Syrian conflict
- Al Jazeera
Syria says it doesn't want to fight with Turkey
Syria does not want to see fighting with Turkey, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, after Ankara said one of its posts in Syria's Idlib region was attacked from an area controlled by Syrian government forces. Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his country's civil war, and Turkey, long a backer of rebels, co-sponsored a de-escalation pact for the area that has been in place since last year. But the deal has faltered in recent months, forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee. About 300 people have been killed by Syrian and Russian air raids and shelling in the area since late April, according to the United Nations. Idlib, in Syria's northwest along the border
- Daily Mirror
ISIS 'Beatle' Ringo saved Jihadi John's life and laughed at execution videos
ISIS terrorist Alexanda Kotey enabled fellow Brit Jihadi John to become the caliphate's executioner by saving his life on the battlefield only months earlier. In an astonishing jail cell confession, Kotey told of his friendship with fellow Londoner Mohammed Emwazi. The pair were in the British terror cell nicknamed The Beatles by their prisoners in Syria, with leader Emwazi dubbed John and Kotey as Ringo. Incredibly Kotey, 35, said the fact Emwazi slaughtered a series of innocent victims did not change his feelings about his old pal from West London – because the killings were only “two minutes of his life”. And he admitted he wept when the thug was killed by a US drone in November 2015, aged
- Reuters
Syria says it does not want fighting between Syrian and Turkish militaries
BEIJING (Reuters) - Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Tuesday that he does not want to see fighting between the Syrian and Turkish militaries. Moualem made the comment in China during a joint briefing with the Chinese government's top diplomat State Councillor Wang Yi. Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Writing by Michael Martina; Editing by Jacqueline Wong
DailySabahArab-owned farmland set afire in YPG-held areas of Syria, local sources say
Tens of thousands of acres of farmland belonging to Arab villagers in regions of Syria occupied by the PKK terror organization's Syrian affiliate People's Protection Units (YPG) have been destroyed by fire and more are at risk as local authorities do not intervene to put out the blazes, local sources said Monday. The fires have destroyed agricultural lands belonging to Arab residents of northern Syria's Ayn Al Arab, also known as Kobane, and Qamıshli, which are controlled by the YPG, Anadolu Agency cited local sources as saying. Local authorities did not send adequate teams of firefighters to the areas, sending only a few fire trucks, sources said. While the sources did not name the cause of
- CBS News
Life inside Idlib – Syria's last rebel stronghold
Trump: Millions in U.S. illegally to be removed starting next week
- Reuters
Aleppo's scattered business owners have yet to return home
In the old khan, a stone courtyard off Aleppo's medieval souk, most of the 41 cloth shops are deserted. Some who stayed opened new shops in other parts of the country," said Mohammed Abu Zeid, one of two cloth merchants still operating. Syria's economy has been upturned by eight years of war that partitioned the country between rival forces and displaced millions of people.
- FOX21News.com
Trial set for Navy SEAL in Islamic State prisoner's killing
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The trial of a decorated Navy SEAL charged with killing an Islamic State prisoner in his care is set to begin Monday following months of turmoil in one of the Navy's most prominent war crimes cases. The court-martial of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, which begins with jury selection, has included the removal of the lead prosecutor for tracking the defense team's emails and suggestions by President Donald Trump that he may pardon the defendant. Gallagher has pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder in the killing of the prisoner in his care and attempted murder in the shootings of two civilians in Iraq in 2017 in separate incidents. Gallagher says disgruntled platoon
- https://www.hindustantimes.com/
Rising IS role in Kashmir, finds NIA probe against 4 caught by chance
The Islamic State's (IS) presence in Jammu and Kashmir has been registered in a charge sheet by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed in a Jammu court recently, noting a “gradual increase” in the outfit's activity in the region. The Islamic State, Khorasan (ISK) has expanded to form a Kashmir-specific unit called Islamic State – Jammu and Kashmir (ISJK), the NIA has said in its charge sheet and added that the formation of the new entity was featured in Dabiq, a magazine run by IS, in 2016. Four people from Kashmir, including a student, a Srinagar-based businessperson and “copper artists”, formed the core of an ISJK module, according to NIA. They were, however, caught by chance, according
- The Sacramento Bee
Indian police accuse man of spreading Islamic State ideology
Indian police accuse man of spreading Islamic State ideology Indian police said they have arrested a Facebook friend of the suspected mastermind of the Easter Sunday bomb attacks in Sri Lanka for spreading Islamic State group ideology on social media to recruit young people to participate in a terrorist attack in southern India. A criminal case was filed against Mohammed Azarudeen after authorities raided his home in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday, according to the National Investigation Agency, which oversees counterterrorism efforts. Authorities conducted six other raids and took five other people in for questioning, it said in a statement Friday. It said Azarudeen was friends
- NPR.org
'I Would Do Anything For Her': A German Dad's Search For His Daughter, Taken By ISIS
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST: Germany is one of the few countries that has promised to take back citizens who joined the Islamic State. It's given priority to children who spent time in the caliphate and has begun repatriating them. NPR's Joanna Kakissis met one German father who has spent the last five years trying to find his daughter. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) AALIYAH: Baba. JOANNA KAKISSIS, BYLINE: Danisch Farooqi loves listening to this recording of his daughter. She made it at the sunny apartment he shares with his second wife in Hamburg. DANISCH FAROOQI: We were sleeping. And she was sleeping between us. And at some point, she got up. And she took my mobile. And she wanted to take
- Stars and Stripes
Libyan officials say Hifter's forces fighting Islamic State in south
CAIRO — Libyan officials say forces loyal to military commander Khalifa Hifter are pursuing Islamic State militants in the country's south, killing more than a dozen militants over the past three days. The officials said Sunday that the self-styled Libyan National Army began its attack on a militant hideout in the mountainous area of Haruj earlier this week. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. The LNA media center said Friday that the Islamic State militants were responsible for recent attacks in southern areas. Islamic State acknowledged the ongoing LNA attack and claimed to have killed and wounded dozens of LNA troops. Hifter's
- www.iran-daily.com
Syrian refugees staying in Lebanon for economic reasons, not security fear: Bassil
“Most of the Syrians – much more than 75% – are no more in security and political fear, but are staying for economic reasons. We know more than 500,000 Syrians are working in Lebanon. They are working everywhere in breach of our labor laws, and yet even though they break the law they are not being repatriated." “They are working in Lebanon, taking jobs from the Lebanese because they are paid at cheaper rate as they have no taxes to pay and they are being assisted on top of the wages they are paid,” Bassil said in an interview with British newspaper the Guardian published on Saturday. Bassil further stressed that it was not his government's policy to try to force Syrians to return to their country,
- Reuters
Aleppo's scattered business owners have yet to return home
In the old khan, a stone courtyard off Aleppo's medieval souk, most of the 41 cloth shops are deserted. Some who stayed opened new shops in other parts of the country," said Mohammed Abu Zeid, one of two cloth merchants still operating. Syria's economy has been upturned by eight years of war that partitioned the country between rival forces and displaced millions of people.
- www.wamc.org
'I Would Do Anything For Her': A German Dad's Search For His Daughter, Taken By ISIS
Five years ago this month, Danisch Farooqi dropped off his daughter Aaliya at her mother's house in the German port city of Hamburg. He remembers walking the girl, then almost 4, to his ex-wife's front door and hugging her. "And I said, 'I'll see you next week,' " he recalls. A few days later, he received a call from an unknown number in Turkey. It was his ex-wife's new husband. He told Farooqi he was in Turkey, recovering from injuries while fighting in Syria. He'd brought the whole family to Turkey, including Aaliya. "I was shocked," says Farooqi, a native of Hamburg. "I didn't know what [he] was talking about." He demanded an explanation and threatened to call the police unless Aaliya came
- The Sacramento Bee
Iran and Saudi Arabia trade accusations over tanker attacks
Iran and Saudi Arabia trade accusations over tanker attacks Iran and its regional arch rival Saudi Arabia traded accusations on Sunday over who carried out the recent attacks on two tankers in the Gulf of Oman. Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said he suspected the United States was behind Thursday's attacks, according to state news agency IRNA. But Washington and London insisted they had evidence to back their claims that Tehran was responsible for the attacks. "These were attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran on commercial shipping, on the freedom of navigation, with a clear intent to deny transit through the strait," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Fox News. "There's no