Iraq's first Christian-only brigade of regular forces graduated Thursday to help retake the community's towns and villages from the Islamic State (ISIS) group. The new brigade will answer to the government of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, whose peshmerga fighters are playing a leading role in the war against the jihadists. Fighters paraded and
Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction continued its celebration of the most lethal terror attack against Israel, the 1978 Coastal Road massacre led by Dalal Mughrabi in which 37 Israelis were slaughtered, 12 of them children. Fatah addressed Israelis on its Facebook page on Wednesday, writing "collect your body parts and leave!,"
Thousands of Iraqi troops and militiamen laid siege to jihadist fighters holed up in Tikrit on Thursday, wary of rushing into streets littered with bombs and infested with snipers. After making major gains in and around the city on Wednesday, commanders were confident that Baghdad's biggest victory yet against the Islamic State group was
The emir of Qatar on Thursday met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for surprise talks in the capital Ankara, a Turkish presidential official said. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani was holding closed-door talks at Erdogan's newly built presidential palace in Ankara, the official told AFP, without elaborating further. The meeting, which was
Iraqi commanders said Thursday that time was on their side as government forces tighten their siege of Tikrit and warned they would not be rushed into a final assault. Since the operation to retake Tikrit from Islamic State was launched at the start of the month, thousands of troops and militia have reconquered the
Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari claimed Wednesday that Iran can defeat the US in "any scenario." At a convention in Tehran, Jafari boasted "we have grown so much (more) powerful that we don't feel concerned about the enemy's unwise attitude. We can go past any enemy scenario, and this has
The Islamic State jihadist group (ISIS) launched a major offensive Wednesday to try to capture a strategic town on the Syrian-Turkish border, leaving dozens dead in clashes, a monitor said. "Fighters from the Islamic State group started a huge assault towards Ras al-Ain and were able to take over a village nearby," the Syrian
The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group blew up the only bridge over the Tigris river in the entire Tikrit area Tuesday as Iraqi forces continued to seal off the city, security sources said. "The bridge was blown up by Daesh," a police colonel said, using an Arab acronym for the jihadist organisation.
A hardline cleric has been elected to head the committee which will select Iran's new Supreme Ruler, in the event that current leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dies, Reuters reports. Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi's selection to head the Assembly of Experts comes not long after reports circulated that Khamenei had died of prostate cancer - rumors
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif published a passive-aggressive response to the letter signed by 47 Republican senators against the Iran nuclear deal, Vox news reports Tuesday - implying that the senators are not educated on international policy and even the US constitution itself. "In our view, this letter has no legal value and is
