2014年1月7日星期二

Yahoo! News: Iraq

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: Iraq


White House defends Biden from brutal Gates hit

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:28 PM PST

File photo of Robert Gates acknowledging applause from President Barack Obama at the PentagonThe former defense secretary calls Biden clueless. The White House calls him "one of the leading statesmen of his time."


US Air Force copter crashes in England, killing 4

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:23 PM PST

Undated image made available by the US Air Force Tuesday Jan. 7 2014 of a USAF HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter of the same type as one which crashed at about 6 p.m. local time Tuesday near Salthouse on the Norfolk coast of eastern England . The aircraft, assigned to the 48th Fighter Wing, and based at the Royal Air Force station in Lakenheath, Suffolk County, which hosts U.S. Air force units and personnel, was on a low-level training mission when the crash occurred. (AP Photo/ US Air Force Lakenheath)LONDON (AP) — A U.S. Air Force Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in the coastal marshes of eastern England during a training mission on Tuesday night, killing all four crew members aboard, officials said.


Former U.S. Defense Secretary Gates criticizes Obama in memoir

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:13 PM PST

U.S. Defense Secretary Gates is presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama at the Pentagon near WashingtonU.S. President Barack Obama lacked belief in his administration's policy toward the war in Afghanistan and was skeptical it would even succeed, his former defense secretary, Robert Gates, writes in a memoir to be published next week. Gates, who served as Pentagon chief from 2006 to 2011 under Obama and his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, is critical of Obama's leadership on several defense-related issues, especially Afghanistan, according to a review of "Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War" in the Washington Post on Tuesday. According to the Post, Gates wrote that he concluded by early 2010 that Obama, who had ordered his own troop "surge" in Afghanistan like Bush's in the Iraq war, "doesn't believe in his own strategy, and doesn't consider the war to be his.


Syria ships out first batch of chemical weapons materials

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 04:09 PM PST

People inspect a site hit by what activists said was an airstrike by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the Duma neighbourhood of DamascusBy Oliver Holmes and Erika Solomon BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria has started moving chemical weapons materials out of the country in a crucial phase of an internationally backed disarmament program that has been delayed by war and technical problems. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said on Tuesday that "priority chemical materials" were transported to the port of Latakia and onto a Danish vessel which was now sailing towards international waters. Syria agreed to abandon its chemical weapons by June under a deal proposed by Russia and agreed with the United States after an August 21 sarin gas attack that Western nations blamed on President Bashar al-Assad's forces. Damascus blames rebels for the attack.


Gates: Obama grew frustrated over Afghanistan

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 03:52 PM PST

FILE - In this June 15, 2011, file photo, then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testifies regarding the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2012 budget request before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense on Capitol Hill in Washington. Gates asserts in a new memoir that President Barack Obama grew frustrated with U.S. policy in Afghanistan and that Vice President Joe Biden has been wrong on nearly every foreign policy and national security issue. He also accuses members of Congress of inquisition-like treatment of administration officials. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates asserts in a new memoir that President Barack Obama grew frustrated with U.S. policy in Afghanistan and that Vice President Joe Biden has been wrong on nearly every foreign policy and national security issue. He also accuses members of Congress of inquisition-like treatment of administration officials.


Obama didn't believe his own war strategy: Gates

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 03:50 PM PST

Former US Defense Secretary Robert Gates listens during a forum discussion at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies on October 22, 2013 in WashingtonFormer defense secretary Robert Gates has delivered a scathing critique of President Barack Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan in a revealing new memoir, US media reported Tuesday. In "Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary of War," Gates recounts how Obama appeared to lack faith in a war strategy he had approved and the commander he named to lead it, General David Petraeus, and did not like Afghan President Hamid Karzai, according to The New York Times and The Washington Post. "As I sat there, I thought: the president doesn't trust his commander, can't stand Karzai, doesn't believe in his own strategy and doesn't consider the war to be his," Gates writes of a March 2011 meeting in the White House. Having approved deploying more than 30,000 forces after an acrimonious White House debate, the US president seemed plagued by doubts and surrounded by civilian aides who sowed distrust with the military, Gates writes.


War policies tested from Mideast, Afghanistan

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 03:47 PM PST

FILE - In this May 1, 2009, file photo, an Afghan man looks on as U.S. solider's of 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division stands guard during a search operation in Nerkh district of Wardak province in west of Kabul, Afghanistan. A burst of strength by al-Qaida that is chipping away at the remains of Mideast stability now confronts President Barack Obama, testing his hands-off approach to conflicts in Iraq and Syria at the same time he pushes to keep thousands of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Obama has already decided the fight against extremists must continue, so long as Afghan President Hamid Karzai signs off on a joint security agreement. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is confronted with a recent burst of strength by al-Qaida that is chipping away at the remains of Mideast stability, testing his hands-off approach to conflicts in Iraq and Syria at the same time he pushes to keep thousands of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.


United States sending more troops and tanks to South Korea

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 03:38 PM PST

U.S. Army soldiers and its M2A2 Bradley fighting vehicles take part in the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercise against possible attacks by North Korea, at a shooting range near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in PajuThe United States said on Tuesday it will send 800 more soldiers and about 40 Abrams main battle tanks and other armored vehicles to South Korea next month as part of a military rebalance to East Asia after more than a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The battalion of troops and M1A2 tanks and about 40 Bradley fighting vehicles from the 1st U.S. Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas, will begin a nine-month deployment in South Korea on February 1. "This addition of forces to Korea is part of the rebalance to the Pacific. It's been long planned and is part of our enduring commitment to security on the Korean peninsula," Army Colonel Steve Warren said.


Obama and Hillary Clinton said opposition to Iraq surge was political, ex-defense secretary claims

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 03:21 PM PST

A new memoir by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates claims that President Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told each other that opposition to the Iraq surge in 2006 was a purely political move.

Mideast tumult tests Obama approach in the region

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:51 PM PST

FILE - In this May 1, 2009, file photo, an Afghan man looks on as U.S. solider's of 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division stands guard during a search operation in Nerkh district of Wardak province in west of Kabul, Afghanistan. A burst of strength by al-Qaida that is chipping away at the remains of Mideast stability now confronts President Barack Obama, testing his hands-off approach to conflicts in Iraq and Syria at the same time he pushes to keep thousands of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Obama has already decided the fight against extremists must continue, so long as Afghan President Hamid Karzai signs off on a joint security agreement. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is confronted with a recent burst of strength by al-Qaida that is chipping away at the remains of Mideast stability, testing his hands-off approach to conflicts in Iraq and Syria at the same time he pushes to keep thousands of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.


First chemical arms material shipped out of Syria

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:29 PM PST

A handout picture taken on January 5, 2014 and released on January 7, 2014 shows the Danish support vessel L17 "Esbern Snare" training with the Norwegian frigate HNoMS "Helge Ingstad" in the Mediterranean SeaThe first shipment of chemical weapons materials left Latakia port Tuesday under a deal to rid Syria of its chemical arsenal, the joint mission overseeing the disarmament said. On the ground, the head of Syrian Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front urged an end to four days of clashes between rebels and the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant that has killed at least 274 people. "A first quantity of priority chemical materials was moved from two sites to the port of Latakia for verification and was then loaded onto a Danish commercial vessel today," the UN-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (UN-OPCW) mission said. Escorted by Chinese, Danish, Norwegian and Russian naval vessels, the ship will stand offshore until more chemicals arrive at Latakia and then return to collect them.


Fall of Fallujah reverberates in Washington. But will US help Iraq?

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:04 PM PST

Al Qaeda's resurgence in Iraq's Sunni regions and growing concerns over the return of civil conflict to a country the US military left just two years ago are spawning a debate over who's to blame for the renewed strife – and what the US should do about it. Two Republican senators – Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Arizona's John McCain – were quick to blame President Obama when Al Qaeda-affiliated militants seized key cities in Iraq over the weekend. Among them was Fallujah, a city US Marines retook from militants in 2004 in some of the most intense and bloody fighting the US military had seen since Vietnam. "When President Obama withdrew all US forces [from Iraq] … many of us predicted that the vacuum would be filled by America's enemies and would emerge as a threat to US national security interests," they said in a statement Saturday.

Oil prices boosted by US cold snap

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:02 PM PST

Fog shrouds Boston Harbor and obscures the skyline, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014, in Boston. After a severe winter storm on Friday and days of freezing temperatures in the Boston area, rain was in the forecast for Monday with temperatures reaching into the 50s. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)The price of oil rose to near $94 a barrel Tuesday as unusually cold weather in the U.S. was expected to fuel demand in the world's largest market for energy.


ISIL threatens Syria opposition politicians: audio

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:55 PM PST

A member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) speaks into a microphone urging people to join their fight against the regime, in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on November 13, 2013The jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Tuesday called members of the opposition Syrian National Coalition a "legitimate target" in an audio message from an ISIL spokesman. Abu Mohammed al-Adnani said in the message published on a jihadist website that ISIL considers the opposition Syrian National "Coalition and national council and the chief of staff and military council (...) have declared and begun a war on it".


Qaeda-linked group urges Iraq Sunnis to keep fighting

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:43 PM PST

Iraqi women and children, who fled Fallujah, sit in the back of a truck as they wait at an army checkpoint at Ayn al-Tamer crossing at the entrance to Karbala province on January 6, 2014Ramadi (Iraq) (AFP) - An Al-Qaeda-linked group called on Iraqi Sunnis who have seized one city and part of another to keep battling government forces, as fighting and attacks killed 56 people Tuesday. Parts of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi west of Baghdad and all of Fallujah have been outside government control since last week. "Oh Sunni people, you were forced to take up the weapon," Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, spokesman for Al-Qaeda-linked group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), said in an audio recording released Tuesday. "Do not lay the weapon down, because if you put it down this time, the (Shiites) will enslave you and you will not rise again," he urged Iraqi Sunnis, referring to the Shiite-led government in Baghdad.


Robert Gates Thinks Joe Biden Hasn't Stopped Being Wrong for 40 Years

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:26 PM PST

Robert Gates Thinks Joe Biden Hasn't Stopped Being Wrong for 40 Years"I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades," former Defense Secretary Robert Gates says of Vice President Joe Biden in his new book coming out later this month. Gates' assessment of Biden's boss is only slightly better, depicting an Obama administration with very murky lines of communication on military issues. Gates, as The New York Times notes in its review of Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, served under every president since Nixon, save Bill Clinton. When President Obama took office in 2009, he (somewhat controversially) decided that Gates would stay as defense secretary, a position to which he was appointed by George W. Bush in 2006.


Iraqi government: airstrike kills 25 militants

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:19 PM PST

Civilians inspect the site of a car bomb attack in Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2014. Police said a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden truck into a police station, killing and wounding scores of people in the northern city, home to a mix of Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen, each of the ethnic groups has competing claims to the oil-rich area. (AP Photo/Emad Matti)BAGHDAD (AP) — A government airstrike killed 25 al-Qaida-linked militants in a besieged province west of Baghdad amid fierce clashes Tuesday between Iraqi special forces and insurgents battling for control of the key cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, Iraqi officials said.


U.S. outlook too uncertain for M&A rush: Airbus exec

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 01:12 PM PST

EADS North America CEO O'Keefe speaks during the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in WashingtonBy Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Uncertainty about U.S. budget levels is limiting the prospects for increased merger and acquisition activity in the defense industry, Sean O'Keefe, chief executive officer of the U.S. operations of Europe's Airbus, said on Tuesday. "There's lots of churn, but I don't get the sense that there's going to be a lot of immediate action," O'Keefe told Reuters in an interview after announcing that he will resign, effective March 1, for health reasons. O'Keefe said a U.S. congressional budget agreement provided some greater insight into the Pentagon's budget for fiscal 2014 and 2015, but many specifics remained unclear, which made it difficult for companies to assess potential acquisitions. He said the two-year budget agreement left mandatory budget cuts in place beyond 2015, and overall U.S. military spending looked set to drop 7 percent to 8 percent from current levels.


Gunmen kill 12 at Baghdad brothel

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 12:38 PM PST

Iraqi soldiers monitor a checkpoint east of Baghdad on January 6, 2014Gunmen killed seven women and five men at a brothel in the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, security and medical officials said. The attack took place at an apartment in the Zayouna area of east Baghdad, where a similar attack took place last year.


Iraqi Sunnis flee Anbar turmoil for Shiite Karbala

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 12:31 PM PST

Sunni Muslim Iraqis who fled Fallujah with their families carry blankets and mattresses distributed by the International Organization for Migration on January 6, 2014 in Ayn al-Tamer in Karbala provinceAin Tamr (Iraq) (AFP) - A steady stream of families fleeing fighting in Ramadi and Fallujah is arriving at a checkpoint in Iraq's Karbala province, seeking shelter from the deadly violence. As militants hold parts of Ramadi and all of Fallujah, in Anbar province, Sunni families are now seeking safety in the Shiite-majority Karbala province, in a country that has been plagued by sharp sectarian divisions. The checkpoint in the Ain Tamr district has the look of a border crossing, manned by police and soldiers supported by armoured vehicles.


First batch of chemical weapons taken out of Syria

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 12:04 PM PST

In this Monday, Jan. 6, 2014 citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center, AMC, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrians inspect the rubble of destroyed buildings following a Syrian government airstrike in Aleppo, Syria. Syrian rebel groups battled one another Monday for control of a provincial capital, part of a vicious round of score settling targeting an al-Qaida affiliate that gained stature fighting President Bashar Assad but alienated many by imposing strict Islamic law. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)BEIRUT (AP) — The first batch of the most dangerous chemicals in Syria's arsenal was loaded onto a Danish ship and taken out of the country Tuesday under tight security, an important milestone in the international operation to rid President Bashar Assad of the weapons by midyear.


Florida congressman's wife seeks divorce

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 11:35 AM PST

By Barbara Liston ORLANDO (Reuters) - Central Florida Congressman Alan Grayson's wife filed for divorce in Orlando on Monday in a petition calling the marriage "irretrievably broken." The Democratic lawmaker's office confirmed Tuesday that Grayson and his wife Lolita were separated and experiencing "a very difficult transition for everyone involved." The couple has been married for 23 years and has five children aged 8-18. "Congressman Grayson's priority remains caring for his five children and protecting their well-being, particularly during this difficult period. To that end, we ask that you respect the privacy of all members of the Grayson family as they work through this challenging time, and we thank you for your support," Grayson spokeswoman Lauren Doney said in a statement. Known during his first term in Congress from 2009-2011 as a fire-breathing Democrat, he famously summed up the Republican plan for healthcare as "if you do get sick, die quickly." Soundly defeated for re-election in the 2010 midterm elections by Daniel Webster during a Republican sweep of national and local offices, Grayson came back in 2012 to win a newly drawn congressional district seat awarded to central Florida following reapportionment.

Suspected Qaeda Syria militant remanded in custody in Spain

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 11:31 AM PST

Rebel fighters gather in a street of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on January 7, 2014A Spanish judge on Tuesday remanded in custody a man suspected of belonging to an Al-Qaeda linked militant group taking part in the Syrian conflict. The judge ordered Abdelwahid Sadik Mohamed, 28, to be held in custody while he is investigated for the suspected crime of membership of a terrorist organisation because of the risk that he would flee or try to destroy evidence, according to a written ruling from the National Court. Police arrested Mohamed, who was born in the north African Spanish territory of Ceuta, which borders Morocco, on Sunday at the airport in Malaga, southern Spain, where he had arrived on a flight from Istanbul. He is suspected of having trained in Syria in a camp belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a jihadist faction in Syria with roots in Al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate.


Gunmen kill 7 police in attack on Iraq checkpoint

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 11:21 AM PST

An Iraqi soldier controls vehicles at an army checkpoint at Ayn al-Tamer crossing, at the entrance to Karbala province on January 6, 2014Tikrit (Iraq) (AFP) - Gunmen attacked a police checkpoint north of the Iraqi capital on Tuesday, killing seven including a captain, a police officer and a doctor said.


Turkey's pro-Kurdish MPs sworn in after freed from prison

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 11:04 AM PST

Turkey's parliament swore in five pro-Kurdish lawmakers on Tuesday after they were freed from prison during their trial on charges linking them to armed militants, lifting hopes for a shaky peace process. Two courts ruled last week that the lengthy imprisonment of Peace and Democracy Party lawmakers Selma Irmak, Faysal Sariyildiz, Gulser Yildirim and Ibrahim Ayhan and independent MP Kemal Aktas had violated their rights as elected officials. Parliamentarians enjoy immunity from prosecution in Turkey. "I hope our release can contribute to the peace process, but it's really just a first step," Irmak told Reuters.

Syrian Rebels Battle With al-Qaeda Fighters as Iraq Implodes Next Door

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 09:42 AM PST

But in the case of Raqqa, in northern Syria, the 50 prisoners in question were not captives of the government, but of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS], an al-Qaeda franchise ostensibly aligned with rebels pushing for the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Even as ISIS, which got its start as al-Qaeda in Iraq back in the days of the American war, regains territory in the Iraqi province of Anbar, it is slowly being pushed out of its northern Syrian strongholds by a broad coalition of moderate and Islamist groups fed up with its draconian interpretations of Islamic law and its abuses of power. The violent schism between ISIS and other insurgents within the rebellion may lead to a recalibration of Western attitudes towards the Syrian opposition, which has long been tainted by its links to terror groups. "This is not the end of ISIS by any means," says Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar, an international think tank with a special focus on conflict in the Middle East.

The Syria effect: Lebanese Sunnis begin to strap on bombs

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 09:37 AM PST

When Qutaiba Satem, a 19-year-old engineering student, drove an explosives-laden car into a Shiite suburb of Beirut last week and blew himself up, he became the first Lebanese Sunni to commit an apparently sectarian-driven suicide bombing against Shiite civilians in Lebanon.  But Lebanon remained untouched by such tactics. Now, the Jan. 2 bomb attack underlines how the grinding civil war in Syria, which has repeatedly spilled into Lebanon, is radicalizing a Sunni community traditionally more comfortable with commerce and trade than jihad.

Obama backs repeal of law that green-lighted Iraq War

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 09:29 AM PST

The law that green-lighted the March 2003 invasion of Iraq is still on the books – but maybe not for much longer if President Barack Obama has his way, the White House said Tuesday.

Frist Center Pairs Work of Francisco Goya and Steve Mumford in Exhibitions Exploring Conflict as Seen Through Artists' Eyes

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 09:15 AM PST

NASHVILLE, Tenn., Jan. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Through the pairing of the exhibitions Goya: The Disasters of War, and Steve Mumford's War Journals, 2003–2013, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts offers two powerful artistic portrayals of conflict and life in a combat zone. In The Disasters of War, the eminent Spanish painter and printmaker Goya graphically depicts the ravages of war as a means of expressing his horror with humanity's capacity to inflict harm, whereas the contemporary American artist Steve Mumford takes a more journalistic approach to his paintings of 21st Century combat. Both exhibitions will be on view in the Frist Center's Upper-Level Galleries from February 28 through June 8, 2014.

Radical Syria rebel pleads for infighting to stop

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 08:52 AM PST

In this Monday, Jan. 6, 2013 citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center, AMC, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, Syrians inspect the rubble of destroyed buildings following a Syrian government airstrike in Aleppo, Syria. Syrian rebel groups battled one another Monday for control of a provincial capital, part of a vicious round of score settling targeting an al-Qaida affiliate that gained stature fighting President Bashar Assad but alienated many by imposing strict Islamic law. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)BEIRUT (AP) — The shadowy leader of one of Syria's most powerful rebel groups pleaded with his comrades to stop the spread of rebel infighting in opposition-held territories, warning it threatened to upend gains made against Syrian government forces.


Iraq moves up tanks, guns for looming Falluja assault

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 08:27 AM PST

By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi army deployed tanks and artillery around Falluja on Tuesday, security officials said, as local leaders in the besieged city urged al Qaeda-linked militants to leave in order to avert an impending military assault. Security officials and tribal leaders have said that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki agreed to hold off an offensive to give people in Falluja time to push the militants out. But it is not clear how long they have before troops storm the town, close to Baghdad, where U.S. forces fought notable battles a decade ago. "Tribal leaders appealed to the prime minister to halt the attack and stop shelling Falluja," an Iraqi special forces officer told Reuters.

5 takeaways from Joe Trippi on the political landscape in 2014 and 2016

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 08:20 AM PST

In the latest episode of Political Wire's podcast, we sat down with Democratic consultant and media strategist Joe Trippi for a look at the 2014 elections, the future of the political parties, and the potential for technology to disturb the reigning two-party paradigm. 1. Republicans stand to gain seats in 2014 — maybe win the Senate — if they don't shoot themselves again: After taking a beating in the government shutdown battle, Republicans have pulled even or edged ahead in the generic congressional polls, with the botched ObamaCare rollout hurting the Democratic Party and taking its toll on President Obama's favorability and approval ratings. Said Trippi: "If they're as low as they are today, regardless of whether it's because of ObamaCare or an economy that hasn't recovered ... that will probably mean losing the Senate." But it also could be déjà vu all over again for Republicans: "The last two cycles they should have won the Senate, but those opportunities were essentially blown in Republican primaries."

Syria's Nusra Front chief urges end to jihadist-rebel clashes

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 08:13 AM PST

Members of the Al-Nusra Front take part in a parade calling for the establishment of an Islamic state in Syria, in the Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood of Aleppo, northern Syria, on October 25, 2013The chief of Syria's Al-Nusra Front, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, called Tuesday for an end to fighting between rebel groups and the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The message came as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said at least 274 people had been killed in the clashes that erupted last Friday. In an audio recording posted on Twitter, Abu Mohamed al-Jolani announced an initiative to end the fighting, including a "ceasefire" and the establishment of an independent Islamic committee to serve as mediator.


Turkey: Case dropped over botched air raid

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 08:05 AM PST

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish military prosecutors dropped a case against five military officers who were being investigated for negligence in the military air strike in 2011 that killed 34 smugglers mistaken for Kurdish rebels, saying there was no ground for any legal action, the state-run agency reported Tuesday.

Urgent call for champions to prevent lost generation of Syrian children

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 07:47 AM PST

"I am talking on behalf of Syrian children, calling on you -- the people of the other world. Have you ever thought of Syria? Have you ever thought of the children of Syria? The organizations are so concerned about the situation facing millions of Syrian children that they are uniting behind a call for donor and public support to fund critical education and protection programs to lift Syrian children out of misery, isolation, and emotional and mental distress.

Syrian Qaeda branch urges truce to halt rebel infighting

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 07:36 AM PST

A rebel fighter guards a street to prevent members of the al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant from entering Jabal al-Zawiya in IdlibThe head of an al Qaeda-linked rebel group in Syria called on Tuesday for a ceasefire between opposition factions who have clashed for five days in the bloodiest bout of infighting since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began. An audio recording from the leader of the powerful Nusra Front, who goes by the name Abu Mohammed al-Golani, also laid much of the blame for the fighting on an al Qaeda splinter group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). While both groups have roots in the global Islamist network and welcome foreign militants, the Nusra Front has cooperated more with other rebel groups and has largely avoided the power struggles that ISIL has faced since wresting control of many opposition-held areas from other groups.


'274 dead' in four days of Syria rebel-jihadist clashes

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 07:22 AM PST

Rebel fighters man a checkpoint close Jabal al-Zawiya in Idlib province, northwest Syria on January 6, 2014Beirut (AFP) - At least 274 people have been killed in four days in Syria since the outbreak of fighting between rebels and jihadists, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.


Syrian al Qaeda branch calls for truce to halt rebel infighting

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 07:02 AM PST

The head of an al Qaeda-linked rebel group in Syria called on Tuesday for a ceasefire between opposition factions who have clashed for five days in the bloodiest episode of infighting since the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began. The audio recording from the leader of the powerful Nusra Front, who goes by the name Abu Mohammed al-Golani, also laid much of the blame for the fighting on an al Qaeda splinter group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). While both groups have roots in the global Islamist network and welcome foreign militants, the Nusra Front has cooperated more with other rebel groups and has largely avoided the power struggles that ISIL has dealt with since wresting control of many opposition-held areas from other groups. "Many rebel units have committed transgressions, just as the mistaken policies followed by played a prominent role in fuelling the conflict," he said.

Oil prices bolstered by severe US cold snap

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 06:29 AM PST

Oil prices boosted by US cold snapThe price of oil rose to near $94 a barrel Tuesday as unusually cold weather in the U.S. was expected to fuel demand in the world's largest market for energy. By mid-afternoon in Europe, benchmark U.S. ...


Is Iran the United States' new best friend in the Middle East?

Posted: 07 Jan 2014 06:05 AM PST

Iran denounced the US suggestion that it play a role on the sidelines of the second United Nations Syria peace conference this month because the minimal role "does not respect its dignity," a foreign ministry spokeswoman said Monday. But with skyrocketing sectarian violence throughout the region, particularly in Syria and Iraq, and the US beginning to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, Iran's active involvement in the region is seen as increasingly important, The New York Times reports, describing Iran as an "island of stability." The UN special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, supports Iran's participation in the Syrian peace process, and on Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Tehran could "participate very easily" in the talks if they accept that the Assad regime must be replaced by a transitional government. "If Iran doesn't support that, it's difficult to see how they are going to be a ministerial partner in the process," Mr. Kerry said, noting that there are ways they could "conceivably" contribute from the sidelines.

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