ISIS

Tracing ISIS’ supply chain— back to the US

“Habibi! Aluminium!” The call echoes through the courtyard of a trash-strewn home in Tal Afar, a remote outpost in northern Iraq. It is late September and still hot, the kind of heat that seems to come from all sides, even radiate up from the ground, and the city is empty except for feral dogs and […]

Pentagon Doubts Russian Withdrawal From Syria Claim

The Pentagon isn’t buying into the claims by Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Russian are pulling a “significant part” of their troops from Syria after their mission in the war-torn country has been completed. Putin visited the country on Monday and it is estimated to have 10,000 active duty troops and private contractors currently […]

Casualty Toll In Somalia Conflict Rises to 4500 in Somalia Since 2016

The United Nations Human Rights Office and the U.N. Assistance Mission in Somalia have said that more than 4,500 civilians have been killed or wounded in the conflict in Somalia since the start of 2016. And their report has pointed the finger at the guilty parties responsible for the majority of the violence plaguing the […]

Kurds Criticize Abadi For Not Mentioning Their Role in Defeating IS

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi publicly announced that the three-year war aimed at driving the Islamic State out of Iraq was successful and has come to an end. But what he didn’t do was acknowledge the role the Iraqi Kurds played in the defeating of ISIS. And that has the peshmerga forces rightfully mad. “Our […]

Iraqi Prime Minister declares victory over ISIS

Three years after militants from the Islamic State captured nearly a third of the nation, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has declared final victory over ISIS in a televised address to his nation on Saturday. Haider al-Abadi’s speech comes two days after Russia announced victory over the same terrorist organization in Syria, where their military […]

Defector says thousands of Islamic State fighters left Raqqa in secret deal

A high-level defector from Kurdish-led forces that captured the Syrian city of Raqqa from Islamic State has recanted his account of the city’s fall, saying thousands of IS fighters – many more than first reported – left under a secret, U.S.-approved deal. Talal Silo, a former commander in the Syrian Democratic Forces, said the SDF […]

US Slams Russia, Syria Over Halfhearted Attempts to Oust IS

The White House and the Pentagon have publicly blasted the Russians and Syrians for what is viewed as a weak attempt to oust the Islamic State and ISIS from the Syrian borders. In a scathing statement, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning said, “The Syrian regime and Russian Federation’s actions have thus far demonstrated that countering […]

ICC, “Reasonable Basis” for British Guilty of War Crimes

Fatou Bensouda, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said on Monday there is a “reasonable basis” to believe that some British soldiers committed war crimes during combat operations in the US-led invasion of Iraq. Bensouda’s statement said, that in a 74-page report on preliminary inquiries that “there is a reasonable basis to believe that members […]

Kushner says Mideast peace is essential to thwarting Iran and Islamist extremism

President Trump’s push for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians stems from a belief that his broader goals of stopping Iranian aggression and Islamist extremism will not be possible without it, presidential adviser Jared Kushner said in a rare public appearance Sunday. “If we’re going to try to create more stability in the […]

Niger Agrees to Grant Authority to U.S. Military to Arm Drones

Reports from CNN earlier this week are saying that the government of Niger has granted the US military the authority to arm its drones in Niger. US military officials had been seeking the authority to arm its drones for months prior to the ambush of a US Special Forces unit that left four soldiers dead. […]

Those Trump tweets: The real story behind the Egyptian roof-throwing video

US President Donald Trump’s caused a storm of controversy on Wednesday after he retweeted Islamophobic clips posted by the leader of a far-right British group. But in Egypt, one of the videos that Trump posted was already highly controversial for years. This amateur video footage which Trump retweeted was thought to be filmed on 5 […]

US Denies Special Operations Soldiers Killed Somali Citizens in August

AFRICOM, the United States’ command in Africa, has disputed claims that Special Operations soldiers killed any civilian during a raid conducted in August. The PAO office for the command released a statement on Wednesday, which was the first public statement concerning the allegations that first surfaced in the Daily Beast. AFRICOM’s two-paragraph statement referred to […]