| British defence experts fear for post-NATO Afghanistan Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:21 PM PST  Former British defence chiefs warned Monday that parts of southern Afghanistan could fall to the Taliban when British troops leave this year, despite Prime Minister David Cameron recently saying they had accomplished their mission. Former commander of the elite Special Air Service Richard Williams told the Times that there was already evidence of growing collaboration between Taliban insurgents and Afghan soldiers and politicians in the Helmand Province. "I will be very surprised if the future governor of Helmand...is not very closely connected to those who we call the Taliban," he told the paper. Cameron faced criticism last month for saying that NATO-led foreign troops had accomplished their mission of providing security in Afghanistan, in an echo of former US president George W. Bush's much-derided comments on Iraq in 2003.
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| Syria rebels push al Qaeda back; U.S. open to Iran role Posted: 05 Jan 2014 02:31 PM PST  By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Arshad Mohammed AMMAN/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Syrian rebel fighters loyal to al Qaeda ceded ground near the Turkish border to rival Islamists on Sunday, activists said, in what seemed to be a tactical withdrawal to end clashes between Syrian- and foreign-led opponents of President Bashar al-Assad. As Syria's civil war gets ever more complex amid a broad regional confrontation between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, the United States raised the prospect of Assad's sponsor Iran, the Shi'ite power long at odds with Washington and its Sunni Arab allies, playing some role in this month's Syrian peace talks. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tehran still should not take formal part in the peace conference scheduled to start on Lake Geneva on January 22 because it had not endorsed a 2012 accord calling for a new Syrian leadership. But he said there might be ways that Iran could "contribute from the sidelines".
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| Syrian rebels clash with al-Qaida-linked fighters Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:51 PM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian opposition fighters battled rival rebels from an al-Qaida-linked faction across parts of northern Syria on Sunday, as deep fissures within the insurgency erupted into some of the most serious and sustained violence between groups opposed to President Bashar Assad since the country's conflict began.
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| Fighting between Iraqi troops, al-Qaida kills 34 Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:09 PM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — The Iraqi military tried to dislodge al-Qaida militants in Sunni-dominated Anbar province Sunday, unleashing airstrikes and besieging the regional capital in fighting that killed at least 34 people, officials said. A series of bombs in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, meanwhile, killed at least 20 people.
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| Jihadists kill 50 rebels in new Syria war front Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:09 PM PST  Al-Qaeda-linked fighters killed at least 50 rival rebels Sunday in a new front in Syria's war, a watchdog said, as an Islamist group issued a strong warning to the jihadists. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels were killed in fighting, car bombings and summary executions by forces loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. ISIL moved into Syria in late spring 2013, two years after the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began. At least nine ISIL fighters were also killed on Sunday, the Britain-based Observatory said.
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| Iraq city seizures illustrate Qaeda group's resurgence Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:00 PM PST  The seizure by Al-Qaeda-linked militants of a major Iraqi city and parts of another illustrates their resurgence, and harkens back to the darkest days of the insurgency that followed the 2003 US-led invasion. The Al-Qaeda franchise in Iraq fell from the height of its influence in the years after the invasion, suffering defeats by American forces, especially after Sunni tribesmen joined them from late 2006 in a process that became known as the "Awakening." But it has made a striking comeback in its latest incarnation, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which spans more than one country and has been bolstered by the cross-border ties it has established in Syria during the country's civil war, analysts say. It is now a major force in the Syrian conflict, and has also carried out operations in Iraq ranging from brutal bombings of civilians to brazen prison assaults.
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| Turkish photographer freed in Syria Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:40 AM PST  Ankara (AFP) - A Turkish photographer kidnapped while covering the civil war in neighbouring Syria has been freed, Turkey's state news agency said Sunday.
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| Syria's Islamic Front issue strong warning to jihadists Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:33 AM PST  Syria's Islamic Front, the country's biggest rebel alliance, issued Sunday a strong warning to jihadists, three days after a new front made up of local insurgents emerged against them. "We fight against whoever attacks us and whoever pushes us to battle, whether they are Syrian or foreign," said the Front, an alliance that groups tens of thousands of rebels seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad. Since Friday, along with the Syrian Revolutionaries Front and the nascent Army of Mujahedeen, the Front has been engaged in fierce fighting with the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). "In our charter... we said we are grateful and thankful to the foreigners who came to help us" in the war against Assad's troops, the Islamic Front said in Sunday's statement.
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| Iraq officials say fighting with al-Qaida kills 34 Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:24 AM PST  BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials in Iraq's western Anbar province say fighting between the army and al-Qaida militants has killed 34 people.
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| U.S. ex-Homeland Security official to advise U.N. on Iran dissidents in Iraq Posted: 05 Jan 2014 11:23 AM PST  U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named former Deputy U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jane Holl Lute as his special adviser to help with the relocation of a group of Iranian dissidents in Iraq to new countries, the U.N. said on Sunday. "Ms. Holl Lute will work with a wide range of stakeholders, in particular Member States, with a view to facilitating the relocation of residents of Camp Hurriya outside of Iraq," the U.N. press office said in a statement. The appointment of Holl Lute, who was a senior U.N. official from 2003 to 2009, comes after a series of attacks on the dissident Mujahadin-e-Khalq (MEK) group in Iraq.
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| Iran exiles call for UN probe into dissident deaths in Iraq Posted: 05 Jan 2014 10:46 AM PST  An exiled Iranian opposition group on Sunday called for the United Nations to probe the deaths of dozens of Iranian dissidents in Iraq, which it blames on the Tehran-friendly government of Baghdad. The call came ten days after a rocket attack on Camp Liberty, which houses exiled Iranian dissidents near Baghdad airport, left four dead according to the France-based National Council of Resistance of Iran. Camp Liberty, a former US military base, is home to some 3,000 members of Iran's main opposition group, the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI).
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| U.S. can fight al Qaeda in Iraq without troops: Kerry Posted: 05 Jan 2014 09:39 AM PST  The United States will support the Iraqi government and tribes fighting al Qaeda-linked Sunni Muslim militants in Anbar province but will not send U.S. troops back to Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday. Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and tribal fighters have taken control of Ramadi and Falluja, the main cities in the Sunni Muslim-dominated province of Anbar, which adjoins Syria, in a serious challenge to the Shi'ite-led government's authority. Iraqi troops and allied tribesmen are trying to retake the province.
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| Former Syrian PM runs for president of exiled political opposition Posted: 05 Jan 2014 09:33 AM PST  Former Syrian prime minister Riyad Hijab is running for the leadership of the Western-backed political opposition in a bid to make the fractious rebel movement more credible ahead of political peace talks. The Syrian National Coalition is seeking to strengthen its position ahead of talks dubbed 'Geneva 2' and scheduled for January 22, as its rebel forces contend with attacks from groups linked to al Qaeda as well as a newly formed and increasingly aggressive Islamic Front. Hijab, who defected to Jordan with his family in August 2012, will run against incumbent Ahmad Al-Jarba, whose six-month term ended last month, the media office of the Syrian National Coalition said. "He has a real chance of winning and his experience as Syria's prime minister will help us in the political process," one senior coalition member said before Hijab's candidacy was officially announced.
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| Iraq readying 'major attack' to retake Fallujah Posted: 05 Jan 2014 09:32 AM PST  Fallujah (Iraq) (AFP) - Iraq is preparing a "major attack" on militant-held Fallujah, a senior official said Sunday, spelling another assault for the city west of Baghdad where US forces repeatedly battled insurgents. Washington said it would help Baghdad in its fight against Al-Qaeda-linked militants but that there would be no return of US troops, and Iran on Sunday also offered assistance. The takeover of Fallujah and parts of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi, farther west, is the first time militants have exercised such open control in major cities since the height of the bloody insurgency that followed the US-led invasion of 2003.
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| Kerry: US will support Iraq, but without troops Posted: 05 Jan 2014 09:09 AM PST  JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that the United States will support Iraq's fight against al-Qaida-linked militants who have overrun two cities, but won't send in American troops.
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| Iraqi air force strikes city to try to oust al Qaeda Posted: 05 Jan 2014 09:01 AM PST By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi government forces battling an al Qaeda offensive near the Syrian border launched an air strike on Ramadi city on Sunday killing 25 Islamist militants, according to local officials. Government officials in western Anbar province met tribal leaders to urge them to help repel al Qaeda-linked militants who have taken over parts of Ramadi and Falluja, strategic Iraqi cities on the Euphrates River. |
| Iran ready to help Iraq battle Qaeda: military chief Posted: 05 Jan 2014 08:59 AM PST  Iran's deputy chief of staff General Mohammad Hejazi said Sunday the Islamic republic was prepared to provide military equipment and advice to Iraq to help it battle Al-Qaeda. Hejazi said there had not been any request from Iraq to "carry out joint operations against the 'takfiri' terrorists," a term used to describe Al-Qaeda. Iraqi forces are preparing a major attack to retake the city of Fallujah, which has been taken over by fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is also a major force in the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad in neighbouring Syria.
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| Egypt bars Canadian Shi'ites from entering Posted: 05 Jan 2014 08:58 AM PST Egypt stopped 61 Canadian Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims from entering the country and decided to hold them at Cairo airport until their onward flight, security officials said on Sunday. The Canadians landed in Egypt from Iraq to complete a pilgrimage to Shi'ite sites in the region, but were kept out on the orders of security authorities, said airport security officials who gave no further explanation. Canadians are usually allowed into Egypt with a visa bought upon arrival. A spokesman for Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird said Ottawa would react later on Sunday. |
| Sniper fire kills one as clashes flare in Lebanon's Tripoli Posted: 05 Jan 2014 07:32 AM PST One man was shot dead and six people were wounded in clashes on Sunday in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli between districts that support rival sides in neighboring Syria's civil war. Medical and security sources said sniper fire killed the civilian from Tripoli's Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tabbaneh district, whose residents overwhelmingly support the Sunni rebels battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The latest fighting erupted in the Tripoli neighborhoods adjacent to Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jebel Mohsen, where clashes have flared several times in recent months, killing dozens. Soldiers were deployed to the districts last month following another episode of violence in Tripoli, 30 km (20 miles) from the Syrian border, where divisions reflect the sectarian gulf across Lebanon over Syria's civil war. |
| Spain: Police nab Al Qaeda-linked terror suspect Posted: 05 Jan 2014 06:47 AM PST MADRID (AP) — Spain's Interior Ministry says police have arrested a man suspected of belonging to an al-Qaida linked terror organization and participating in the Syrian conflict. |
| Syrian rebels battle al-Qaida-linked fighters Posted: 05 Jan 2014 06:10 AM PST BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian opposition fighters seized a compound garrisoned by an al-Qaida-linked rebel faction Sunday, in some of the most serious infighting to date within the vast array of rebel groups trying to topple President Bashar Assad, activists said. |
| Bombings kill at least 15 in Iraq capital: officials Posted: 05 Jan 2014 05:48 AM PST  A series of bombings killed at least 15 people in Baghdad on Sunday, officials said, as militants held a major city and part of another west of the Iraqi capital. The three car bombs and one roadside bomb, which hit three separate areas of Baghdad, also wounded at least 40 people, the officials said.
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| Bombings kill 20 in Iraq's capital, Baghdad Posted: 05 Jan 2014 05:11 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — A new wave of bombings hit Iraq's capital, Baghdad, killing at least 20 people Sunday, officials said, the latest assault by militants who have been fighting Iraqi security forces and allied tribes in country's west. |
| Why President Bashar al-Assad's rule may endure Posted: 05 Jan 2014 05:00 AM PST But almost three years later, Mr. Assad still inhabits the presidential palace overlooking a battle-scarred Damascus. The tenacity of his regime, the evident disarray within the political opposition, and armed rebel groups' drift toward Islamic extremism have spurred some in the West to voice what was unthinkable just a year ago: that Assad could actually win, and that his survival may even be preferable to a rebel victory, which could bring about a Syria dominated by Al Qaeda-affiliated extremists. Ryan Crocker, a former US ambassador to Damascus with extensive experience in the Middle East, recently caused a stir by predicting in a New York Times op-ed that Assad would eventually regain the country "inch by bloody inch." Still, although Assad has survived longer than many would have predicted in 2011, his chances of winning the war are slim. |
| Bombings kill 15 in Iraq's capital, Baghdad Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:58 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — Authorities say bombings in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, have killed at least 15 people and wounded dozens. |
| Al Qaeda affiliate pull out of northern Syria strongholds Posted: 05 Jan 2014 04:51 AM PST An al Qaeda affiliate rebel group pulled out from strategic areas of northern Syria near the Turkish border on Sunday after coming under heavy fire from other Islamist brigades, opposition activists said. Fighting erupted in the last few days between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an al-Qaeda division led by foreign jihadists, and other home-grown Islamist groups, including the al Nusra Front, another al Qaeda affiliate. The area is key to supplying rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. Units of the Western backed Free Syrian Army also took part in fighting against the ISIL. |
| Iraqi general: Forces will retake western cities Posted: 05 Jan 2014 01:42 AM PST BAGHDAD (AP) — A senior Iraqi military commander said Sunday that it will take a few days to fully dislodge al-Qaida-linked fighters from two key western cities. |
| US backs Iraq battle with militants but it's 'their fight': Kerry Posted: 05 Jan 2014 12:04 AM PST  Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday the United States would stick by Iraq in its battle with Al-Qaeda-linked militants, but stressed it was "their fight." "We will stand with the government of Iraq who push back against (militant) efforts ... but it is their fight -- that is something we determined some time ago," he told reporters in Jerusalem. Iraq lost Fallujah to Al-Qaeda-linked fighters, a senior security official said Saturday, putting militants back in control of the city west of Baghdad where US forces repeatedly battled insurgents. And fighting in Anbar province killed 65 people -- eight soldiers, two government-allied tribesmen and 55 militants from the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), security officials said.
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| Kerry heads to Jordan and Saudi Arabia Posted: 04 Jan 2014 09:15 PM PST  JERUSALEM (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry is heading to Jordan and Saudi Arabia to discuss his effort to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, yet his conversations with the U.S. allies will undoubtedly turn to other Mideast trouble spots.
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| Today in History Posted: 04 Jan 2014 09:01 PM PST Today is Sunday, Jan. 5, the fifth day of 2014. There are 360 days left in the year. |
