US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces move to halt “brutal torture” at IS camp
Al-Hol, Syria Reuters US-backed Syrian Kurdish security forces have launched a new operation targeting Islamic State sleeper cells in a large northeastern detention camp where violence has reached record levels. At least 44 people including 14 women have been killed this year in the al-Hol camp, which holds internal refugees and families of suspected IS […]
Three suicide bombers kill three, wound dozens in Ugandan capital
Kampala, UgandaReuters Islamic State claimed an attack in the heart of Uganda’s capital on Tuesday after three suicide bombers killed three people and sent members of parliament running for cover, in the latest in a wave of bombings. The blasts in Kampala, which forced the evacuation of parliament, shocked a nation known as a bulwark […]
New mass grave unearthed in Iraq’s north from brutal IS rule
Mosul, IraqAP A human skull, a pair of worn trousers and a shoe were among the remains unearthed from a mass grave discovered this week in northern Iraq, a remnant of the brutal rule of the Islamic State group, Iraqi officials said Thursday. The new mass grave was discovered on Monday in the village of […]
ESSAY: DESPITE DEFEATS, THE ISLAMIC STATE REMAINS UNBROKEN AND DEFIANT AROUND THE WORLD
In an article first published on The Conversation, BRIAN GLYN WILLIAMS, professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, looks at where the so-called Islamic State are still operating…
Two Armenian Catholic priests gunned down in Syria; Islamic State claims responsibility
Gunmen killed two Armenian Catholic priests when they opened fire on a car near the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor on Monday, according to reports. The so-called Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack which took place as the car was about to enter the city, having travelled from Qamishli. Two priests and […]
ESSAY: BAGHDADI’S DEATH IS A HUGE BLOW TO ISLAMIC STATE, BUT HISTORY SUGGESTS IT WON’T GUARANTEE A SAFER WORLD
In an article first published on The Conversation, Australian academic GREG BARTON, chair in global Islamic politics at Deakin University’s Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, looks at the ramifications of death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi…
Turkey intensifies Syria campaign as Islamic State strikes Kurds
Istanbul, Turkey/Beirut, LebanonReuters Turkey intensified its air and artillery strikes in north-east Syria on Friday in an offensive against Kurdish militia that has raised the prospect of a humanitarian disaster and questions about US President Donald Trump’s policy in the region. The Kurds, who recaptured swathes of northeastern Syria from Islamic State with the backing […]
Nobel Prize winner warns wildfires threaten Iraqi mass graves
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation Nobel Prize-winner and Yazidi activist Nadia Murad has warned that wildfires raging in northern Iraq could destroy crucial evidence of genocide committed by Islamic State. Murad, a survivor of sexual slavery, said the fires had burned some of the 79 mass graves in the Sinjar region where victims of Islamic State atrocities […]
“Dire” conditions at Syria camp as thousands flee Islamic State
Thomson Reuters Foundation An influx of thousands of people fleeing Islamic State has created “dire” conditions at the al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria, the aid agencies working there said on Tuesday. About 15,000 people have arrived at the camp in the last week alone as the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces lay siege to the last […]
Bodies of 34 Ethiopian Christians killed by IS to be repatriated after being discovered in Libya
The bodies of 34 Ethiopian Christians executed by the so-called Islamic State in Libya are being repatriated to Ethiopia following their discovery in a mass grave in December. The Ethiopians were killed after IS terrorists seized the coastal city of Sirte in 2015. IS released a video in April that year purporting to show the […]