An image uploaded on June 14, 2014 on the jihadist website Welayat Salahuddin allegedly shows militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) capturing dozens of Iraqi security forces members prior to transporting them to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them. Radical Sunni militants who have been capturing cities in northwest Iraq claimed on Twitter that... 

Over a decade after the US and UK invaded Iraq in 2003, the military allies have created a joint ‘counter-terrorist’ team to send to the country. British officers are already on their way “to prepare for possible air strikes,” The Sunday Times reports. “SAS [Special Air Service of the British Army] officers were on their way to Iraq this weekend to prepare the ground for possible... 

US Army in Iraq Pentagon Finds Iranian Involvement in Defense of Baghdad ‘Concerning’. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says he envisions the effort to save Iraq’s Maliki government from al-Qaeda as something his nation and the US can agree with, and cooperate on. Iran was the first nation involved when al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) started seizing territory across the nation, and the Iranian... 

The US government is ‘urgently’ considering air assaults on Iraq and Syria in an attempt to flush out the al-Qaeda-linked Takfiri militants operating in the two countries, a US official says. The unnamed official, quoted by the Guardian, said on Friday that the White House was “urgently and expediently” considering military action to halt the rapid advance of the so-called Islamic State of... 

“What I heard today scared the hell out of me,” Senator Lindsey Graham said following a Senate briefing on Iraq. Sen. Lindsey Graham has called on US President Barack Obama to authorize airstrikes in Iraq in order to halt the progress of al-Qaeda groups. “There is no scenario where we can stop the bleeding in Iraq without American airpower,” Sen. Graham (R-S.C.) said after leaving a... 

Qatar’s prime minister has called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to intervene and impose a ceasefire in Syria. The premier made the comments at the 11th annual US-Islamic World Forum in Doha on Monday. “It is incumbent on the international community, especially the Security Council, to act urgently and decisively to adopt a resolution…to ensure the security and safety... 

A woman holds a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as she celebrates his re-election in Damascus, Syria, June 4, 2014. Russia says the recent presidential election in Syria, in which incumbent President Bashar al-Assad was re-elected, was “legitimate.” “It’s unacceptable to ignore the opinion of millions of Syrians who… came to polling stations and made a choice in the interests... 

Egypt’s President-elect Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Egypt’s election commission has officially announced former army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as the winner of the country’s presidential election. The election commission said on Tuesday evening that Sisi won the polls by 96.1 percent of the votes. It put the turnout at 47.5 percent of the country’s 53 million eligible voters during the three-day... 

An Indian worker wears a mask next to camels as he works at his Saudi employer’s farm outside Riyadh on May 12, 2014. Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry has raised the death toll from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) to 282. In a Tuesday statement, the figure, which earlier stood at 190, rose to 282 following “a comprehensive revision” going back to 2012. The... 

Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry has recorded 13 more deaths from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in the kingdom. The ministry said on Wednesday that a total of 186 have died from the virus since it first appeared in the country in 2012. It added that some 565 people had contracted the virus in Saudi Arabia. MERS is a cousin of SARS. The former virus first emerged in the... 

Pope Francis has arrived in the occupied West Bank at the start of a two-day tour to the occupied Palestinian territories amid protests by Israelis opposed to his visit. Upon arrival in the city of Bethlehem on Sunday, the 77-year-old spiritual leader held a meeting with acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas. During the meeting, Abbas blasted the Israeli regime for putting pressure on Christians... 

Extremist Israeli settlers have vandalized a church in the southern city of Beersheba ahead of a visit by Pope Francis. Israeli police said the outside walls of the church were sprayed with anti-Christian graffiti on Friday. Security officials suspect that the move is the latest in a series of hate crimes, with Israeli extremists as the main suspects. They say there has been a recent spate of hate... 

When the U.S. military “liberates” a nation, shouldn’t it result in more liberty, freedom and peace for the people living there? Instead, we find just the opposite. In fact, in every single case since 9/11, when the U.S. military has “liberated” a nation it has resulted in the persecution of Christians in that country becoming much worse. In areas where we spent hundreds of billions of dollars... 

US and Israeli soldiers pose for a photo during a military drill held in 2012. US and Israeli military forces begin a massive joint military exercise, dubbed Juniper Cobra, in Israel, according to Israeli officials. Some 1,000 US troops from the United States European Command are now in Israel to take part in the biennial sdrill, Xinhua quoted Israeli radio as reporting. Tel Aviv claims the five-day... 

Five more people die from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia, health officials say. The Saudi Health Ministry announced on Wednesday that the new victims were three women, all over 60, who died in the capital Riyadh and two men, aged 56 and 57, who passed away in the port city of Jeddah. The latest fatalities bring the kingdom’s death toll to 157 since...