Iraqi security forces, supported by aircraft, repelled militant attack on the northern Shi’ite Turkmen town of Amirli, killing 15 extremists, local officials said on Thursday. The attack of Islamic State (IS) militants and allied Sunni extremists on Amirli took place on Wedesday,Talib al-Bayati, an official from Suleiman Bek, said. “Iraqi forces, with the help of military aircraft, repelled an attack …

On Thursday, a Malaysian passenger aircraft carrying 295 people reportedly shot down over an eastern Ukrainian town, Anton Gerashenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, said. Gerashenko said that the plane was at an altitude of 10,000 meters when it was struck by a missile that had been launched from a Buk launcher; Buk launchers can fire missiles to an …

The Islamic State’s stunning advances in Syria over the past month defy basic military instincts. Consider, for example, the group’s remarkable turn of fortunes in the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor in recent months, where ISIS—as the group was formerly known—all but vanished in February after local rebels joined forces to batter the remaining ISIS strongholds in the province. Rebel …

On Tuesday, two Palestinians were killed by air strikes after an Egyptian truce bid failed to stop the week-long Israeli campaign in Gaza, raising the death toll to 194. Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the Emergency services, said that a 77-year-man was killed in the city of Khan Yunis and a 24-year-old man was killed in the district of Zeitoun in …

The Canadian government’s stance towards Israel is akin to that of an irresponsible mother’s to her bratty child – the mother cannot, or simply choose not to, see her child’s transgressions. Israel’s numerous human rights violations however, are not mischievous pranks born out of the mind of an idle child. They are far more malicious in intent, and more significantly, …

Stephen Hawking had in May 2013 boycotted conference hosted by Israeli President Shimon Peres, protesting the treatment of Palestinians by Israel. He had made it clear that he would have criticized Israeli policies towards Palestinians if he had gone. The full letter read, “I accepted the invitation to the Presidential Conference with the intention that this would not only allow …

International rights group Human Rights Watch said that Iraq’s security forces and militia aligned with the government seem to have illegally executed at least 255 Sunni prisoners in six Iraqi villages and cities since June 9th, 2014. Most of Iraqi militia and security forces are Shiites. According to the rights group, in all cases but one, the executions took place …

Germany and Arsenal footballer Mesut Ozil has reportedly donated his winnings from the 2014 World Cup finals to children in Gaza. The German FA had awarded every player in the 23-man squad a €300,000 bonus for winning the world cup, in addition to the €150,000 for winning their semi-final and other rewards for each game. Ozil, who is of Turkish …

The ouster of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki could be an “important part” of the solution to the political crisis in Iraq, a spokesman for top Shi’ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Bashir al-Najafi said. This is the first time any of the revered Shi’ite clerics in the nation have explicitly called for Maliki’s removal, and is one of several recent announcements …

On Wednesday, A Hamas official was in Cairo to hold talks with Egypt to end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian movement that has left Gaza crippled. Hamas was not a part of the discussion during Tuesday’s truce deal, which it promptly later rejected as the deal had none of the concessions it had earlier asked for. “A meeting …