by WorldTribune Staff, May 27, 2016 U.S. special operations forces are “present at all positions along the front” and are assisting a Kurdish-Arab coalition “on the ground and in the air,” in the offensive against Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in its de facto Syria capital of Raqqa. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) field […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 27, 2016 Sheikh Saleh Bin Fawzan Al-Fazwan is adamant about Saudis not behaving “like Westerners.” Thus, the senior cleric has banned the taking of selfies with kitties. Al-Fazwan issued the order after being told during a television broadcast of a new trend in the kingdom of people posing for pictures with […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 27, 2016 A group of Iranian college students who were “dancing and jubilating” at a graduation party that included men and women were arrested and given 99 lashes. Iran’s judiciary said the punishments, believed to be part of a wider crackdown by Teheran’s hard-liners, were meted out in Qazvin, about 90 […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 27, 2016 It is not acceptable for U.S. soldiers to wear the insignia of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) when embedded with the Kurdish fighters, a Turkish official said. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said photos showing U.S. special operations forces wearing the YPG insignia on their shoulders during operations against […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 26, 2016 Ongoing unrest in Nigeria and Libya and the economic meltdown in Venezuela have knocked enough oil out of the market to enable crude to top $50 per barrel for the first time in 2016. Wildfires in Canada’s oil sands also contributed to the nearly 4 million barrels per day […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 26, 2016 The UN’s Middle East envoy has publicly urged Hamas to halt the public executions of 13 men, most convicted of murder connected to robberies. UN envoy Nickolay Mladenov told the Security Council that public executions are prohibited under international human rights law. “I urge Hamas not to carry out […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty The U.S. House has voted to bar the U.S. government from purchasing heavy water from Iran in the future, undercutting President Barack Obama’s nuclear pact with Tehran. The House attached the prohibition to an essential funding bill for the U.S. Energy Department with a 251-168 vote. […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 26, 2016 A religious freedom group is calling on the United Nations to “mobilize the international community” to take action to protect Christians against Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) atrocities. The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), in a letter to the UN, detailed ISIL’s executions of Christians […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Norman Bailey Cooperation with Sunni Arab countries against Iran is welcome, but it does not yet look reliable. For a long time now, analysts and commentators have been talking about the northern or Sh’ia arc and the southern or Sunni arc in the Arab Middle East. The northern arc is led […]
by WorldTribune Staff, May 25, 2016 Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) is mimicking a tactic long used by Hamas in the Gaza Strip by using residents of its de facto capital in Syria as human shields. The tactic is complicating efforts of a Kurdish-Arab alliance to drive the terrorists out of Raqqa, a […]