National Security - Page 821

British prosecutors have dropped terror charges against an ex-soldier who fought against Islamic State with the Kurdish YPG forces, with the veteran’s lawyer claiming the charges were brought as a political move by the UK government to protect arms sales with Turkey which opposes any expression of Kurdish nationalism.

Standing up for global religious freedom is a cause that every American can participate in and the fear of a problem being “too big to solve” is “the biggest danger to freedom” generally, Kristina Arriaga, a vice chair on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), told Breitbart News.

A Turkish court on Tuesday ruled against American pastor Andrew Brunson’s appeal to be released from house arrest.

An Islamic State raid last week resulted not only in the deaths of hundreds of locals in Sweida, southern Syria, but the abduction of at least three dozen women and children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) announced on Monday.

80 percent of the world’s population lives in a country where their government represses religious rights, making advocacy for religious freedom more important than ever, Nadine Maenza, a commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), told Breitbart News in an interview.

The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for a van explosion early Tuesday morning at a military checkpoint in the Southern Philippines that killed 11 people, an army spokesperson confirmed.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) chief, Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, called Trump an “amateur politician” on Tuesday and declared that Iran’s leaders will never meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, one day after Trump’s second offer to meet with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani to “make a real deal” between the United States and Iran.

TEL AVIV –  U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman’s condolence call in Adam settlement near Jerusalem on Monday, marking the first time a top American diplomat has made an official visit to a West Bank settlement.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Tuesday dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s offer of an unconditional meeting. “Certainly, the decisions of the new U.S. administration are fleeting,” he sneered, implying that Trump was not serious about offering to meet with him.

The portion of Afghanistan mainly controlled by Taliban-majority jihadists, using the country’s 407 districts as a metric, “declined for the first time since August 2016” according to the latest report authored by a top U.S. watchdog agency appointed by Congress.

Silicon Valley is hitting back against proposed tariffs on Chinese electric bikes and scooters, according to new reports.

China’s state newspaper Global Times published a feature Tuesday celebrating the sudden enthusiasm in the online fantasy writer community for “red stories,” or propaganda that promotes the government’s “core socialist values.”

China’s displeasure at the notion of U.S. Marines guarding the American diplomatic mission in Taiwan reached fever pitch on Tuesday, as China’s state-run Global Times denounced the security detail tantamount as an “invasion of the U.S. military of Chinese soil.”

There can be “no preconditions” with Iran because Trump has already created the conditions under which American diplomacy is more likely to succeed.

The Trump administration is allegedly urging U.S.-backed Afghan forces to pull out of rural areas and focus on urban regions like the troubled capital of Kabul, home to a wave of attacks by the Taliban and its Islamic State rivals in recent months, the New York Times (NYT) reported over the weekend.

Satellite photos published on Monday appear to show North Korea revamping a facility outside of Pyongyang used to build intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), the Washington Post reported.

Two Americans were killed on Sunday in a jihadist attack claimed by the Islamic State in Tajikistan, the country’s interior minister confirmed on Monday.

The Secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace, Abolhassan Firouzabadi, announced on Sunday that the Islamic Republic would be bringing digital, or crypto, currency to the country in the near future regulated by the government.

Contents: Attacks on Saudi tankers expose twin Iran military threats to international oil shipments; US considers military options for Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb

Britain’s Royal Navy rescued from Libya the Islamic State suicide bomber who killed 22 at a concert in Manchester last year, bringing him from the war zone back to the UK, after he had been flagged as a potential threat.

Between Monday and Tuesday, the Libyan Coast Guard reportedly rescued 611 migrants aboard several dinghies off the coast and took them back to the African mainland.

BEIRUT — The Syrian government regained control of the frontier with the Golan Heights for the first time in seven years on Monday, after Islamic State-linked militants gave up their last pocket of territory in the area.

Christian watchdog groups have voiced concern over last week’s election of former cricket star and Islamist Imran Khan as Pakistani Premier, noting Khan’s public supported the nation’s harsh blasphemy laws.

A Palestinian terrorist who murdered a 31-year-old Israeli man near Jerusalem last week has been designated as a “martyr” by the Palestinian Authority, suggesting that his family will be financially rewarded for the killing.

The Pentagon is expected to send an interim report to Congress this week on how best to stand up the “Space Force” or some other kind of defense agency devoted to countering military threats in space.

The Islamic State has begun exacerbating concerns about the availability of electricity in Iraq by targeting power plants and other key infrastructure for destruction. Baghdad announced on Sunday that unspecified “terrorist groups,” which observing media identify as the Islamic State, blew up a power plant in Kirkuk.

A meeting in Qatar last week between a senior U.S. diplomat and representatives of the Taliban reportedly went well last week, gaining an endorsement from the unity government of Afghanistan on Sunday.

President Donald Trump used his weekly address to express his administration’s support for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the wake of some Democrats and left-wing groups calling for the agency tasked with protecting Americans from criminals to be abolished.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi rejected what he called “media speculation” that Iran may hold talks with the United States on Monday and said that the Islamic Republic will emerge victorious in the face of America’s hostile policies.

Iran’s currency, the rial, plunged to a second record low on Sunday, dropping past 100,000 rials to the U.S. dollar. The currency’s collapse comes one week until the August 7 deadline when the United States will reimpose economic sanctions on Iran.

Chinese state media celebrated the victory of Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan in an editorial Monday, claiming the two countries’ relationship of “iron brothers” will “flourish” under his leadership.

China donated four military boats and 30 rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) to the Philippines, the Philippine government announced Monday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Indo-Pacific Business Forum on Monday that business engagement and “free and open” trade are major elements of the Trump administration’s strategic vision for the region. Although he mentioned China only in passing, Secretary Pompeo’s remarks included a clear warning to regional powers about the perils of partnering with Beijing.

Representatives from the Iranian, Russian, and Turkish governments met in the Russian resort city of Sochi on Monday to discuss the future of Syria, including humanitarian concerns, de-escalation zones, and the structure of post-civil war government.

“A lot of other countries in Europe should be doing it also,” President Trump said about Italy’s tough new immigration reforms.

“I would certainly meet with Iran if they wanted to meet,” Trump said.