Terrorism

Rita Daou | Your Middle East Kurds expel Islamic State group from Syria’s Kobane after months of fighting Banner Icon War in Syria Kurdish fighters have expelled Islamic State group militants from inside the Syrian border town of Kobane, a monitor said Monday, dealing a key symbolic blow to the jihadists’ ambitions. The Syrian Observatory […]

Displaced and Refugees

Angelina Jolie in Iraq: Int’l Community Failing Refugees from ISIL Brutality

contributors

Associated Press | — “Actress and director Angelina Jolie is calling on the international community to do more to aid refugees displaced by fighting in Iraq and Syria. The UN special envoy for refugees visited a camp in Iraq Sunday, saying that despite good intentions, “the international community has failed …” Angelina Jolie Visits Refugees […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

Yemen: Freeze on US Drone Strikes as Gov’t Collapses

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) Thousands demonstrated in Sanaa on Saturday morning against the Houthi take-over of the Yemeni government. Down south in Aden, there were big demonstrations on behalf of workers The murky political situation in Yemen has left the US unable to continue its drone strikes and other counter-terrorism operations, since Washington […]

Iraq

Ragtag Kurdish Forces Face ISIL assaults at ‘The Kobani of Iraq’

contributors

By Shalaw Mohammed | Kirkuk | (Niqash.org) — NIQASH visits the northern Iraqi town of Kharabaroot, near Kirkuk, which has become the frontline for fighting between Iraqi Kurdish military and extremists from the Islamic State group. The Kurdish forces there come from Iran, Syria and Iraq and because of this, and because of the length […]

Education

Pakistan: Fighting Extremism with Schools, Not Guns

contributors

By Zofeen Ebrahim | — KARACHI (IPS) – As a wave of outrage, crossing Pakistan’s national borders, continues a month after the Dec. 16 attack on a school in the northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, some citizens are turning away from collective expressions of anger, and beginning the hard work of building grassroots alternatives to terrorism […]

Islamic Jihad

Israel: Palestinian man arrested after stabbing nine on Tel Aviv bus

contributors

IMEMC | — By Celine Hagbard | (IMEMC & Agencies) — A Palestinian man from the West Bank city of Tulkarem was shot, then taken into custody by Israeli police in Tel Aviv Wednesday after stabbing several people on a bus. Israeli authorities say they are considering this a terror attack. The 23-year old man […]

Bashar al-Assad

Israel’s Syria Strike: Is it trying to Help al-Qaeda vs. Hizbullah & Iran?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — There are several questions around the Israeli helicopter gunship strike on Mazari` al-Amal in Syria’s Quneitra Province, which killed Hizbullah personnel and an Iranian general. First, what were the latter doing there? Second, why did Israel strike them? The Israeli cover story, that Hizbullah was planning attacks inside […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

It is Failed State in Yemen that permitted al-Qaeda to Train Paris Terrorists

contributors

CCTV America | — “CCTV America’s Susan Roberts interviewed Yemen correspondent for The Times of London Iona Craig about how Yemen has played a role in al-Qaida training and the Charlie Hebdo killings. Craig is an independent journalist and discussed the stability of Yemen, what makes it a hub for al-Qaida and how the West’s […]

Iraq

Iraqi Shiites, Fuming over Slow US Fight against ISIL, threaten to Revoke Agreement

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) – Four months have passed since the US began to work with an international alliance to confront the threat of the extremist group, the Islamic State, in Iraq. Yet for many locals, there don’t seem to be any obvious results. The Islamic State, or IS, group still has […]