Tag: syria

Rebels capture last Syrian town in Idlib province

The Syrian army has pulled back from the northwestern city of Ariha after a coalition of insurgent groups seized the last city in Idlib province in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border that was still held by the government. A coalition of rebel groups called Jaish al Fateh, or Conquest Army, said it had taken over the city. Syria’s al Qaeda offshoot Nusra Front is a major part of the coalition. The coalition said it […]

Cholera feared in Syria due to dirty water, WHO warns

A cholera outbreak is feared in coming months in Syria, where other water-borne diseases such as hepatitis A and typhoid are on the rise due to poor sanitation, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned yesterday. Safe drinking water is available at about one-third of the level it was before the conflict erupted nearly five years ago, and supplies are cut-off to punish civilians at times, it said. Some 31,460 cases of hepatitis A were reported […]

Islamic State says beheads Japanese hostage Goto, Japan vows justice

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned on Sunday (February 1) the apparent killing of journalist Kenji Goto by Islamic State, after the militant group released a video purporting to show the beheading of the veteran war correspondent. Islamic State insurgents said on Saturday (January 31) they had killed Goto, after the apparent failure of sustained international efforts to secure his release through a prisoner swap. The video showed a hooded man standing over Goto with […]

Hagel, under pressure, resigns as U.S. defense secretary

  (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel resigned on Monday, leaving under pressure as President Barack Obama faces critical national security challenges, including fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and revising plans to exit Afghanistan. It was the first major change to Obama’s Cabinet since his Democrats were routed in midterm elections three weeks ago, and Republicans, who now control both houses of Congress, are looking for a new approach from the White house. Hagel […]

Families torn apart as dozens of French girls join Islamist cause in Syria

(Reuters) — While Western governments have focused on the thousands of male jihadist volunteers who have left for Syria and Iraq, security officials in Europe are expressing alarm about a smaller but steady stream of female groups heading the same way. France, which is home to Europe’s biggest Muslim community, struggles with the flow of would-be jihadists to Syria and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve believes almost a thousand French citizens are either already there or trying to go. Among them are dozens of girls […]

ASEAN issues first statement against ISIS and other terrorist groups

MANILA, Philippines (ENS) — In its first ever statement against terrorist and extremist organizations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) sent a strongly worded expression of concern  against radical groups in Iraq and Syria saying these groups pose a serious threat to the rest of the world if left unchecked. “ASEAN Member States expressed concern over the rise of violence and brutality committed by terrorist/extremist organisations and radical groups in Iraq and Syria, noting […]

At least 14 militants dead in U.S.-led strikes in Syria: monitor

(Reuters) – At least 14 Islamic State fighters were killed in air strikes by U.S.-led forces overnight in northeast Syria, a group monitoring the war said on Thursday. The strikes also killed at least five civilians, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. A third night of U.S.-led air strikes late on Wednesday targeted Islamic State-controlled oil refineries in eastern Syria as the United States and its allies tried to […]

Islamist fighters advance in Syria despite U.S. strikes

BY KINDA MAKIEH AND JONNY HOGG (Reuters) – U.S. and coalition planes pounded Islamic State positions in Syria again on Wednesday, but the strikes did not halt the fighters’ advance in a Kurdish area where fleeing refugees told of villages burnt and captives beheaded. U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking at the United Nations, asked the world to join together to fight the militants and vowed to keep up military pressure against them. “The only language […]

Islamist fighters advance in Syria despite U.S. strikes

By Kinda Makieh and Jonny Hogg DAMASCUS/MURSITPINAR Turkey Wed Sep 24, 2014 9:03pm EDT (Reuters) – U.S. and coalition planes pounded Islamic State positions in Syria again on Wednesday, but the strikes did not halt the fighters’ advance in a Kurdish area where fleeing refugees told of villages burnt and captives beheaded. U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking at the United Nations, asked the world to join together to fight the militants and vowed to keep […]

Shadowy al Qaeda cell, hit by U.S. in Syria, seen as ‘imminent’ threat

(Reuters) – While the world has focused on a U.S.-led air assault on Islamic State strongholds in Syria, American officials said they also struck a blow there against a little-known cadre of hardened al Qaeda militants that posed a more immediate threat to the West. The strikes early on Tuesday on what Washington called the Khorasan Group, so shadowy that U.S. officials had barely uttered its name in public, were staged to disrupt a plot against […]

U.S., Arab allies, launch first strikes on fighters in Syria

(Reuters) – The United States and Arab allies bombed Syria for the first time on Tuesday, killing dozens of Islamic State fighters and members of a separate al Qaeda-linked group, pursuing a campaign against militants into a war at the heart of the Middle East. “I can confirm that U.S. military and partner nation forces are undertaking military action against (Islamic State) terrorists inSyria using a mix of fighter, bomber and Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles,” Rear Admiral John […]

US on airstrikes

The United States is confident that other countries will help them in conducting airstrikes in Syria against the Islamic State militants. This was stated by the US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Powers, after the formation of the international military, political and financial coalition to fight the Sunni muslim group that invaded portions of Syria and Iraq. She said, that US will wait for the announcement of other countries. Said official did not name the […]