Islamic State group fighters were shaving their beards and changing hideouts in Mosul, residents said, as Iraqi forces moved ever closer to the city Wednesday and civilians fled in growing numbers.
Disturbing videos have emerged on social media that appear to show U.S.-backed Iraqi forces torturing children as they advance towards Mosul, the last major stronghold of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq.
Contents: In Iraq, Turkey’s artillery and possibly its jets are helping recapture Mosul from ISIS; In Syria, Turkey attacks both Kurds and ISIS near Aleppo
The U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State will “simultaneously” carry out operations in its de-facto capitals of Raqqa, Syria, and Mosul, Iraq, “as soon as possible,” declared U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.
Iraqi security forces on Monday ended an attack by the Islamic State group in Kirkuk city, killing at least 74 jihadists in three days of clashes, the provincial governor said.
Forces loyal to Libya’s unity government on Saturday freed 13 foreigners held by the Islamic State group in its former coastal bastion of Sirte, the forces said.
The Nigerian government initially confirmed, but later denied, that 21 schoolgirls who were kidnapped by the Islamic State branch Boko Haram from Chibok, Nigeria, were recently released in a prisoner swap for four imprisoned high-ranking jihadis.
Contents: Unrealistic expectations surround the battle to recapture Mosul from ISIS; Turkey views Iraq and Syria through the lens of World War I and the Ottoman Empire
Republican Nominee Donald Trump, when asked about the ongoing U.S.-backed offensive to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) during the final presidential debate, said terror-sponsor of terrorism Iran will ultimately “benefit” from the operation. “Iran
About 100 schoolgirls are unwilling to go home after being kidnapped more than two years ago in Nigeria by the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL)-linked jihadist group Boko Haram. Officials say the girls may have been radicalized, according to news reports.
Former President Bill Clinton, in a private fundraiser speech last year made public by Wikileaks earlier this week, told his wife’s donors that their family foundation has tried to “to save the lives of children” in Nigerian territory held by jihadist group Boko Haram.
Contents: Egypt votes for two contradictory UN Security Council proposals on Syria; Saudis retaliate against Egypt, which may turn to Iran for oil
WASHINGTON, D.C. — American troops, including some who are embedded with advancing forces, are “in harm’s way” as they collaborate with troops from Iraq, the Kurdish Peshmerga, and Iran-linked Shiite militias in the fight to retake Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), according to the Pentagon.
Contents: Turkey and Iraq in dispute over Turkish participation in Mosul operation; Turkey views the Mosul operation as a security threat to Turkey; ISIS may be given a chance to escape to Syria
Contents: Iraq begins battle to recapture Mosul from ISIS; Sectarian violence may interfere with recapture of Mosul
Sunni Saudi Arabia is reportedly investing nearly $600 million on erecting two higher education institutions in restive areas of Afghanistan.
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and the Iranian terror proxy Hezbollah have reportedly weaponized low-tech drones that can be bought in stores and on Amazon, including Styrofoam model planes, by attaching improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on them and using them for surveillance and reconnaissance.
The international community has abandoned and forgotten survivors from the Yazidi religious minority group in the Middle East, including women and girls who escaped imprisonment and rape by Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists, according to Amnesty International, a human rights watchdog group.
Though they have long used them for surveillance, ISIS is now arming small drones with explosives for use in attacks against American and Kurdish troops in Iraq, American officials say.
Islamic State militants in northern Syria are putting up “stiff resistance” to attacks by Turkish-backed rebel fighters, Turkey’s military said on Wednesday, almost two months after it launched an incursion to drive them away from its border.
Contents: Turkey’s Erdogan and Russia’s Putin sign TurkStream gas pipeline deal; Turkey-Russia TurkStream deal based on pragmatism rather than reconciliation
Jordan is willing to allow regular aid drops by crane from its territory to tens of thousands of Syrians stranded on its sealed desert border, the government spokesman said on Monday.
Jihadists, including aspiring suicide bombers, who have been recruited by the Islamic State are likely to be well-educated and relatively wealthy, according to a study by the World Bank.
A suicide vest detonated prematurely during a meeting held by the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq, killing 16 jihadists, including senior figures, and wounding 16 others, according to Iraqi media.
Contents: France’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle begins assault on ISIS in Mosul; UN says Mosul could be ‘largest man-made disaster in many years’
Jihadi members of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) branch in Afghanistan are using civilians as shields and “dressing in female attire” to escape a counterterrorism offensive, U.S. forces in Afghanistan (USFOR-A) said in a statement.
A former Guantánamo prisoner released in 2006 after he was extradited to Spain has reportedly been sentenced to 11 1/2 years in prison by Spanish court for leading a recruiting cell for al-Qaeda out of the European country’s capital.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration is getting ready to deploy an additional 615 U.S. troops to assist Iraqi forces in retaking Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), bringing the overall number of American service members in the country to 5,262.
The government of Pakistan has failed to take “adequate” action against the al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked Haqqani Network, which poses the “primary threat” to the American military and its allies fighting in Afghanistan, declared a top U.S. commander.
Women and girls in a Nigeria-based camp for people who have been displaced by the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) wing known as Boko Haram are trading sex for food, reports Reuters.
India has urged the United Nations to “isolate” its regional rival and nuclear-armed counterpart Pakistan if it continues to refuse to join the global fight against terrorism, noting that it was long past time to identify nations who sponsor and export terror.
Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists are “dead set” on using chemical weapons and are likely to try to use them in an attack as U.S.-backed Iraqi troops advance on Mosul, which is considered the terrorist group’s last major stronghold in Iraq, warned the Pentagon.
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL)-linked Cyber Kahilafah posted tutorials on the encrypted messaging app Telegram on using pressure cookers to create deadly bombs and modifying cell phones and Bluetooth devices to use as timers to detonate remotely, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM).
The leader of the Nigeria-based Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) wing Boko Haram is reportedly featured in a video recently posted on social media denying claims by the Nigerian military that he had been seriously wounded and warning, “you have not seen the worst yet.”
Over 250,000 Afghans who crossed into neighboring Pakistan illegally have been pressured into returning to their war and corruption-ravaged country along with their compatriots who were admitted into the country legally as refugees.
The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned it will not participate in a U.S.-led coalition offensive to push the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) out of Raqqa, its de facto capital in Syria, if the Syrian Kurds are also involved in the operation.
The father of Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspect linked to the bombings in New York and New Jersey last weekend, claims the FBI ignored his appeal to “keep an eye” on his “terrorist” son who was interested in jihadi groups like al-Qaeda, the New York Times (NYT) learned during a series of interviews with the elder Rahami this week.
The prime minister of Iraq, while addressing world leaders at the United Nations Assembly’s annual general debate, suggested that the U.S.-backed Iraqi military will liberate Iraq from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) “by the end of the year.”
Contents: Turkey’s Erdogan blames the EU for reneging on the refugee deal; With Turkey ‘left alone,’ Erdogan announces refugee plan conflicting with US plans; A major new flood of refugees starting to flee from Mosul in Iraq
President Barack Obama is reportedly considering directly arming the Syrian Kurds who are fighting the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), a move that is certain to further strain or perhaps even fully disintegrate the relationship between the United States and its NATO Ally Turkey.
