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BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) – by Laurent Barthelemy with Cecile Feuillatre in Paris As Iraqi forces backed by a US-led coalition inch towards the Islamic State group in Mosul, experts and security sources warn that any assault on the jihadists’ main Syrian stronghold of Raqa would be even more difficult. The US and British defence ministers said on Wednesday they expected an assault to drive IS from its de facto capital of Raqa to begin in […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia | AFP | — Southeast Asia faces a growing risk of extremist violence as Islamic State group supporters increasingly work together, but law enforcement agencies are unprepared for the new threat, a report warned Tuesday. The main danger lies in the strife-torn southern Philippines, where a handful of Islamic extremist groups have sworn allegiance to IS, according to the report from think-tank the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC). The groups have […]
NAWARAN, Iraq (AFP) – by Wilson Fache with W.G. Dunlop in Qayyarah Elite Iraqi forces Thursday retook a town on the eastern edge of Mosul while Kurdish peshmerga opened a new front in the offensive to wrest back the jihadists’ last bastion in Iraq. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told an international meeting in Paris that the four-day-old offensive was “advancing faster than expected”. France and Iraq were co-chairing the meeting on the future of Mosul, […]
ALBUQUERQUE, United States (AFP) – by Thomas WATKINS The United States is sending about 600 extra troops to Iraq to train local forces for an upcoming offensive on the Islamic State group stronghold of Mosul, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Wednesday. IS seized Mosul along with other areas in June 2014, but the country’s forces have since regained significant ground from the jihadists and are readying for a drive to retake Iraq’s second largest city. “These […]
KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP) – by Hassan al-Obeidi Iraqi forces launched an operation on Tuesday to retake a northern town from the Islamic State group in the latest move to prepare a broad offensive on jihadist bastion Mosul. Army and tribal forces pushed towards Sherqat, which IS fighters captured more than two years ago when they swept across Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland. The town lies on the west bank of the Tigris river in Salaheddin province, 260 […]
DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) – by Rim Haddad Bombings claimed by the Islamic State group killed dozens in mainly government-controlled areas of Syria on Monday, as Washington and Moscow failed to agree a deal to stem the violence. The blasts killed at least 48 people and wounded dozens a day after IS lost the last stretch of the Syria-Turkey border under its control. In China, where world powers were gathered for the G20 meeting, US President […]
QAYYARAH, Iraq (AFP) – by Abdelhamid Zebari Iraqi forces on Thursday pushed the Islamic State group from Qayyarah, a northern town considered strategic for any future offensive against the jihadists’ last stronghold of Mosul. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi hailed the victory as a key step in the fight against IS but hours later suffered yet another political setback when lawmakers impeached his defence minister. Special forces, backed by US-led coalition air strikes, wrapped up a three-day […]
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) – by Stuart WILLIAMS Turkey on Tuesday pounded Islamic State (IS) jihadists in Syria with new artillery strikes as expectations grew of a major Ankara-backed offensive against the group after a deadly suicide bombing on its soil. With tensions flaring on the Turkey-Syria border following the bombing in the nearby city of Gaziantep that left 54 people dead, Turkish howitzers on Monday hit jihadist and Kurdish rebel targets across the frontier. Turkey has […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) – The United Nations said Tuesday it was rushing to build camps to accommodate what it expects to be a mass exodus from Mosul once a battle begins for Iraq’s second city. The UN refugee agency warned that an expected battle to liberate Mosul, the Islamic State group’s last major urban stronghold in Iraq, was likely to “dramatically worsen” the displacement situation in the country. Iraq is already facing one of the world’s […]
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) – by Fulya OZERKAN Stuart WILLIAMS Turkish authorities scrambled Monday to identify a child suicide bomber acting on the orders of Islamic State jihadists who killed 54 people including several children at a Kurdish wedding close to the Syrian border. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the IS group needed to be completely pushed out of the border zone inside Syria, amid Turkish media reports of an Ankara-backed offensive by rebels against the group. […]
KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) – by Dmitry ZAKS Ukraine’s security service said on Thursday it had blocked channels being used by jihadists travelling to fight with the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq and detained an ‘IS recruiter’ from one of the former Soviet republics. “The Ukranian security service, prosecutor’s office, police and migration service have blocked several channels for the transit of foreign fighters to the IS international terrorist group through our state’s territory,” […]
TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) – by Rim Taher Pro-government forces battled Thursday to clear the Islamic State group from its main Libyan stronghold of Sirte, after dealing a major blow to the jihadists by seizing their headquarters. IS still controls several areas of the Mediterranean city, whose capture in June 2015 sparked fears the extremists would use it as a springboard for attacks on Europe. Sirte’s fall would be a huge setback to the jihadists’ efforts […]
