The family of Chattanooga gunman Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez and their legal representation are pushing hard on the idea that he was not radical, a terrorist, or even particularly religious. The narrative they are pushing is that his deadly rampage was born of drug abuse and depression.
As the U.S. government and mainstream media rack their brains to figure out the motive behind last week’s shooting of four Marines and a Navy petty officer in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a few more clues to this inscrutable mystery have come up.
While en route to Israel to assuage concerns about the recently-struck Iran nuclear deal, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter told reporters that the deal does not remove the military option as a potential strategy for the U.S. to remove Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
Questions are being asked about whether Chattanooga killer Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez should have been under surveillance by counterterrorist authorities before he launched his deadly attacks, killing four Marines and a Navy petty officer before he was brought down in a gun battle with police. Were there “red flags” that should have tipped off investigators that Abdulazeez was a potential terrorist threat?
Contents: Behind the scenes in the Iran nuclear deal; The Arab world is disintegrating into war; Saudi Arabia conducts major anti-terrorism sweep against ISIS; Massive bomb attack in Iraq market kills over 130
Youssuf Saed Abdulazeez—the father of the gunman, who on Thursday killed four Marines in Chattanooga, Tennessee—is a Palestinian from the city of Nablus in the West Bank, and he was previously investigated by federal officials for connections to an unnamed terrorist organization, the New York Times reported.
Iraqi Brigadier General Saad Maan told the Associated Press the country closed its border with Jordan to fight the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). The terrorist group controls the land between the crossing point of Trebil and Baghdad.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban went public with his frustration over DeAndre Jordan freezing him out when Jordan reneged on a verbal agreement to join his team.
An Iraqi-Norwegian dual citizen, who attempted to orchestrate the most disastrous bombing plot in Jordan in over a decade, was set to be tried behind closed doors in a Jordanian court on Monday.
Jordan will imminently install a buffer zone against Syria, as the Hashemite Kingdom continues to deal with radical jihadis infiltrating its sovereign territory, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Contents: Greece’s chaos continues as banks are closed; Turkey considers invasion of Syria to prevent a Kurdish state; Jordan makes plans for Syria invasion to protect its northern border
The television ratings of the 2015 NBA Finals skyrocketed past every other series played since the Michael Jordan-era.
What is the best way to counter extremism? For Iraqi news anchor Ahmed Albasheer, the answer is comedy. After an eight-plus year career in news correspondence, Albasheer decided to leave the news desk to combat corruption and fight Islamic terror through humor.
Prince Zeid Hussein (of the Hashemite dynasty), who currently serves as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on Monday for the European Union (EU) to absorb one million refugees from the wars in the Middle East.
California is mired in the fourth year of the worst drought in state history.
Contents: ISIS stokes sectarian Sunni-Shia clashes across the Mideast and Asia; Iraq’s government changes name of military operation to recapture Ramadi; Sunni Arabs are being forced to choose between ISIS and Shias
Zainab Bangura recently told the Middle East Eye that this is just one of many sadistic sexual acts that she learned of during a recent visit to Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan to gather data on ISIS’ war on women.
A new survey conducted by Public Policy Polling reveals that professional football remains the most popular professional sport, with 56% of respondents calling themselves fans of the NFL. Baseball (46%), basketball (37%), and golf (23%) followed.
According to a reporter in Ramallah, home of the Palestinian Authority, a Jordanian gynecologist supposedly left a cell phone in a woman’s abdomen in April when performing a Cesarean section to deliver her son, prompting a call for the Jordanian government to resign.
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?”
Turkish authorities broke ground on Tuesday on the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, a project spearheaded by Russian developers that the Turkish government claims is indispensable to the nation’s energy independence.
Death tolls in Yemen continue to rise with a California man believed to be the first American killed in the current escalating violence between Iran-backed Shia Houthi militias and Sunni tribes supportive of Yemeni President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, who
(Reuters) – Jordan said it had temporarily closed its border crossing with Syria on Wednesday because of violence on the other side of the frontier, a move it described as a precautionary measure.
Puerto Rico bankruptcy may be imminent, potentially a ‘seminal event’; Israel releases tax revenue collections to Palestinian Authority; Mideast nations line up for and against Saudi airstrikes in Yemen; Mideast countries opposed to Saudi intervention in Yemen
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) claims water is being used as a weapon in the Middle East. The report stated the numerous wars and “aging delivery systems” cut down on clean water in the region.
Saudi Arabia, with US help, leads Arab nations to strike Houthis in Yemen; Iran threatens retaliation against Saudi Arabia for Yemen strikes; Shia militias sidelined for Iraq’s assault on Tikrit, with US help
Russia signed a $10 billion deal to build Jordan’s first nuclear power plant. It is the third nuclear deal for Russia and the second within that region.
The Associated Press reports that Jordan has announced plans to help train Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State. “The training is part of a regional effort also involving Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar as hosts of training sites. The U.S. Congress has passed legislation providing $500 million for training about 5,000 rebels over the next year,” writes the AP.
In a youth conference in Tehran, Iran’s top military commanders assured the crowd that Jordan would soon be controlled by the mullahs, as they have already spread their malevolent influence into Iraq and Lebanon with terrorist forces, Haaretz reports.
Who is America’s greatest national security threat at the present time?
The King of Jordan, like President Obama, believes Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL) jihadists should not be called “Islamic extremists.”
Fox News Channel host Greg Gutfeld praised Jordan’s King Abdullah for his ISIS rhetoric and contrasted it with the US’ “ocean privilege” on Monday’s broadcast of “The Five.” Gutfeld reacted to a clip of Abdullah dubbing the fight against ISIS
(Reuters) – Jordan and Israel signed an agreement to go ahead with a World Bank-sponsored project to build a desalination plant in the Gulf of Aqaba and a pipeline linking the Red Sea with the Dead Sea.
The Pentagon leaked that one of its training camps to help combat the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL) is on Jordanian territory — information that the government of Jordan did not want disclosed.
Deadly MERS virus surging early in Saudi Arabia; India has worst H1N1 swine flu outbreak in years; Egypt’s al-Sisi calls for a joint Arab military force; Armenia’s president sends condolence letter to Egypt’s al-Sisi
Greece bailout talks collapse in acrimony; Egypt faces two-front war with airstrikes in Libya; Muslim versus Muslim wars in the Mideast continue to grow; Iraq army preparing to recapture Mosul from ISIS
The deputy chief of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan was sentenced to 18 months behind bars for criticizing the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Facebook.
Nigeria requests US troops to fight Boko Haram; Debka: Obama seeks Iran’s help as anti-ISIS coalition shrinks
Michael Jordan, who once called Barack Obama a “hack” golfer, turns out to be a hack speller—or maybe just guy with an interesting sense of humor.
Jordan’s government is executing their vow to “eradicate” the Islamic State: hundreds of sorties later, Jordanian military officials believe that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of the terrorist group, is in hiding because he is “frightened” that an airstrike will kill him.
