Islamic State still a threat in Iraq, US ambassador says
Baghdad, Iraq Reuters The Islamic State still poses a threat in Iraq and the US-led military coalition’s work with Iraq to fully defeat the group is not done, United States Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski told Reuters in an interview. Senior Iraqi politicians, including Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, have repeatedly said that the group […]
Death and fear stoked hell in the Moscow concert attack, witnesses say
Moscow, Russia Reuters The four armed men walked calmly towards the metal detectors at Crocus City Hall, firing their automatic weapons point-blank in short bursts at terrified civilians who fell screaming in a hail of bullets. Nearby, one witness named Natalya had just taken off her coat and was standing in line on Friday evening […]
Putin vows to punish those behind Russia concert massacre
Moscow, Russia Reuters Russia said on Saturday it had arrested all four gunmen suspected of carrying out a shooting massacre in a concert hall near Moscow, and President Vladimir Putin pledged to track down and punish those behind the attack. Militant Islamist group Islamic State claimed responsibility for Friday’s rampage but there were indications that […]
UN expert decries “mass arbitrary detention” of children in Syria
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters A United Nations expert voiced concern on Friday that tens of thousands of children were being detained arbitrarily in north-eastern Syria based on their alleged ties to Islamic State and in violation of international law. Fionnuala Ni Aolain, a UN Special Rapporteur, said a day after returning from the region that she was […]
Essay: The desperate plight of Yazidis and Christians in Iraqi Kurdistan did not end with the defeat of IS
ELLIS HEASLEY, of UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW, says we cannot simply assume that the plight of Christians, Yazidis and others ended with the defeat of IS in the region in 2017…
Essay: Nigeria’s security situation has got worse – what Tinubu’s administration needs to do about it
In an article first published on The Conversation, SALLEK YAKS MUSA looks at the deteriorating security situation in Nigeria and what steps new President Bola Tinubu needs to take to address it…
Heritage “disaster”: Restoration lags for Syria’s famed Roman ruins at Palmyra and other war-battered historic sites
ABBY SEWELL and ALBERT AJI, of Associated Press, report on the issues facing the preservation and restoration of Syria’s ancient heritage sites…
Libya court sentences 23 to death for Islamic State campaign
Misrata, Libya Reuters A Libyan court sentenced 23 people to death and another 14 to life in prison on Monday for their role in a deadly Islamic State militant campaign that included beheading a group of Egyptian Christians and seizing the city of Sirte in 2015. The Attorney General’s office said in a statement that […]
UN: Iraq Christians were victims of Islamic State war crimes
United NationsAP Evidence collected in Iraq strengthens preliminary findings that Islamic State extremists committed crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Christian community after it seized about a third of the country in 2014, a UN investigative team said in a report circulated Thursday. The report to the UN Security Council said crimes included […]
US general urges faster repatriation of IS families in Syria camp
Amman, Jordan Reuters The repatriation and reintegration of thousands of families of Islamic State militants languishing in a Kurdish-run detention camp in north-east Syria should be speeded up, the top US general in the Middle East said on Monday. General Michael “Erik” Kurilla, who leads US Central Command (CENTCOM), said many of the residents of […]