularity within Gaza surged to its highest levels during the summer Gaza War, but is now fading after what was essentially a Hamas defeat in the war.
There’s a frequently heard complaint that while the mainstream media frequently report on jihadist attacks, they seem to ignore the attacks on Christians.
Thousands of Christian pilgrims from around the world crowded into the little town of Bethlehem in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories. Manger Square was decked out in white and yellow lights and a carnival atmosphere, at a time when there are a multitude of things to be sad about.
