Special to WorldTribune.com Syria’s recent military gains have led its opponents, including Turkey and Gulf states, to increase their funding of anti-regime “terrorists,” Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Nov. 29. In a meeting with a senior Iranian official in Damascus, Assad cited “important gains by the Syrian army in the fight against terrorism, with […]
Special to WorldTribune.com U.S. President Barack Obama referred early last year to Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) as a JV team. ISIL’s subsequent rampage through Iraq and Syria proved Obama wrong, but analysts cited by a McClatchyDC report think the worst has yet to come. “The conditions are very much like 1914,” said […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki has neutralized Iraq’s U.S.-trained and -equipped military, a report said. The Brookings Institution said Al Maliki purged the Iraqi military of commanders suspected of disloyalty. In a report, the institution said those forced out by the Shi’ite Al Maliki included some of the most professional […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Hassan Mneimneh, The German Marshall Fund WASHINGTON — The dramatic retreat of Iraqi forces from cities, towns, and provinces in Western and Northern Iraq and the threat of lasting territorial gains for the Al Qaida-inspired “Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” (ISIS) come as a sobering reminder of the dysfunction endemic […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Excerpted from an article by Yossef Bodansky, Senior Editor, Global Information System The intense fighting of late January and early February in Syria, coupled with the vastly improved manipulation of the jihadists there by Iranian intelligence … have already enabled Syria’s Bashar Assad administration to take control over the war in Syria. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com ABU DHABI — For the first time, Bahrain has accused the United States of fomenting a Shi’ite coup in the Gulf Cooperation Council kingdom. Bahrain’s military chief said Washington was supporting numerous non-governmental organizations assigned to generate unrest in the Sunni Arab state. Field Marshal Khalifa Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The U.S. intelligence community has assessed that a fragmented opposition and powerful foreign support could sustain the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout 2012. Officials said the assessment took into account the strong military, intelligence and financial support the Damascus regime has received from China, Iran and Russia. The […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — Iraq has been detaining hundreds of foreign contractors, including those hired to protect the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. Officials and executives said contractors who arrived in Baghdad International Airport were undergoing severe interrogation and in many cases detained. They said the airport detentions, which numbered 100 in early January, reflected […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Fariborz Saremi, FreePressers.com Iraq is facing a very uncertain future now that the Americans, worn down by the military (4,500 dead) and financial costs (over $1 trillion) have withdrawn their military forces. The tide of sectarian conflict is rising, driven in part by Iranian ambition and Saudi Arabian fears. The Shi’ite […]
Special to WorldTribune.com BAGHDAD — Iraq, in wake of the withdrawal of the U.S. military, has reported an extensive insurgency presence. The Interior Ministry has determined that nearly 60 insurgency cells were operating throughout Iraq. The ministry said many of the cells were linked to Al Qaida and conducted mass-casualty bombings over the last six […]