The Daily Star Judging by the White House’s policy on battling ISIS militants, one might conclude that U.S. officials believe that the Middle East has been afflicted with mass amnesia. If one can remember as far back as World War II, one of the world’s mightiest armies, belonging to Nazi Germany, was defeated by […]
The first Western journalist in the world to be allowed extensive access to Isis territories in Syria and Iraq has returned from the region with a warning: the group is “much stronger and much more dangerous” than anyone in the West realises. Jürgen Todenhöfer, 74, is a renowned German journalist […]
theguardian: by Jonathan Freedland — Pope Francis: ‘When it comes to moral authority, he’s the top man in the world. Now that Mandela’s dead, who else is there?’ Stalin had quite a knack for the soundbite. “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a […]
Summary by David Ignatius, Daily Star, Lebanon Gen. John Allen must sometimes feel that he’s navigating a maze as he organizes the coalition to defeat ISIS: Iran is a silent partner in Iraq but a potential adversary in Syria and elsewhere; Turkey and Saudi Arabia are crucial allies, but skittish […]
A closer look at the BBC’s investigation on the global cost of jihadist violence More than 5,000 people worldwide died in November as a result of jihadist violence, a BBC […]
A 30-year-old man from canton Vaud has been given a suspended sentence of 600 hours of community service for attempting to join the Islamic State terror group in Syria. This […]
Summary Rami G. Khouri, The Daily Star, Lebanon It is exasperating to listen to American officials pontificate about events in the Middle East and offer what sounds like reasonable proposals to resolve the area’s problems, when those same officials and the entire political power structure they represent refuse to acknowledge […]
Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who is in Washington to meet with President Barack Obama, described the battle against the Islamic State, or ISIS, terror group in Iraq and Syria as “a third world war” and “a Muslim problem,” they need to take ownership of. “This is a Muslim problem,” Abdullah […]
The Daily Star As the anti-ISIS coalition – which includes over 60 countries – meets in Brussels, it is worth considering what exactly it has achieved. The coalition has bombed the jihadis in Iraq since August and in Syria since September, yet the militant group – which most of the […]
MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2014 Perspective: Wahhabism to ISIS – how Saudi Arabia exported the main source of global terrorism By Karen Armstrong ________________________________________ Although IS is certainly an Islamic movement, it is neither typical nor mired in the distant past, because its roots are in Wahhabism, a form of Islam […]
Agence France Presse CAIRO: The head of Al-Azhar, one of the most prestigious centers of Sunni learning, Wednesday condemned “barbaric crimes” committed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Militants are acting “under the guise of this holy religion and have given themselves the name ‘Islamic State’ in an attempt to […]
We love the wives of our favourite monsters. And the rumours which surround them. Fresh from spitting out our hatred of Madame Asma al-Assad and making fun of the late […]
One of the more remarkable documents found in the Osama bin Laden compound included a letter to the Islamic State group of Iraq and Syria cautioning Abu Musab al-Zarqawi over his group’s extreme violence. The insurgency in Fallujah and Tal Afar had alarmed the al-Qaida leadership in Pakistan as to […]
The Daily Star The situation on the ground in Syria is extremely complicated, in contrast to the skies, where things are crystal-clear. The U.S.-led coalition carries out daily airstrikes against ISIS targets, while Syrian aircraft bomb regime opponents and anyone who happens to be in the way. After a series […]
BEIRUT — The Islamic State (IS) group is employing multiple tactics to subdue the Sunni Muslim tribes in Syria and Iraq under its rule, wooing some with gifts — everything from cars to feed for their animals — while brutally suppressing those that resist with mass killings. AP JORDAN TIMES […]
LONDON: Islamic State (IS) militants may ultimately lose the war in Iraq and Syria because they do not have enough money to run the territory under their control, despite holding assets worth more than $2 trillion, international terrorism experts said. The cost of running an entire administration – paying civil […]
Interview Conducted By Britta Sandberg In an interview, Ali Soufan, the former FBI agent who was a key figure in the arrest of the mastermind behind al-Qaida’s 9/11 attacks, discusses […]
VIENNA: ARAB NEWS Top Saudi leaders joined representatives of other faiths in condemning violence by the so-called Islamic State (IS) at a conference organized in the Austrian capital by the King Abdullah International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) on Wednesday. The KAICIID was founded in October 2011 by […]
Exclusive: CIA has hugely underestimated the number of jihadis, who now rule an area the size of Britain PATRICK COCKBURN IRBIL Sunday 16 November 2014 The Islamic State (Isis) has recruited an army hundreds of thousands strong, far larger than previous estimates by the CIA, according to a senior Kurdish […]
By Erik Holm and Siobhan Gorman The Islamic State is getting into the gold-coin business. The “Treasury Department” of the jihadist group that is now occupying large portions of Syria […]