| Obama admits to feeling 'small' alongside Marines Posted: 26 Dec 2015 01:43 PM PST  KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (AP) — President Barack Obama may be one of the most powerful men in the world but he admits to feeling "small" when working out alongside Marines at their gym on base in Hawaii.
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| U.S. reports 17 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria Posted: 26 Dec 2015 11:40 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies conducted 17 air strikes on Christmas Day against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement on Saturday. In Syria, coalition military forces conducted five air strikes using attack and remotely piloted aircraft, targeting Islamic State militants near Ar Raqqah, Manbij and Mar'a. In Iraq, air strikes focused on Islamic State fighting positions near five cities, including Ramadi, where several vehicles were destroyed and two fighting militants wounded. ... |
| IS leader says 'caliphate' well, mocks Saudi-led alliance Posted: 26 Dec 2015 11:37 AM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group on Saturday released a new message purportedly from its reclusive leader, claiming that his self-styled "caliphate" is doing well despite an unprecedented alliance against it and criticizing the recently announced Saudi-led Islamic military coalition against terrorism.
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| Czech leader calls migrant wave in Europe an 'organised invasion' Posted: 26 Dec 2015 11:30 AM PST  Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his anti-migrant comments, on Saturday called the current wave of refugees to Europe "an organised invasion", and that young men from Syria and Iraq should instead "take up arms" against the Islamic State (IS) group. "I am profoundly convinced that we are facing an organised invasion and not a spontaneous movement of refugees," said Zeman in his Christmas message to the Czech Republic released Saturday.
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| Iraqi forces in fierce battles with IS in Ramadi Posted: 26 Dec 2015 11:24 AM PST  Die-hard jihadists made a desperate last stand Saturday in Ramadi's former government complex, the main remaining target of Iraqi forces reconquering the city they lost in May. After a push on Tuesday that broke the Islamic State group's defences around the city centre, government forces were slowed by snipers, booby traps, roadside bombs and suicide attackers. Initial hopes of a quick victory faded, but Iraq's elite counter-terrorism service (CTS) and the army have advanced steadily through the devastated capital of Anbar province.
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| Iraqi Kurdish forces in anti-IS commando raid: officials Posted: 26 Dec 2015 11:01 AM PST  Iraqi Kurdish forces carried out a commando operation near Hawijah in which several senior members of the Islamic State group were captured or killed, local and security sources said Saturday. The operation involved helicopters and bore similarities with a joint raid elite Kurdish troops conducted in October with US special forces also near Hawijah, the sources said. Local Iraqi security officials said the raid took place overnight in the town of Riyadh, south east of IS-held Hawijah and south-west of Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk.
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| Evacuation of Damascus militants delayed after rebel leader killed Posted: 26 Dec 2015 10:02 AM PST  By Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT (Reuters) - A U.N.-brokered deal to evacuate more than 2,000 Islamic State fighters and other militants from rebel-held suburbs of Damascus on Saturday has been delayed after the killing of an insurgent leader, an organization that monitors the Syrian war said. The United Nations said it aimed to convene peace talks in Geneva on Jan. 25 to try to end nearly five years of civil war and it appealed to the warring parties not to allow events on the ground to derail the process. The evacuation from Damascus had been expected to take place early on Saturday but was delayed as there was now no secure territory for the militants to pass through, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an independent British-based monitoring group that tracks violence across Syria.
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| Evacuation of Islamic State fighters from Damascus delayed Posted: 26 Dec 2015 10:02 AM PST By Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT (Reuters) - A U.N.-sponsored deal to evacuate more than 2,000 Islamic State fighters and other militants from rebel-held parts of south Damascus has been delayed, a body that monitors the war said on Saturday, a day after a rebel leader was killed. Buses were due to transport the fighters to Raqqa, the de facto capital of Islamic State in northern Syria, Lebanese Hezbollah's Manar TV station said. The arrangement was the first of its kind between the Syrian authorities and Islamic State. |
| IS leader urges uprising in Saudi, attacks in Israel: recording Posted: 26 Dec 2015 09:55 AM PST  Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the secretive leader of the Islamic State group, called for an uprising in Saudi Arabia and pledged to attack Israel, in an audio recording released Saturday and attributed to him. The 24-minute recording would be Baghdadi's first in seven months, during which IS has been dealt several blows in Iraq and Syria. There was no way for AFP to authenticate that it was Baghdadi speaking, but the voice appeared to match previous recordings of him.
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| Islamic State 'gets tougher' in face of air strikes: audio message Posted: 26 Dec 2015 09:11 AM PST  A new message purporting to come from the leader of Islamic State said air strikes by Russia and a U.S.-led coalition had failed to weaken the group. The more intense the war against it, the purer it becomes and the tougher it gets," said the audio recording, described as by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The authenticity of the message, posted on Saturday on Twitter accounts that have published Islamic State statements in the past, could not be verified.
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| Kurds, Arabs seize key Syria dam from IS: group Posted: 26 Dec 2015 08:59 AM PST  An alliance of Kurdish and Arab rebels seized a key dam on the Euphrates River from Islamic State group jihadists in northern Syria on Saturday, the group said. The Syrian Democratic Forces captured Tishreen Dam after intense clashes with IS, as well as seven villages along the river's eastern bank, spokesman Talal Sello told AFP. Backed by air strikes from a US-led coalition, the SDF launched its assault on IS-held towns along the eastern bank of the Euphrates late Wednesday.
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| U.N. Syria mediator aims to convene peace talks on January 25 Posted: 26 Dec 2015 08:05 AM PST  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Saturday it aims to bring together Syria's warring parties on Jan. 25 in Geneva to begin talks to try to end nearly five years of civil war. U.N. Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura plans to convene representatives of the Syrian government and "the broadest possible spectrum of the Syrian opposition and others," his spokesman said in a statement. The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a resolution on Dec. 18 endorsing an international road map for a Syria peace process, in a rare show of unity among major powers.
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| Iraqi troops close in on Islamic State redoubt in Ramadi Posted: 26 Dec 2015 06:27 AM PST By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi troops have pushed deeper into the heart of the last remaining district held by Islamic State in the city of Ramadi, despite being slowed by bombs and booby traps, army spokesmen said on Saturday. Recapturing Ramadi, which fell to the militants in May, would be one of the most important victories achieved by Iraq's armed forces since Islamic State swept across a third of the country in 2014. Soldiers advanced overnight in the Hoz neighborhood that houses the provincial government compound, the target of an attack that started on Tuesday, joint operations command spokesman Brigadier Yahya Rasool said. |
| 14 killed in Muslim rebel attacks in southern Philippines Posted: 26 Dec 2015 05:42 AM PST MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Christmas attacks by Muslim rebels in Christian villages in the southern Philippines left at least 14 people dead and may have been partly influenced by the notoriety of the Islamic State group, officials said Saturday. |
| Turkish civilians stuck in urban war zone in southeast Posted: 26 Dec 2015 03:03 AM PST  ISTANBUL (AP) — Tens of thousands of civilians in southeast Turkey have been caught in the middle as government forces and Kurdish militants battle it out in urban areas — violence that has shattered hopes of reviving peace talks.
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| Obama says six U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan attack were 'outstanding' Posted: 26 Dec 2015 01:24 AM PST  By Julia Edwards KANOEHE BAY, HAWAII (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called the six U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan on Monday "outstanding" and "brave" as he thanked American service members on Friday during a Christmas Day visit to Marine Corps Base Hawaii in Kanoehe Bay. "Even though we have been able to reduce the number of folks we're deploying to places like Iraq and Afghanistan, there are still folks over there every single day and it's still dangerous as we saw this past week with the outstanding, brave men and women who were killed," Obama said. The Christmas Day remarks were the first time Obama had addressed the attack.
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| Democrats find an unlikely ally on Muslims: George W Bush Posted: 26 Dec 2015 12:01 AM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are turning to an unlikely ally, George W. Bush, to respond to Republican pledges to declare war on "radical Islamic terrorism.
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| Breakaway Muslim rebels kill nine people in southern Philippines Posted: 25 Dec 2015 10:10 PM PST A breakaway Muslim rebel group killed nine civilians in the southern Philippines in a series of attacks on Christmas eve, officials said on Saturday, in a reminder that the region remains volatile despite recent gains in the peace process. Army troops killed four members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, a faction opposed to a peace deal between government and the mainstream Muslim rebel group, after they attacked a farming town in Sultan Kudarat province on the southern island of Mindanao. Miriam Ferrer, the government's chief negotiator in peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said seven farmers were shot at close range while working in their rice paddies and two other civilians were killed in a grenade attack on a chapel in nearby North Cotabato province. |
| Obama: 6 killed in Afghanistan were 'outstanding' Posted: 25 Dec 2015 08:20 PM PST  KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (AP) — President Barack Obama said the six U.S. service members killed this week in a suicide attack in Afghanistan were "outstanding, brave men and women" as he delivered a Christmas Day gesture of gratitude to U.S. troops for how much they sacrifice to keep Americans safe and free.
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| Iraqi forces consolidate position in Ramadi ahead of final push against Islamic State Posted: 25 Dec 2015 05:24 PM PST  Iraqi troops who have fought their way deep into the Islamic State stronghold of Ramadi were consolidating their positions on Friday ahead of a planned final assault to capture the city.Soldiers were clearing bombs from roads and homes in districts of Ramadi they had already taken since launching their assault on the city on Tuesday, state TV said. Successfully recapturing Ramadi, a provincial capital in the fertile Euphrates River valley just two hours drive from Baghdad, would be one of the most important victories achieved by Iraq's armed forces since Islamic State militants swept across a third of the country in 2014. Shi'ite militia units backed by Iran, which have played a major part in other government offensives, have been kept away from the battlefield in Ramadi to avoid angering Sunni Muslim residents.
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| Pope urges Christmas prayers for Syria, Libya peace Posted: 25 Dec 2015 04:27 PM PST  VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis issued a Christmas Day prayer that recent U.N.-backed peace processes for Syria and Libya will quickly end the suffering of their people, denouncing the "monstrous evil" and atrocities they have endured and praising countries that have taken in refugees.
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| Bosnia says arrests foiled Islamist attack in Sarajevo Posted: 25 Dec 2015 04:05 PM PST  A Bosnian anti-terrorism prosecutor has said the recent arrests of 11 suspected jihadists prevented an attack that purportedly would have killed around 100 holiday revellers in Sarajevo, state television said Saturday. The arrests were carried out Tuesday in several parts of the Bosnian capital.
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