
Yemen Awaits Cease-Fire Monday Followed by Switzerland Peace Talks
A week-long cease-fire in Yemen’s civil war is scheduled to begin on Monday, followed on Tuesday by peace talks in Switzerland brokered by the United Nations.

A week-long cease-fire in Yemen’s civil war is scheduled to begin on Monday, followed on Tuesday by peace talks in Switzerland brokered by the United Nations.

While being questioned by Lindsey Graham about the means through which the Obama administration intended to secure the ousting of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter conceded that such efforts were “principally political.”

After several dispatches from Syria reported that the few remaining American-backed rebel fighters have been compromised by the al-Nusra Front, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, U.S. Central Command released a statement late Friday confirming that the U.S.-armed New Syrian Forces had delivered equipment and vehicles to the jihadi outfit.

As mentioned last week, President Obama’s desultory attempt to influence the bloody chaos in Syria with a mere handful of U.S.-trained and equipped Syrian rebels brought contempt and stunned disbelief from across the Arab world.

A local civil rights activist lodged state and federal complaints against a North Texas high school over its Confederacy focused team mascot, the Rebel. In response, hundreds of parents, students and other supporters showed up on Sunday afternoon for an impromptu rally to defend the mascot from criticism that it is a divisive symbol of the Confederacy.

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.