Special to WorldTribune.com Though the pope and the UN have designated Islamic State of Iraq and Levant’s (ISIL) slaughter of Mideast Christians as genocide, the Obama administration is not so sure. “My understanding is the use of that word involves a very specific legal determination that has, at this point, not been reached,” White House […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Russia and the Assad regime are bombing civilian areas in order to create a mass exodus of refugees in what amounts to the “weaponizing” of Syrian citizens, NATO’s top general charged. “Together, Russia and the Assad regime are deliberately weaponizing migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve,” […]
Special to WorldTribune.com The Saudi foreign minister on Feb. 28 said the Assad regime and Russia have violated the truce in Syria. Adel al-Jubeir, speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen in Riyadh, said there would be a “plan B” if it became clear that Syrian President Bashar Assad’s […]
Special to WorldTribune.com The illicit trade of antiquities in the West is helping to fund the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) terror organization. The U.S.-led coalition in Iraq and Syria has put a dent in ISIL’s other funding streams, so the jihadists increasingly rely on the sale of artifacts pilfered from areas under […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Norman Bailey Israel is wisely keeping out of the fray in Syria, but it may be challenged all the same. There are more than two dozen state and non-state actors battling over the prostrate body of what used to be Syria, one of the artificial entities carved out in the Middle […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Authorities in northern Iraq’s Kurdish autonomous region say a teenage Swedish girl who was being held by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) militants has been rescued in a raid by Iraqi Kurdish special forces. A statement issued by officials in Iraq’s Kurdish region on […]
Special to WorldTribune.com In an age of increasingly precise munitions, Russia is almost exclusively dropping “dumb” bombs in Syria, the U.S. military said. “They’re using mostly dumb bombs, guided only by gravity and fins,” said Army Col. Steven Warren, the top military spokesman in Baghdad, according to a report by national security correspondent Rowan Scarborough […]
Special to WorldTribune.com A pair of car bombings in Syria claimed by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) killed 119 people just as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had announced a provisional deal for a ceasefire. Two car bombings killed at least 57 people and wounded dozens in the Al-Zahraa district of Homs, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Despite some recent military successes against the Islamic State (ISIL) forces, both the security and the humanitarian situation in Iraq remain fragile and precarious. That’s the assessment from Jan Kubis, the UN special representative in a sobering report to the Security Council on the road […]
Special to WorldTribune.com After several deadly attacks on medical facilities, the humanitarian aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) will no longer share GPS coordinates on hospital locations with Russian and Syrian officials. “Healthcare in Syria is in the crosshair of bombs and missiles. It has collapsed,” Joanne Liu, MSF International president, told reporters in Geneva. […]
