أرشيف الوسم : US

Moqtada Sadr, one the most influential Shi’ite clerics in Iraq, on Friday claimed that extremists were poised to attack Iraqi capital Baghdad and promised to send his men to fight for the capital. “There are terrorist groups that have completed their preparations for a breakthrough into Baghdad.We are ready to defend the city, we are ready to supply forces and …

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, …

On Friday, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu flew into Qatar amid mounting calls from the US for the two allies to use their influence with Hamas to end the violence. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who has led Western efforts to end the conflict, has repeatedly called Turkish and Qatari leaders to try and negotiate a truce. On his …

Dearest friends, The last night was extreme. The “ground invasion” of Gaza resulted in scores and carloads with maimed, torn apart, bleeding, shivering, dying – all sorts of injured Palestinians, all ages, all civilians, all innocent. The heroes in the ambulances and in all of Gaza’s hospitals are working 12-24 hour shifts, grey from fatigue and inhuman workloads (without payment …

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 …

The US government on Tuesday pressed for the formation of a new Iraqi government as soon as possible and warned that “time is not on Iraq’s side”. “It was important that Iraq’s new parliament convened today, as they pledged to do. That was a good thing. But we do hope that Iraq’s leaders will move forward with the extreme urgency …

The United States on Thursday said that it is opposed to a Syrian role in resolving the turmoil in Iraq after the Syrian government had carried out air strikes against the militants. Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is facing insurgents from Syria who are sweeping across his nation, told the BBC that the Syrian air force had, earlier in …

By Robert Naiman At this writing, President Obama has neither the legal nor the political mandate to conduct airstrikes in Iraq or Syria. On Thursday night, 182 Members of the House voted yes on Representative Barbara Lee’s amendment defunding the use of the 2002 Iraq Authorization for the Use Military Force. Among those 182 Members were 151 Democrats – 81 …

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry, during his unannounced visit to Lebanon, dismissed the Syrian elections as “a great big zero”. The “elections are non-elections, the elections are a great big zero”, he told reporters in Beirut. He also defended the Washington’s decision to work with the newly-formed Palestinian unity government, saying that it did not include any …

Several Israeli ministers lashed out at the US government on Tuesday for its decision to work with the newly formed Palestinian Unity government backed by Hamas. Gilad Erdan, the Israeli Communications Minister and a security cabinet member, said, “Unfortunately, American naiveté has broken all records. Any collaboration with Hamas which kills women and children is unacceptable”. He added that Israel …