MIDDLE EAST

Extremist group Islamic State (IS) on Thursday attacked Iraqi bases in two towns in western Iraq, leaving over 40 extremists and 17 security force personnel dead, medical and security sources said. Four soldiers and seven policemen were killed when IS militants attacked police headquarters of the town of Heet, while another six security force members were killed in an attack …

Islamic State (IS) fighters in Iraq are inflicting shocking human rights violations that could amount to war crimes, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said on Thursday. “The array of violations and abuses perpetrated by ISIL and associated armed groups is staggering, and many of their acts may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity”, …

On Wednesday, over 30 Syrian school-going children were killed in a double bombing carried out by a lone assailant in regime-controlled city Homs, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said. The monitor said that at least 39 people had died in the attack on a school in the Akrameh neighborhood of Homs. “At least 30 children were among 39 people …

Israel is all set to go ahead with the construction of 2,160 settler homes in occupied east Jerusalem, activist group Peace Now said on Wednesday. Several Palestinian leaders were angered by the move, considered illegal by the international community. The settler homes, which have been planned for construction in the neighborhood of Givat Hamatos since 2012, were approved last week, …

The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said that Benjamin Netanyahu has complained to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the investigation being conducted by the world body into the 50-day war is one-sided. After meeting with Ban in New York on Tuesday, Netanyahu said that the UN Human Rights Council “is not focusing its inquiry on Hamas, which used U.N. …

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday asked the UN Security Council to set November 2016 as the deadline for ending Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. The draft resolution obtained by AFP, put forth by Arab nations, calls for “the full withdrawal of Israel, the occupying power, from all of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, as rapidly …

By Sherehan Osman This year the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the candidate for the Human Rights Tulip annual award which courageous human rights defenders who promote and support human rights in the world. This award established 6 years ago, and has been awarded to individuals and organizations from different destinations. Its aims to gives human rights defenders a …

A former psychologist was executed in Iran of heresy after spending eight years in prison, a human rights group said on Tuesday. The execution is the most recent example of what activists feel is a troubling rise in the use of the death penalty in Iran. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said that Mohsen Amir Aslani was hanged …

Kurdish fighters backed by Western warplanes fought militants from the Islamic State (IS) on three different battle frontiers in Iraq on Tuesday, as they slowly gain back territory lost to the extremist group. The Kurdish peshmerga attacked militants in the town of Rabia just before dawn – the strategically important town lies on the Syrian border, to the south of …

On Tuesday, British fighter jets struck an artillery post and bombed an armed truck used by extremist group Islamic State (IS) in Iraq, as the Royal Air Force launched its first strikes in the current US-led air campaign. The British Defense Ministry said that two Tornado jets launched Brimstone missiles against tanks and also used a 500-pound Oaveway IV laser-guided …