Yahoo! News: Iraq

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• US lifts hold on military aid to Bahrain after crackdown
• British toll in Tunisia attack to rise to 'around 30'
• Bomb kills Egypt's top prosecutor as he drives to work
• Ex-French interior minister Charles Pasqua dies aged 88
• Iraq PM 'retires' army chief of staff: spokesman
• Islamic State seen as potent force a year after caliphate declaration: Pentagon
• US arrests New Jersey man on IS support charges
• For world, limited options if Iran talks fall apart
• End of Sanctions Worth Hundreds of Billions to Iran
• France bets on Arab Sunni states as Iran nuclear deal nears
• Abbott urges countries to help in fight against IS group
• UNESCO condemns 'barbaric' IS attacks on heritage sites
• Tunisia arrests suspects associated with beach hotel attacker
• Putin, elites bid farewell to ex-PM and master spy Primakov
• US program to train Syrian rebels losing ground
• Car bomb attack kills Egypt's top public prosecutor
• Factbox: Gulf Arabs on the rise in Islamic State
• IS threat grows as 'caliphate' enters second year
• A year of the Islamic State group's 'caliphate'
• U.S., allies conduct 23 air strikes in Iraq, Syria: U.S. military
• A short chronology of the Islamic State group
• State of fear: Survivors tell of life under IS rule
• French beheading suspect denies jihad motivation
• New arrests in Tunisia attack as Europeans honor victims
• Kuwait attack shows Gulf vulnerability to Islamic State
• Hundreds protest against Dalai Lama
• Kuwait mosque bomber raised no red flags, transited Bahrain
• Aid group: Thousands flee fighting in Syria's Hassakeh
• A Former Israeli Ambassador Takes Aim at Obama—and American Jewry
• UN: Islamic State destruction of heritage sites a war crime
• Syrian insurgents carve out fiefdoms in de-facto partition
• Feds defend request for special housing during Burning Man
• French attacker denies Islamist aim, motivations murky
• Factbox: Array of combatants deepens complexity of Syria's civil war
• In Moscow, Syrian minister says Russia promises aid
• UAE sentences Emirati woman to death for killing U.S. teacher
• Exclusive: In turf war with Afghan Taliban, Islamic State loyalists gain ground
• UK's Cameron vows 'full-spectrum response' after Tunisia beach attack
• Putin and Russian political elite bid farewell to Primakov
• Iraq: Attacks inside, around Baghdad kill at least 7 people

US lifts hold on military aid to Bahrain after crackdown Posted: 29 Jun 2015 04:17 PM PDT The United States said Monday it was resuming security aid to Bahrain's military forces, citing "meaningful progress" on human rights four years after the kingdom's deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters. "The administration has decided to lift the holds on security assistance to the Bahrain Defense Force and National Guard that were implemented following Bahrain's crackdown on demonstrations in 2011," State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

British toll in Tunisia attack to rise to 'around 30' Posted: 29 Jun 2015 03:23 PM PDT The number of Britons killed in a gun massacre in Tunisia is expected to rise to "around 30", officials said on Monday, as a British military plane evacuated some of the injured. Prime Minister David Cameron promised to mount a "full investigation" into Friday's attack on a beach resort near the city of Sousse with 16 British detectives already in Tunisia to aid the police there. Hundreds more British police were sent to interview tourists who have been returning to Britain from Tunisia, some of whom might have witnessed the beach massacre claimed by the Islamic State group.

Bomb kills Egypt's top prosecutor as he drives to work Posted: 29 Jun 2015 01:46 PM PDT CAIRO (AP) — A car bomb killed Egypt's chief prosecutor Monday in the country's first assassination of a senior official in 25 years, marking what could be an escalation in a campaign by Islamic militants toward targeting leaders of a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

Ex-French interior minister Charles Pasqua dies aged 88 Posted: 29 Jun 2015 01:44 PM PDT Former French interior minister Charles Pasqua, a hardline politician who was a close ally of former president Jacques Chirac, died Monday aged 88, political sources said. Pasqua, a veteran of the Gaullist movement, spent more than half a century at the heart of French politics in a career punctuated by no-nonsense policies targeting terrorism but overshadowed by funding scandals. "It is with very great sadness and with huge emotion that I learned of the passing of Charles Pasqua," Sarkozy said in a statement.

Iraq PM 'retires' army chief of staff: spokesman Posted: 29 Jun 2015 12:37 PM PDT Iraqi premier Haider al-Abadi has "retired" the army's chief of staff, the most senior officer removed since jihadists overran large parts of the country last year, his spokesman said Monday. General Babaker Zebari "has been retired" on Abadi's orders, Saad al-Hadithi told AFP, without providing further details. Abadi has sacked dozens of army and police officers in an effort to restructure and improve security forces that performed disastrously when the Islamic State jihadist group launched an offensive last June, overrunning major areas north and west of Baghdad.

Islamic State seen as potent force a year after caliphate declaration: Pentagon Posted: 29 Jun 2015 12:33 PM PDT By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A year after Islamic State declared a caliphate on territory seized in Iraq and Syria, the al Qaeda splinter group faces military pressure from a U.S.-led coalition but remains a potent force holding key cities, the Pentagon said on Monday. Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Defense Department spokesman, said the militant group has lost a quarter of the land it controlled at the height of its expansion and has broken and run on several occasions in northern Syria in the face of an offensive by Kurdish-led forces.

US arrests New Jersey man on IS support charges Posted: 29 Jun 2015 12:24 PM PDT The Justice Department said Alaa Saadeh bought his brother a plane ticket and drove him to New York's John F Kennedy Airport along with another person on May 5. The brother, who was not identified, was arrested in Jordan on suspicion of supporting IS, which operates in Syria and Iraq, according to the Justice Department. The Justice Department said the FBI and a Joint Terrorism Task Force had been investigating Saadeh, his brother and two other suspects as they allegedly conspired to travel overseas to join IS, also known as ISIL.

For world, limited options if Iran talks fall apart Posted: 29 Jun 2015 12:14 PM PDT CAIRO (AP) — The Iranian nuclear talks are playing out in classic fashion: A self-imposed deadline appears to have been extended due to stubborn disputes, with the sides publicly sticking to positions and facing internal pressure from opponents ready to pounce on any compromise.

End of Sanctions Worth Hundreds of Billions to Iran Posted: 29 Jun 2015 11:51 AM PDT Iran's supreme leader is pressing for an almost immediate lifting of economic sanctions against his country if a final agreement is reached to halt temporarily Tehran's development of a nuclear weapon – and he's got reasons. A combination of tough economic sanctions by the U.S., Europe and the U.N. dating to the U.S.-Iran hostage crisis of 1979 to 1981 have seriously stunted Iran's economy and frozen literally hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of assets and oil revenues. More recently, the U.N. has slapped Iran with additional sanctions for violating the Nonproliferation Treaty of 1967.

France bets on Arab Sunni states as Iran nuclear deal nears Posted: 29 Jun 2015 11:48 AM PDT By John Irish VIENNA (Reuters) - France has asked its firms to prepare a return to Iran ahead of a likely deal with powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program, but Paris' tough stance in talks and ties with Sunni Arab states means its "love-hate" relationship with Iran will continue. Despite a long history of commercial, political and social links with Iran that even saw Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei exiled near Paris in 1979, France has arguably been the most demanding among the six powers negotiating a final accord.

Abbott urges countries to help in fight against IS group Posted: 29 Jun 2015 11:45 AM PDT Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday urged countries around the world to proactively help fight the Islamic State (IS) group instead of expecting others to do the "heavy-lifting", as the jihadists eye international expansion. Speaking at a public lecture on regional security in Singapore, Abbott said the group, which has drawn thousands of people worldwide to fight in Syria and Iraq, could commit "more and worse atrocities as long as even a small minority of people are susceptible to its message." Asia-Pacific leaders including Abbott and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have previously warned of the potential formation of a regional arm of IS in Southeast Asia by returning fighters. The Australian leader, in Singapore for a two-day visit, lauded the Southeast Asian city-state's Religious Rehabilitation Group, which counsels and re-indoctrinates jailed militants and youths drawn to extremist views.

UNESCO condemns 'barbaric' IS attacks on heritage sites Posted: 29 Jun 2015 11:14 AM PDT The UN cultural organisation Monday condemned the "barbaric assaults" the Islamic State group has launched on World Heritage sites in Iraq and Syria, saying they may amount to war crimes. Meeting in Bonn, Germany, UNESCO delegates said the IS attacks on sites such as Iraq's ancient city of Hatra recalled the "mindless destruction" by other Islamist extremists in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in Mali's Timbuktu and elsewhere. The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said "intentional attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes and historic monuments may amount to war crimes".

Tunisia arrests suspects associated with beach hotel attacker Posted: 29 Jun 2015 11:03 AM PDT By Patrick Markey and Tarek Amara SOUSSE, Tunisia (Reuters) - Tunisian authorities have arrested a group of suspects associated with the gunman who killed 39 people, mainly British tourists, in a beach hotel attack claimed by Islamic State, the interior minister said on Monday. British interior minister Theresa May, and her French and German counterparts, visited the site of the attack near the Imperial Marhaba hotel in the resort town of Sousse, laying flowers on the beach. Interior Minister Najem Gharsalli gave no details of those arrested and said officials were checking whether gunman Saif Rezgui had been trained in neighboring Libya in jihadist camps.

Putin, elites bid farewell to ex-PM and master spy Primakov Posted: 29 Jun 2015 11:00 AM PDT Russia on Monday bade farewell to former prime minister, foreign minister and master spy Yevgeny Primakov, with a state funeral for one of the last Soviet-era political titans who died last week aged 85. Dignitaries led by President Vladimir Putin paid their last respects to the former prime minister, whose remains lay in state in the House of the Unions in central Moscow flanked by an honour guard. "Without doubt he was a great citizen of our country," Putin said after laying flowers by the coffin and briefly touching it with his hand.

US program to train Syrian rebels losing ground Posted: 29 Jun 2015 10:53 AM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military's program to train and equip thousands of moderate Syrian rebels is faltering, with fewer than 100 volunteers, raising questions about whether the effort can produce enough capable fighters quickly enough to make a difference in the war against the Islamic State.

Car bomb attack kills Egypt's top public prosecutor Posted: 29 Jun 2015 10:46 AM PDT By Ahmed Hassan and Omar Fahmy CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's top public prosecutor was killed by a car bomb attack on his convoy on Monday, the most senior state official to die at the hands of militants since the toppling of an Islamist president two years ago. Security sources said a bomb in a parked car was remotely detonated as Hisham Barakat's motorcade left his home, after saying earlier a car bomber had rammed into the convoy. Judges and other senior officials have increasingly been targeted by radical Islamists opposed to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and angered by hefty prison sentences imposed on members of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Factbox: Gulf Arabs on the rise in Islamic State Posted: 29 Jun 2015 10:38 AM PDT (Reuters) - Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for Kuwait's worst militant attack last Friday, has built a network of militants in Gulf Arab states responsible for a campaign of suicide bombings against the Arabian Peninsula's Shi'ite minority. Some of the Sunni Muslim group's leaders hail from the Gulf, and its Saudi branch, called Wilayat Najd (Najd province), has called for clearing Shi'ites from the Peninsula and especially from Saudi Arabia, its largest country and home to Islam's holiest places. Islamic State subscribes to a puritanical school of Sunni Islam that considers Shi'ites as heretics and wants to sweep away a hereditary monarchy it regards as un-Islamic.

IS threat grows as 'caliphate' enters second year Posted: 29 Jun 2015 10:00 AM PDT The Islamic State group's "caliphate" enters its second year Monday with the jihadists expanding their territory in Syria and Iraq, and their global reach, by claiming attacks in Tunisia and Kuwait. The extremist group headed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced on June 29, 2014 that it was reviving a form of Islamic government known as the "caliphate", pledging it would "remain and expand". In the year since, the group has gained more territory in Syria and Iraq despite an attempted fightback supported by a US-led coalition air campaign.

A year of the Islamic State group's 'caliphate' Posted: 29 Jun 2015 10:00 AM PDT Main dates in the history of the Islamic State jihadist group's "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria, which it declared in late June 2014. IS began as an Al-Qaeda offshoot, before disavowing the authority of that group's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2013. Jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), declare an "Islamic caliphate" across territory they have seized in Iraq and Syria.

U.S., allies conduct 23 air strikes in Iraq, Syria: U.S. military Posted: 29 Jun 2015 09:55 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies staged six air strikes against Islamic State positions in Syria and 17 strikes against the militant group in Iraq on Sunday, the U.S. military said. In Syria, four of the air strikes hit Islamic State positions near Kobani, destroying boats, vehicles and bunkers. Strikes also hit near Ar Raqqah and Al Hasakah, the U.S. military said in a statement on Monday. In Iraq, five air strikes near Tel Afar struck tactical units, bunkers and land features, the coalition said. ...

A short chronology of the Islamic State group Posted: 29 Jun 2015 09:54 AM PDT April 18, 2010 — U.S. and Iraqi forces kill two top leaders of al-Qaida's branch in Iraq. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes the terror group's new leader.

State of fear: Survivors tell of life under IS rule Posted: 29 Jun 2015 09:53 AM PDT ESKI MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — When the Islamic State fighters burst into the Iraqi village of Eski Mosul, Sheikh Abdullah Ibrahim knew his wife was in trouble.

French beheading suspect denies jihad motivation Posted: 29 Jun 2015 09:53 AM PDT The man being held in France under suspicion of beheading his boss and trying to blow up a chemicals plant has told investigators there was no religious motivation behind the attack, a source close to the inquiry said on Monday. The source said Yassin Salhi, 35, told investigators he was not a jihadist and repeated earlier statements that he committed the act outside the southeast city of Lyon on Friday after a row with his wife the day before and his boss a few days earlier. The severed head of his boss was found hanging on the fence of a site belonging to U.S-based gas and chemicals company Air Products, next to flags bearing professions of the Muslim faith.

New arrests in Tunisia attack as Europeans honor victims Posted: 29 Jun 2015 09:47 AM PDT SOUSSE, Tunisia (AP) — Top European security officials paid a somber homage on Tunisian sands Monday to 38 people killed at a beach resort, as Tunisian authorities announced the arrest of seven alleged accomplices of the gunman.

Kuwait attack shows Gulf vulnerability to Islamic State Posted: 29 Jun 2015 09:28 AM PDT By Angus McDowall KUWAIT (Reuters) - By sending a Saudi Arabian suicide bomber to Kuwait and recruiting local members of a stateless underclass to help him attack a Shi'ite Muslim mosque, an Islamic State cell struck at the Gulf Arab monarchy's most potent internal divisions. Relations have traditionally been good between the 70 percent of Kuwait's 1.4 million citizens who are Sunni and the Shi'ites who make up 30 percent, but regional rivalry between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran has opened some fissures. The country, home to the region's most open Arab society, is also divided between descendents of its original townsfolk and those of Bedouin tribes, between Islamists and liberals and between rich and poor.

Hundreds protest against Dalai Lama Posted: 29 Jun 2015 09:00 AM PDT The demonstrators were Shugden Buddhists, who revere a deity denounced since 1996 by the Dalai Lama, whom they accuse of religious persecution. "Dalai Lama, stop lying!" they chanted as he arrived to open Britain's first Buddhist community centre, while his supporters held a counter-demonstration. During his speech at Aldershot stadium, the Dalai Lama referred to recent Islamist attacks saying: "I think genuine Islam practitioner should not create any bloodshed".

Kuwait mosque bomber raised no red flags, transited Bahrain Posted: 29 Jun 2015 08:35 AM PDT DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Saudi man who blew himself up inside a Shiite mosque in Kuwait managed to slip out of his home country without raising any red flags and board a commercial flight transiting nearby Bahrain less than 24 hours before the deadly attack.

Aid group: Thousands flee fighting in Syria's Hassakeh Posted: 29 Jun 2015 08:28 AM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — Fighting between the Islamic State group and the Syrian army in the mainly Kurdish city of Hassakeh has displaced at least 30,000 people, separated families and left some children unaccompanied, a member of an international aid group said Monday.

A Former Israeli Ambassador Takes Aim at Obama—and American Jewry Posted: 29 Jun 2015 08:20 AM PDT In a recent post, I suggested that the intervention of two men, the former U.S. national security advisor Tom Donilon and the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, might help improve the dysfunctional relationship between the Obama administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At the time I wrote this, both men had reputations as people who were concerned about preserving the extraordinarily complicated, and extraordinarily close, U.S.-Israel relationship, and both had spent a good deal of time calming the waters between Obama and Netanyahu. Oren has created a new role for himself: acid critic of the Obama administration and of left-leaning American Jews (especially in the press and in the White House) who, he believes, are trading on their Jewishness when they criticize Israel.

UN: Islamic State destruction of heritage sites a war crime Posted: 29 Jun 2015 08:15 AM PDT BERLIN (AP) — The U.N.'s cultural agency said Monday the destruction of antiquities and heritage sites in conflict zones by the Islamic State and other extremist groups could amount to war crimes.

Syrian insurgents carve out fiefdoms in de-facto partition Posted: 29 Jun 2015 08:10 AM PDT By Samia Nakhoul BEIRUT (Reuters) - Four years into a war that has killed more than 220,000 people, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can no longer defend the whole country or hope to regain lost territory and his forces are retreating and fortifying their core strongholds, from the capital Damascus up to the coastal strip in north-western Syria. At the same time, the main blocs of insurgents, Islamic State in the east, a rival Islamist alliance in the northwest, nationalist rebels in the south and Kurds in the north are carving out their own fiefdoms in what looks like the de facto partition of Syria. While few things are certain in the chaos of Syria's civil war, few experts who study the conflict are in any doubt that the blood-spattered pieces of the puzzle are rearranging themselves into a new pattern – of arenas ruled by warlords.

Feds defend request for special housing during Burning Man Posted: 29 Jun 2015 06:40 AM PDT RENO, Nev. (AP) — Federal Bureau of Land Management officials are defending their request for special housing accommodations during the annual Burning Man counterculture festival in Nevada, disputing comments by Sen. Harry Reid and others that the plans are unnecessary and extravagant.

French attacker denies Islamist aim, motivations murky Posted: 29 Jun 2015 06:16 AM PDT A man who beheaded his boss in France has denied any religious motivation, investigative sources said Monday, muddying efforts to pin down the reasons for an attack which bore the hallmarks of a jihadist act. Yassin Salhi, 35, on Sunday confessed to decapitating his employer and pinning his severed head to the fence of a gas factory in eastern France in a macabre display that included two Islamic flags.

Factbox: Array of combatants deepens complexity of Syria's civil war Posted: 29 Jun 2015 06:12 AM PDT More than four years into Syria's war, the country is ever more divided into a patchwork of areas controlled by the government or armed groups including Islamist insurgents, Kurdish militia, the ultra-hardline Islamic State, and rebels who profess a more moderate vision for Syria. The array of combatants with competing agendas is one of the factors complicating diplomatic efforts to end a war has killed more than 220,000 and driven half of Syria's population from their homes. Following are the main combatants in the war: ISLAMIC STATE The group is made up of many thousands of fighters.

In Moscow, Syrian minister says Russia promises aid Posted: 29 Jun 2015 05:57 AM PDT By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Laila Bassam AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's foreign minister said in Moscow on Monday Russia had promised to send political, economic and military aid to his country, where the army is coming under some of the heaviest pressure since the start of the civil war. Insurgent groups have made gains against government forces in northwest, central and southern Syria in the past two months but Damascus has voiced confidence that it can hold on to important territory with the help of its allies. "I got a promise of aid to Syria - politically, economically and militarily," Walid al-Moualem said at a televised news conference after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

UAE sentences Emirati woman to death for killing U.S. teacher Posted: 29 Jun 2015 05:54 AM PDT A United Arab Emirates court on Monday sentenced a UAE woman to death for the Islamist-inspired killing of an American kindergarten teacher in December, the state news agency WAM said. The teacher, identified as Romanian-born Ibolya Ryan, a mother of 11-year-old twins, was stabbed to death in a toilet at an Abu Dhabi shopping mall. The Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi convicted the woman, Ala'a Badr Abdullah al-Hashemi, 30, of the killing and imposed the death penalty, WAM said.

Exclusive: In turf war with Afghan Taliban, Islamic State loyalists gain ground Posted: 29 Jun 2015 05:47 AM PDT By Hamid Shalizi SURKH DEWAL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Fighters loyal to Islamic State have seized substantial territory in Afghanistan for the first time, witnesses and officials said, wresting areas in the east from rival Taliban insurgents in a new threat to stability. Witnesses who fled fighting in Nangarhar province told Reuters that hundreds of insurgents pledging allegiance to Islamic State pushed out the Taliban, scorching opium poppy fields that help to fund the Taliban's campaign to overthrow the Afghan government. "They (IS loyalists) came in on many white pickup trucks mounted with big machine guns and fought the Taliban.

UK's Cameron vows 'full-spectrum response' after Tunisia beach attack Posted: 29 Jun 2015 05:34 AM PDT As the British death toll in Friday's beach gunman attack in Tunisia climbs to levels not seen since the July 2005 London bombings, Prime Minister David Cameron promised a "full-spectrum response" to combat extremism in Britain and abroad. "Our strategy is to build up local armies.

Putin and Russian political elite bid farewell to Primakov Posted: 29 Jun 2015 05:28 AM PDT MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's president and political elite joined thousands of mourners on Monday in bidding farewell to Yevgeny Primakov, a former prime minister who also served as Russia's top diplomat and foreign intelligence chief during a long and distinguished career.

Iraq: Attacks inside, around Baghdad kill at least 7 people Posted: 29 Jun 2015 05:25 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials say attacks inside and around Baghdad have killed at least seven people.

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