| Libyan forces 'retake port' in jihadist bastion Sirte Posted: 11 Jun 2016 12:46 PM PDT  Forces allied with Libya's unity government said Saturday they had recaptured the port in the jihadist bastion of Sirte, advancing rapidly against Islamic State group fighters encircled inside the city. The fall of Sirte, the hometown of ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi, would be a major setback for the extremists who have also lost territory in Syria and Iraq where they have declared an Islamic "caliphate". Apart from the port, the Libyan forces also retook residential areas in the east of Sirte, which for the past year has been the main IS base in the North African country, a spokesman for the forces, Rida Issa, told AFP.
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| Siege of IS bastion in north Syria traps thousands Posted: 11 Jun 2016 10:30 AM PDT  Thousands of civilians were under siege Saturday in an Islamic State group stronghold surrounded by US-backed forces in northern Syria, as the jihadists claimed deadly attacks on a Damascus shrine. IS has fought back with deadly bombings despite being pressed on several fronts since it declared a "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq in 2014. The Syrian Democratic Forces alliance supported by US air strikes encircled the town of Manbij on Friday, cutting the group's main supply line between Turkey and its de facto Syrian capital of Raqa.
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| Iraq's Sadr warns of 'million-man' demonstration after Ramadan Posted: 11 Jun 2016 10:19 AM PDT  Powerful Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday called a halt to anti-government protests during Ramadan but warned that a "million-man" demonstration would be held after the Muslim holy month has ended. Sadr called for the preparation of "a peaceful, popular million-man protest" after Ramadan ends in July and warned that he would not rein in his forces if protesters were confronted. Protesters led by Sadr supporters have breached Baghdad's fortified Green Zone twice already over the past two months, storming parliament and the prime minister's office.
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| Islamic State claims bombings near Shi'ite shrine in Damascus Posted: 11 Jun 2016 09:12 AM PDT  By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Islamic State claimed responsibility for suicide and car bomb blasts that struck a Damascus suburb on Saturday near Syria's holiest Shi'ite Muslim shrine, and a monitoring group said at least 20 people were killed. State television showed debris, mangled cars and wrecked shops in a main commercial thoroughfare near the Sayeda Zeinab shrine, in an area where at least three bomb attacks claimed by Islamic State have killed and wounded scores of people this year. The ultra-hardline Sunni militants of IS, whose many foes are advancing on a number of fronts in both Syria and Iraq, are avowed enemies of Shi'ites, whom they consider a heretical group within Islam.
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| Qaeda chief backs new Taliban head as 'emir of believers' Posted: 11 Jun 2016 08:25 AM PDT  Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has pledged allegiance to new Afghan Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, a low-profile religious figure whose predecessor was killed in a US drone strike. The pledge comes as Al-Qaeda is facing rivalry from the Islamic State group, which has also made inroads into Afghanistan where the Taliban have been waging a guerrilla war since they were ousted from power in 2001. Zawahari's remarks came in a 14-minute audio and video message posted online, the US-based monitor SITE Intelligence Group said on Saturday.
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| Thousands protest against drones at U.S. Air Force base in Germany Posted: 11 Jun 2016 08:07 AM PDT Several thousand demonstrators formed a human chain along the perimeter of a U.S. Air Force Base in southwest Germany on Saturday in protest against drone operations by the United States. The demonstration was organized by the alliance "Stop Ramstein - No Drone War", which says the Ramstein base transmits information between operators in the United States and unmanned drone aircraft in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Syria. Police estimated 3-4,000 people had formed the chain close to the base, which serves as the headquarters for the U.S. Air Forces in Europe. |
| Iraqi cleric Sadr asks followers to stop attacks on rivals' offices Posted: 11 Jun 2016 06:55 AM PDT  By Saif Hameed and Aref Mohammed BAGHDAD/BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr asked his followers to stop attacking offices of Iranian-backed Shi'ite political parties that he accuses of corruption, after authorities said they could resort to force to restore order. Sadr's followers on Thursday and Friday stormed or attempted to storm offices of the Dawa party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) and the Badr Organization in five southern cities, according to the provincial authorities of Basra, Amara, Kut, Nassiriya and Najaf.
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| Turkish jets kill 13 Kurdish PKK militants: military sources Posted: 11 Jun 2016 06:22 AM PDT  Turkish warplanes killed 13 suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants on Saturday in the southeast province of Diyarbakir, military sources said. The rebels were spotted by an unmanned aerial vehicle in the Lice region, north of the provincial capital Diyarbakir, the sources said. Warplanes also struck PKK targets in the nearby provinces of Siirt and Hakkari and in some areas of neighboring northern Iraq where the PKK has bases, the army said.
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| Islamic State claims responsibility for bombings near Damascus Shi'ite shrine Posted: 11 Jun 2016 05:05 AM PDT AMMAN (Reuters) - Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for car and suicide bomb blasts that killed at least eight people and injured scores in a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday, the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency said. The Sayeda Zeinab suburb contains Syria's holiest Shi'ite shrine and is a base for Shi'ite militant groups from Lebanon and Iraq who are on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in the country's five-year-old civil war. ... |
| Turkish jets kill 13 Kurdish PKK militants in southeast Turkey: military sources Posted: 11 Jun 2016 03:46 AM PDT Turkish warplanes killed 13 suspected Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants on Saturday in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, military sources said on Saturday. Warplanes also struck PKK targets in the provinces of Siirt and Hakkari and in some areas of neighboring northern Iraq where the PKK has bases, the army said. Two soldiers were killed and four injured in clashes with PKK militants in Hakkari province on Friday, the army also said. |
| More support for Afghan troops part of latest Obama strategy Posted: 10 Jun 2016 11:52 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Far from ending the two wars he inherited from the Bush administration, Barack Obama is wrestling with an expanded set of conflicts in the final months of his presidency, from Iraq and Afghanistan to Libya and Syria, with no end in sight. In Afghanistan, where a Taliban resurgence has upset Washington's "exit strategy," Obama is giving the U.S. military wider latitude to support Afghan forces, both in the air and on the ground.
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| Al Qaeda leader pledges allegiance to new Taliban leader Posted: 10 Jun 2016 11:36 PM PDT  Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, in an online audio message, pledged allegiance to the new head of the Afghan Taliban, who was appointed last month after his predecessor was killed in a US drone strike. The veteran Islamist militant became al Qaeda's leader after U.S. Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, and he is thought to be hiding in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, having been based there since the late 1990s. "As leader of the al Qaeda organization for jihad, I extend my pledge of allegiance once again, the approach of Osama to invite the Muslim nation to support the Islamic Emirate," al-Zawahri said in a 14 minute recording.
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| West slams Syria's regime over Daraya bombings Posted: 10 Jun 2016 09:45 PM PDT  Western powers lashed out at Syria's government, accusing regime forces of dropping barrel bombs on the town of Daraya hours after it received its first food aid in almost four years. The strikes, using crude unguided explosive devices, came as Arab-Kurdish fighters said they had encircled a stronghold of Islamic State (IS) fighters in northern Syria, cutting off a major supply route. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault accused Damascus of "extraordinary duplicity" over the bombings, which came just as aid workers were beginning to distribute supplies to thousands of desperate people.
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| Today in History Posted: 10 Jun 2016 09:01 PM PDT Today in History |
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