Terrorism

Kamal al-Ayash | (Niqash.org) | – – Every time extremists are forced out of Anbar’s cities they take refuge in nearby desert and attack again. Now it seems like the same guerilla war is starting again. Plenty of effort has gone into pushing the extremist group known as the Islamic State out of major cities […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Istanbul Suicide Bombers Were Russian, Uzbek, Kyrgyz: Official

contributors

TeleSur | – – The attack at Ataturk Airport is suspected to be the work of [Daesh or] the Islamic State [IS] group. Three suspected IS suicide bombers who killed 44 people in a gun and bomb attack at Istanbul’s main airport this week were Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals, a Turkish government official said […]

Featured

Are ISIL’s attacks the desperation of a Cornered Rat? The Kerry-McCaul Debate

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday evening at the Aspen Ideas Festival that “It has been more than one year since Daesh has actually launched a full scale military offensive, and that’s because our coalition is moving relentlessly on every front . . . Now, […]

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria

Turkish airport massacre will further imperil a nation on the verge of crisis

contributors

Alpaslan Ozerdem | (The Conversation) | – – Another heinous terrorist attack has horrified Turkey and shocked the rest of the world. The target this time was Istanbul’s busy Ataturk Airport and it is believed to have been the work of Islamic State gunmen who are thought to have entered the country before the beginning […]

Central Intelligence Agency

CIA Arms For Syria Sold by Jordan Spies on Black Market For Terrorists

contributors

Jo Ankier, Elliot Hill and Mark Sovel | (TheLipTV) | – – “Weapons sent by the CIA to Jordan for Syrian rebels were stolen by Jordanian intelligence operatives and sold to arms merchants on the black market, a joint investigation by The New York Times and Al Jazeera has revealed, citing American and Jordanian officials. […]

Featured

ISIL Terrorism Strikes at Turkish Economy; & Someone tell Trump the Victims are Muslim

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The terrorist attack on Ataturk Airport in Istanbul Tuesday immediately drew a crass barb from Donald Trump implying that it supported his notion of banning Muslims from the US. Trump probably doesn’t know that the Turks are mostly Muslim, so he is threatening reprisals against the […]

Christianity

Syrian War Overflows: Radical Salafis attack Christian Village in Lebanon

Juan Cole

Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – A wave of suicide bombings was launched by four radical attackers struck al-Qaa, a largely Christian Lebanese village on the border with Syria on Monday, killing five locals and wounding 15. The first attacks came in the morning but that evening a second wave was launched, attacking […]

Featured

Fallujah Falls: The Slow Death of ISIL and the Future of Iraq

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – As Shakir Jawdat, Chief of the Iraqi Federal Police, announced the complete liberation of the last, northern neighborhoods of Fallujah from Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), Prime Minister Haydar al-Abadi came to the city on Sunday to plant the Iraqi flag right downtown. al-Abadi, the commander in chief […]

Counter-Terrorism

Is Bombing Fallujah into Rubble from the air really a Winning Strategy?

contributors

By William J. Astore | (Via Tomdispatch.com ) | – – In the era of the long war on terror, Thursday, June 2nd, 2016, was a tough day for the U.S. military. Two modern jet fighters, a Navy F-18 Hornet and an Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon, flown by two of America’s most capable pilots, […]