MUST-READS

• Iraq Airstrikes
  U.S. relies on Persian Gulf bases for airstrikes in Iraq

  The U.S. military is relying on bases in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere in the Middle East to carry out airstrikes in Iraq but is masking the locations and other details about the units and aircraft involved to avoid embarrassing partners in the region.

  • Washington Post - Here's everything the U.S. military has hit with airstrikes in Iraq
  • WSJ - Islamists in Iraq Rely on Mines, Booby Traps in Battlefield Strategy
  • NYT - U.S. Mobilizes Allies to Widen Assault on ISIS
• Syria
  Possible airstrikes in Syria raise more questions

  The intelligence gathered by U.S. military surveillance flights over Syria could support a broad bombing campaign against the Islamic State militant group, but current and former U.S. officials differ on whether air power would significantly degrade what some have called a "terrorist army."

  • CNN - Opinion: ISIS is forcing a 'moment of truth'
  • Al-Jazeera - American fighting with Islamic State killed in Syria
  • Washington Post - U.S. rules out coordinating airstrikes in Syria with Assad
  • Reuters - U.S. air strikes on Syria would face formidable obstacles
  • Quartz - This is the Syrian town where the first US airstrikes could fall
• Extremism
  Saudi jails 17 for up to 33 years for terrorism offenses

  A Saudi special court sentenced 17 people to between nine and 33 years in jail for joining a "terrorist cell" in the kingdom and fighting abroad, state news agency SPA reported Monday.

• Libya
  Egypt, UAE carried out Tripoli air strikes

  Egypt and the United Arab Emirates were responsible for carrying out two series of air strikes in the past week on armed Islamist factions in Tripoli, Libya, US officials said on Monday.

  • New York Times - Arab Nations Strike in Libya, Surprising U.S.
  • The Economist- Is Civil War Likely in Libya?
• ISLAMIC STATE
  Syria warns against U.S. strikes on Islamic State on its soil

  Syria warned the Obama administration on Monday not to extend its air war against the Islamic State group into Syria, as the militants celebrated another key victory over government forces in the north of the country.

  • The Atlantic: Opinion - The Problem With Bombing ISIS
  • Foreign Policy - The Islamic State's Homefield Advantage
  • Yahoo! - U.N. accuses Islamic State of mass killings
  • Bloomberg - U.S. Won’t Consult Syria on Militant Strikes: White House
• ISIL
  Assad Policies Aided Rise of Islamic State Militant Group

  Earlier in the three-year-old Syrian uprising, Mr. Assad decided to mostly avoid fighting the Islamic State to enable it to cannibalize the more secular rebel group supported by the West, the Free Syrian Army, said Izzat Shahbandar, an Assad ally and former Iraqi lawmaker who was Baghdad's liaison to Damascus. The goal, he said, was to force the world to choose between the regime and extremists.

  • New York Times - Response to Attack Reflects Iraq’s Sectarian Divide
  • BBC - Iraq forces defeat militant push to take oil refinery
  • Reuters - Turkey struggles as 'lone gatekeeper' against Islamic State recruitment
  • Al-Shorfa - ISIL's use of the Prophet's stamp an affront to Islam: Saudi clerics
  • Reuters - Britain close to identifying beheading suspect
• Iraq Crisis
  Militants’ Siege on Mountain in Iraq Is Over, Pentagon Says

  Defense Department officials said late Wednesday that United States airstrikes and Kurdish fighters had broken the Islamic militants’ siege of Mount Sinjar, allowing thousands of the Yazidis trapped there to escape.

• US-Saudi
  Saudi air force calls for $2 billion upgrade to Boeing Sentry fleet

  The Pentagon notified Congress of a possible sale of five upgrade systems for the Royal Saudi Air Force’s Boeing Sentry Airborne Warning and Control Systems, which provide surveillance and command and controls communications with a 360-degree view of an area and the ability to identify and display targets more than 200 miles away.

• Housing
  Saudis second-biggest investors in Dubai real estate sector

  DLD’s report revealed that citizens of Saudi Arabia were ranked in second place on the list of GCC real estate investment after making 1,121 transactions worth AED3,371 billion in the first half of 2014.

• Pakistan
  Taliban In Pakistan Derail World Polio Eradication

  Today the militant group continues to threaten to kill not only vaccinators but also parents who get their children immunized. That threat has had a chilling effect on anti-polio efforts nationwide.

• 10 of 10285 results<< 1 … 1,027 1,028 1,029 >>