Tag Archives: syria

The United States on Wednesday said that it was “horrified” by Syrian regime airstrikes in Raqa that caused the death of at least 95 people, slamming the regime for its “continued slaughter”. The bombing on Tuesday was the most lethal attack conducted by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s air force since extremist group Islamic State (IS) captured the city last year …

Iraqi security forces, allied with local tribesmen, battled extremist group Islamic State (IS) on Wednesday to defend the governor’s office the city of Ramadi, the capital of the Anbar province. Kurdish peshmerga forces were also engaged in battle against the IS for hours in the province of Kirkuk in northern Iraq. “We are defending and protecting the governmental complex” in …

On Monday, US President Barack Obama announced that US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel resigned from his post, with the White House coming under fire for its perceived fumbling of the response to extremist group Islamic State (IS). Hagel was at the White House during Obama’s announcement confirming his departure. The former Republican senator and 68-year-old Vietnam War veteran was on …

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday forewarned against tackling the problem of violent extremism only through military means and called on government to avoid counter-terrorism measures which could lead to human rights abuses. At a special meeting of the UN Security Council on counter-terrorism, Ban said that the UN was looking at different ways in which it can address …

Authorities investigating the brutal Islamic State (IS) video claiming the execution of US aid worker Peter Kassig on Monday speculated on the identities of the killers involved in the video. The simultaneous beheading of Kassig and at least 18 Syrian security force personnel had sparked global outrage, with US President Barack Obama labeling it “an act of pure evil”. The …

On Monday, a Jordanian court sentenced five people to prison for being members of extremist group Islamic State (IS) and promoting the group on the internet. Two more trials of suspected extremist supporters, including a man who is accused of working as a cook for the al-Nusra Front, were also set in motion as part of a crackdown on militants …

By Nehad Ismail US Secretary of State John Kerry told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in April that Iran can produce fissile material for an atomic weapon in two months. He later corrected himself, suggesting 6-12 months. In November 2011 the IAEA published a new report revealing an advanced Iranian design for a nuclear warhead developed with the help …

Syrian authorities on Thursday jailed veteran dissident Louay Hussein, arrested a day before as he tried to visit his family abroad, his lawyer said. The 54-year-old was detained at the Lebanese border, from where he planned to travel to Spain, his movement Building the Syrian State said on Wednesday. A judge later accused him of “weakening national sentiments” and spreading …

A new report by the Norwegian Refugee Council and the International Rescue Committee released on Wednesday suggested that the plight of Syrian refugees fleeing the civil war has reached “a new level of hopelessness” as overstretched neighboring countries make it a lot more difficult to escape and developed nations like the US only resettle a small number of refugees. According …

United Nations refugee agency UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday said that it has been forced to reduce the number of people in Iraq and Syria it provides aid to in Syria during the winter due to a lack of funds. “The whole humanitarian community is facing shortfalls. People are becoming numb”, Amin Awad, the head of the …