WASHINGTON (AP) — Charging toward an Iran nuclear agreement, President Barack Obama is assuring Arab allies that they are safe from the threat of an empowered Tehran as he seeks to shore up some of America’s most critical security partnerships.
A naturalized American citizen from Iraq named Bilal Abood was arrested by FBI agents in Texas on Thursday, on charges of lying to law enforcement about his formal pledge of allegiance to ISIS and its “caliph,” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Baghdad (AFP) — The leader of the Islamic State group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Thursday urged Muslims to emigrate to his self-proclaimed “caliphate,” in the jihadist supremo’s first audio recording in six months.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu claimed that ISIS recruits from “90 different countries” have passed through his country en route to Syria, a security crisis he described as “not a sustainable situation” and “a significant threat to us.”
ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has released a call to arms which asks Muslims everywhere to physically join ISIS in the area it now controls or simply take up the struggle against unbelievers wherever they are.
Iran has deployed a “humanitarian aid” ship carrying 2,500 tons of unknown supplies to Yemen, setting up a situation where Tehran is attempting to openly defy a U.S. order not to dock its ships in the country’s ports.
One of President Obama’s biggest critics in his handling of what was once considered to be a war on terrorism turns out to be a Democrat from Hawaii, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, according to an interview in The Hill.
Harjit Masih, a 25-year-old Indian national, returned from Iraq to his native country this week after he and 39 other Indians working in Iraq were abducted by the Islamic State. He claims he survived by playing dead after being missed in a firing squad lineup, and that his colleagues are all dead, but the Indian government is denying the report, insisting the men are still alive.
As the Nigerian army rescues more and more women from captivity from the Islamic jihadist group Boko Haram, abortion-rights groups have swooped in, seeking to instrumentalize the crisis to advance their agenda of abortion and population control.
The Iraqi Defense Ministry said Wednesday that an airstrike has neutralized the second-in-command of the Islamic State terror group, but the U.S. military has denied that coalition forces are responsible for carrying out an attack aimed at eliminating the jihadist.
Suspected Boko Haram terrorists stormed barracks in the regional capital of Borno, Maiduguri, on Wednesday night, killing three soldiers and six vigilantes, as well as injuring 12 others who successfully thwarted the attack. It is the most ambitious attempt at storming the city, formerly Boko Haram’s headquarters, since March 14, and has left the city under a 24-hour lockdown.
The persecution by the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) of Iraq’s minority Yazidi population has pushed thousands to find any means to escape the grips of the barbaric terrorist group, coughing up hefty sums of money to secure their freedom.
The Assyrian International News Agency relays a report from Dubai television news concerning a raid on an ISIS safe house in Syria, in which rebel forces opposed to the Islamic State discovered a large stash of stolen Western passports. These travel documents have allegedly been used by ISIS to bring Western jihadi recruits to Iraq and Syria.
Ken Roth, the director of Human Rights Watch, spoke exclusively with the state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) network earlier this week about the ongoing conflict in Yemen, blaming the United States for Saudi Arabia’s alleged use of cluster munitions.
Over 11,000 Nigerians have returned from Niger since fleeing radical Islamist group Boko Haram. The majority of those fleeing previously lived in areas Boko Haram terrorized the most.
The Associated Press is reporting that a six-hour siege of the Park Palace Guest House hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan has ended, after gunmen stormed the foreigner-friendly locale on a night in which a popular concert had been scheduled. One American citizen is believed dead, the AP reports.
In his first interview with an Arabic-language news organization on Wednesday, President Obama spoke with Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat about various issues related to the Middle East, the Iranian nuclear program, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
On Tuesday, the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) destroyed the 200-year-old Maryam Khatoon Mosque in Mosul, Iraq, which the Ottoman Empire erected in 1821.
Spanish authorities arrested two individuals on Tuesday who were suspected of attempting to recruit aspiring jihadis through official Islamic State (IS/ISIS) propaganda.
CNN’s report on the hunt for ISIS terrorists in the darkest corners of the Internet begins with a remarkably dour assessment of the war effort thus far: “After months of bombing by the U.S. and coalition forces, ISIS remains undefeated on the ground and has now entered a new phase, using the cyber-world as a weapon… It’s a trend that has captured the attention of law enforcement and now the military.”
The BBC weighs in the contestants in a heavyweight social-media boxing match between the “e-Muftis” of Jordan and Internet-savvy Islamist radicals: “In one corner, there’s the religious establishment of a global faith – complete with 1,400 years of collected learning. In the other, there is the self-styled Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) and its daily dose of propaganda videos flooding the Internet. Have traditional clerics got what it takes to be heard in this digital culture war?”
The President of Chad, Idriss Deby, visited the Nigerian capital Abuja today to meet with both outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan and President-elect Muhammadu Buhari on how to best jointly combat the looming threat of Boko Haram. Speaking to reporters, Deby lamented that cooperation with Nigeria could use improvement, and that such coordination has been a problem in the past.
Gunmen on motorcycles boarded a bus and opened fire on commuters in Pakistan’s volatile southern city of Karachi on Wednesday, killing at least 43, police said, in the latest attack directed against religious minorities this year.
“When Cannes rolls out the red carpet May 13, it will also be on red alert,” quips the Hollywood Reporter. Security will be greatly heightened at the legendary film festival, not due to any specific threat, but because of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, and what the Reporter confusingly describes as “a subsequent series of several smaller attacks against religious targets.”
A week after a pair of “lone wolf” jihadis were killed in an aborted terrorist attack in Garland, Texas, ISIS supporters are generating a wave of social media chatter under the hashtag #LondonAttack, promising a new wave of terrorist violence.
