Bombing Iraq, as retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and TomDispatch regular William Astore indicates today, has become an American pastime. (These days, you can’t be president without sending in the bombers and drones.) So let’s try to get our heads around the latest U.S. air strikes in northern Iraq against the forces of the new “caliphate.” It’s a campaign that President Obama …
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The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, on Wednesday warned foreign airliners against flying to Tel Aviv, threatening to escalate the conflict with Israel and declaring that truce talks in Egypt were over. “We are warning international airlines and press them to stop flying into Ben Gurion airport from 6 am (0300 GMT) Thursday”, Abu Obeida, a spokesman …
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At an emergency meeting of the EU on Friday saw EU ministers agree to provide arms to Iraqi Kurd fighters being overwhelmed by extremists from the Islamic State (IS). Ministers gathered in Brussels in a rear summer meeting, facing calls to stop what Germany has called as a slaughter of civilians. “Iraq is on the brink of a true catastrophe. …
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Outside of Israel and its organized supporters in the major Zionist organizations, world public opinion and most experts in international law see the Jewish State’s invasion of Gaza and its systematic attack on civilians and basic infrastructure as a crime against humanity. The purpose of this essay is 4-fold: 1. To identify the nature of the crime – the genocidal …
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Thousands of demonstrators marched towards Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad from the city of Lahore on Thursday to try and unseat the government, alleging that it was elected by fraud. Proponents of Imran Khan, former cricketer and Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and preacher Tahir-ul-Qadri amassed separately in Lahore and began their 300-kilometer march to the capital. Both Qadri and …
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US President Barack Obama on Thursday said that US air strikes had ended the siege in the Sinjar Mountains in Iraq where civilians had sought refuge, and that soldiers conducting reconnaissance will be withdrawn. However, he added that US air strikes will continue against extremist forces belonging to the Islamic State (IS) if they threaten US facilities and personnel in …
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On Monday, the Syrian government decided to ban domestic opposition groups from organizing a news conference. Activists have denounced the ban, calling it an unprecedented move. Two opposition groups which are allowed to operate in Syria were set to hold a joint conference in the city of Damascus of Monday. During the conference, the Front for Change and Liberation and …
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Michael Fallon, the United Kingdom’s Defense Secretary, said that the British Air Force would drop food to Iraqi refugees running away from extremists in “the next couple of days” although the UK ruled out any military action, unlike the United States, who sent two fighter jets to Iraq. The announcement came after the British Foreign Office urged Brits in Arbil, …
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On Thursday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay slammed what she referred to as Israel’s “deliberate defiance” of international law during its current aggression in Gaza. Pillay also lambasted Israel’s attacks on hospitals, schools, homes and UN facilities sheltering over 250,000 civilians in Gaza. “There appears to be deliberate defiance of obligations that international law imposes …
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Syrian rebels on continued their advance in the province of Hama and tried to destroy the regime’s military airport in the region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday. “The rebels are now nine kilometers (six miles) away from Hama military airport, which they want to put out of action”, the monitor’s director Rami Abdel Rahman said. Yusef …
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