The Evidence: In a response to Al Qaeda Emir Ayman al Zawahiri’s latest attempt at reconciliation with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham, ISIS spokesman Abu Muhammad Al Adnani made a startling admission: Al Qaeda has ordered its fighters and branches to refrain from attacking the Iranian state in order to preserve the terror group’s network in the country. …

The Israeli air bombardment of Gaza entered its fourth day on Friday, and has now claimed a total of 103 lives, as Hamas and Israel exchanged rocket fire and Washington offering to help broker peace. 11 Palestinians, including a seven-year-old and a woman, were killed in separate Israeli strikes on Gaza on Friday, taking the death toll for the past …

On Friday, the United States said that it was willing to leverage its ties with several countries in the Middle East to bring about a truce between Hamas and Israel. A day earlier, US President Barack Obama called Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, to offer to mediate for ceasefire talks which can bring an end to the rocket fire. …

The UN’s refugee agency on Friday said that Europe has hosted only a “miniscule” number of Syrian refugees, and needs to do more the help Syria’s neighbors shoulder the refugee burden. “We’re calling on European countries to strengthen their response to the Syrian crisis.We’re urging states to ensure access to their territory, we’re urging states to ensure fair and efficient …

Hamas on its YouTube channel posted a Hebrew version of its popular battle song “Shake Israel’s Security”, taunting Israel in an act of psychological warfare to go with the physical conflict in Israel.  The Arabic version of the song has for long been an anthem of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the group’s military wing. The Hebrew translation posted on the …

On Friday, the Ukrainian military reported that it had lost 23 soldiers in clashes in eastern Ukraine that threaten to shatter slim hopes of  truce in the deadliest conflict in Europe in decades. The official spokesman for the assault on eastern Ukraine added that 93 soldiers had sustained “wounds and contusions of varying severity”. According to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, …

Article and photos by Mohammed Omer in Gaza July 9, 2014: I am writing this as ambulance and rescue crews continue to search for bodies. Among the ones they have uncovered so far are those of 4-year-old Mohammed Nawasra, whose body was found underneath the ruins of his home in the Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, his …

The Gaza Health Ministry has so far confirmed the deaths of 82 Palestinians in Gaza due to Israeli air strikes which started on Tuesday. The deadliest strikes happened on Tuesday and on Thursday, both causing eight deaths – Tuesday’s strike tore down a house in southern Gaza, while Thursday’s strike took out a home in Khan Younis. Of the 82 …

Research group Orb International’s new survey suggests that 60% of the Syrian population would support “international military involvement in Syria”. However, the percentage drops significantly in regime-held areas – 11% in Tartus, 36% in Damascus – and rises sharply in rebel-controlled areas – 82% in Al Raqqah, 61% in Aleppo and 88% in Idlib. It also found out that only …

UK-based human rights group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Thursday reported that the death toll due to the Syrian civil war is now more than 170,000 people, and that over a third of them are civilians. The conflict in the war-torn nation has also forced nearly half of its population to flee to neighboring countries. “Ever since the first …