Tag Archives: war

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff on Thursday said that Iraqi forces were shored up around Baghdad but will need external help to regain some of the territory it lost to the militant offensive sweeping across the nation. He added that American military advisers were evaluating the Iraqi army’s condition, and suggested that US military …

On Thursday, the United Nations said that it does not expect a let-up in the number of Syrian refugees fleeing to neighboring Jordan and asked for funds to help Jordan cope with the influx. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the number of Syrian refugees in Jordan is expected to increase by up to 33% and reach …

“Labeiki ya Zaynab,” chanted Iraqi Shia fighters as they swayed, dancing with their rifles before TV news cameras in Baghdad on June 13. They were apparently getting ready for a difficult fight ahead. For them, it seemed that a suitable war chant would be answering the call of Zaynab, the daughter of Imam Ali, the great Muslim Caliph who lived …

Turkey and Iran on Monday pledged to stop bloodshed and extremism in the Middle East by working together, despite their differences over the civil war in Syria. In a news conference in Ankara, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, “Iran and Turkey, the two important countries in the region, are determined to fight against extremism and terrorism”. He added that the …

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, in co-operation with the UN Palestinian refugee agency and the UN Development Program, produced the report “Squandering Humanity”, which says that the Syrian civil war has had a disastrous effect on its economy, and has plunged half of its population into poverty. According to the report, the conflict is creating “economies of violence that …

Pope Francis on Saturday will meet with Syrian refugees in Jordan and will first-hand hear horrific accounts from the Syrian civilian war. The Pope is set to make a stop at Jordan before his trip of the Holy Land. Jordan, which has a population of 7 million, has only 250,000 people who identify themselves as Christian. Pope Francis will meet …

The joint mission of the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemicals had announced on Tuesday that Syria had destroyed its entire stockpile of isopropanol, a component used in the preparation of Sarin nerve gas. In a statement, the UN-OPCW mission said, “Now 7.2 percent of Syria’s chemical weapons material remains in country and awaits swift removal …

Ukrainian leaders on Wednesday launched round-table “Unity” talks as a part of a Western push to prevent the country from falling apart. They vowed that they wouldn’t bow to “blackmail” by pro-Russian forces waging an insurgency in Eastern Ukraine. The “Unity” talks do not involve the pro-Russian forces battling in Eastern Ukraine, and are being held two weeks before Ukraine …

On Monday, Refat Chubarov, a leader of the minority Muslim group the Crimean Tatars, said that the new Russian leadership had threatened to prosecute them “for extremism”. Chubarov, who leads the ethnic minority’s assembly, said that the Chief Regional Prosecutor on Sunday gave him an official warning to stop “extremist activities”. During the weekend, hundreds of pro-Ukraine Tatars clashed with …

On Friday, violence north of Baghdad, including a car bomb attack set off by a suicide bomber, resulted in the deaths of six people, just two days after Iraq’s parliamentary elections held on Wednesday. The bloodshed, in the aftermath the first elections held in the country after the withdrawal of US troops in 2011, is the latest in the midst …