| World Food Program can't meet demand in Syria Posted: 02 Feb 2014 02:05 PM PST CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Aid agencies have been overwhelmed by demand for food in Syria, with thousands surviving without a regular supply of nourishment for more than a year because of civil war in the Middle Eastern country, a United Nations official said. |
| Syrian air raids kill at least 36 in Aleppo Posted: 02 Feb 2014 12:13 PM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government helicopters and warplanes unleashed a wave of airstrikes on more than a dozen opposition-held neighborhoods in the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, firing missiles and dropping crude barrel bombs in a ferocious attack that killed at least 36 people, including 17 children, activists said.
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| Attacks kill 21 as Iraq forces hit Anbar militants Posted: 02 Feb 2014 12:02 PM PST  Iraqi government forces pressed their assault on militant strongholds in Anbar province Sunday as attacks elsewhere killed 21 people, with intensifying violence fuelling fears of a return to all-out conflict. The effort to win back parts of Ramadi, capital of the western province of Anbar and one of two cities that either entirely or partly fell out of government control weeks ago, comes with violence at its highest level since 2008. Soldiers and police fought alongside armed pro-government tribesmen in southern Ramadi in some of the heaviest clashes of recent weeks, a police officer and an AFP journalist said. Two police officers said the assault enabled government forces to wrest back control of parts or most of several key areas of Ramadi, including the Malaab, Street 60, Humeirah and Albu Jabar districts.
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| Iraqi army bombards Falluja in preparation for ground assault Posted: 02 Feb 2014 11:24 AM PST  By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi army intensified its shelling of Falluja on Sunday in preparation for a ground assault to regain control of the city, which has been under the control of militants for a month. Sunni Muslim anti-government fighters, among them insurgents linked to al Qaeda, overran Falluja in the western province of Anbar on January 1, against a backdrop of deteriorating security across Iraq. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose Shi'ite-led government many in the Sunni minority accuse of discrimination, had held off an all-out offensive to give local tribesmen a chance to expel the militants themselves. But security officials told Reuters on Saturday that a decision had been made to enter Falluja on Sunday.
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| Syrian aircraft pound rebel-held areas of Aleppo Posted: 02 Feb 2014 11:05 AM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government aircraft unleashed a wave of airstrikes on more than a dozen rebel-held neighborhoods in the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, as President Bashar Assad's forces inched into areas controlled by opposition fighters for more than a year, activists said.
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| Eyeing sanctions thaw, Western delegates race to Iran Posted: 02 Feb 2014 10:48 AM PST  Six months after the inauguration of Iran's moderate President Hassan Rouhani, Western diplomats and businessmen are racing to Tehran hoping that a diplomatic thaw will reopen lucrative markets. A landmark agreement reached with world powers on Iran's controversial nuclear programme in November has raised hopes that Western sanctions could be lifted on the oil-rich country with a population of 76 million. A delegation of 110 members of MEDEF-- France's largest employers' union-- is due in Tehran on Monday to resume talks after an absence of several years. No contracts will be signed due to the strict international sanctions still in place, but the visit is seen as a key step towards regaining a foothold in the country.
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| Syrian forces kill 83 in barrel bomb attacks in Aleppo: activists Posted: 02 Feb 2014 10:34 AM PST  By Stephen Kalin BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian military helicopters dropped more improvised "barrel bombs" on the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, a monitoring group said, bringing the death toll to at least 83 people in the latest episode of a campaign that many consider a war crime. Most of the victims killed since Friday have been civilians from the city's eastern districts, including women and children, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a broad network of sources across Syria. The use of barrel bombs - oil drums or cylinders packed with explosives and shrapnel - has drawn international condemnation, not least from Western powers at last week's peace talks in Switzerland. The first round of negotiations wound up on Friday without progress towards ending Syria's three-year civil war or reducing the violence, which regularly kills more than 100 people a day.
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| Warrants issued for judge and journalist over Iraq PM 'libel' Posted: 02 Feb 2014 10:06 AM PST  Arrest warrants have been issued for the judge who convicted Saddam Hussein and a journalist critical of the government for allegedly libelling Iraq's premier, a watchdog and the judge said Sunday. Warrants were issued last month for Munir Haddad and Sarmad al-Taie, apparently for criticising Nuri al-Maliki, under an article of the criminal code that prohibits defaming or insulting government employees. A local press watchdog said the warrant for Taie, who writes a regular column for the Al-Mada newspaper and is a frequent guest on television current affairs programmes, was the first against a journalist since the US-led invasion in 2003. Haddad, who sentenced Saddam Hussein to death in 2006 and is now a private lawyer, turned himself in last week after being told of the warrant.
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| Activists: Car bomb in Syria killed al-Qaida rival Posted: 02 Feb 2014 09:24 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — A twin car bombing near the northern Syrian city of Aleppo killed a senior leader of an Islamic rebel brigade opposed to an al-Qaida-linked faction, activists said Sunday. The attack could exacerbate rebel infighting even as government aircraft bomb opposition-held areas of the divided city. |
| Germany promises more engagement: but not on the battlefield Posted: 02 Feb 2014 08:23 AM PST  By Stephen Brown MUNICH (Reuters) - Germany's U.S. and European allies welcome Berlin's promise of a more robust foreign and security policy, but with no appetite at home for troops to fight, it may mean little more than extra logistical help and tougher rhetoric. At this year's security conference in Munich, where 11 years ago pacifist-turned-foreign minister Joschka Fischer told U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld "excuse me, I am not convinced" about the war in Iraq, Germany promised its knee-jerk reaction would no longer be a 'no' to overseas missions. "In my view, to be a good partner Germany should get involved more quickly, more decisively and more substantially," said head of state President Joachim Gauck, in a message that was reinforced by the German foreign and defense ministers. "Germany is too big to only comment on world politics from the sidelines," said Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
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| Al-Qaida fighters in Syria kill rival rebel leader Posted: 02 Feb 2014 02:36 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Al-Qaida fighters killed the leader of a rival Islamic brigade in a twin car bombing near Syria's northern city of Aleppo, an attack likely to further exacerbate rebel infighting even as government forces continued their intense shelling of opposition-held areas of the city on Sunday. |
| Video shows beheading of man in Syria by al Qaeda rebels Posted: 01 Feb 2014 04:37 PM PST Rebels in Syria with ties to al Qaeda have decapitated a man believed to have been a pro-government Shi'ite fighter, an amateur video of the public beheading posted to the Internet on Saturday showed. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group which posted the video, said the beheading was conducted by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a foreign-led group fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad and establish an Islamic emirate in Syria. The Britain-based Observatory, which opposes Assad and has an extensive network of sources across Syria, said the video was taken in the central province of Homs. Hard-line Islamist rebels with links to al Qaeda have come to dominate the largely Sunni Muslim insurgency against Assad, who is supported by members of his minority Alawite sect - an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam - as well as Shi'ite fighters from Iraq and Lebanon's Hezbollah. |
| Paratrooper who died on Alaska base identified Posted: 01 Feb 2014 04:10 PM PST JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska (AP) — U.S. Army Alaska has released the identity of a paratrooper who died after collapsing following a training jump. |
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