Yearly Archives: 2021

Suspects in Paris attacks on stand after victims’ testimony

The lone survivor of the cell of Islamic State group extremists who attacked Paris in November 2015 came under public questioning Tuesday for the first time in France, describing a close family life and his neighborhood acquaintance with many of the other defendants seated alongside him behind courtroom glass. Salah …

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AUKUS Adds Fuel To South China Sea Dispute – Analysis

It has been a difficult couple of years for Southeast Asia’s South China Sea-claimant countries. While they have been struggling to deal with vaccine diplomacy and manage the COVID-19 pandemic, China has been accused of taking advantage of the situation by becoming increasingly assertive in the disputed areas. During the …

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Sudan Coup Leader Gambling With The Future – OpEd

Since the surprise coup by Sudan’s Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the nation’s international standing as a nascent democracy is endangered, essential debt relief and aid is threatened and peace with rebels in Darfur and the Nuba mountains has been jeopardized. Prominent civilian leaders including Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok were put …

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Will Hungary And Poland Be Next Victims Of US/EU Regime Change? – OpEd

No country is safe from the Eye of Sauron that is the modern-day American national security state. Even some of the US’s ostensible allies can’t escape its all-seeing eye. Hungary and Poland, both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), have faced significant criticism from the chattering classes of …

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Saudi Arabia Executes Detainee over Terrorism Links

The Saudi Interior Ministry executed on Monday a detainee for his ties to a number of fugitives wanted on terrorism charges. Saudi national Makki bin Kazem Al Obeid was executed in al-Dammam city. He was an accomplice to one of the detainees held in the shooting of a security forces …

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Iraq arrests alleged Islamic State fighters after deadly attack

The Islamic State killed two Kurdistan Region soldiers and 12 civilians in recent attacks in northern Iraq. Iraqi security forces have captured several Islamic State fighters, a spokesperson announced today. The six alleged IS members were detained in Ramadi and Fallujah in Iraq’s western Anbar province. Brig. Gen. Yehia Rasool …

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Tensions in Tehran-Baku Relations: Iran’s New Transit Routes in Armenia and the Caspian Sea

Although many observers assumed that the recent uptick in tensions between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan (see EDM, October 6) would die down following the telephone calls between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and his Azerbaijani counterpart, Jeyhun Bayramov (Al Jazeera, October 13), subsequent public remarks by the …

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US flies B-1 bomber over Middle East amid tensions with Iran

The Pentagon is renewing show-of-strength flights over the Persian Gulf as the US waits for talks over Iran’s nuclear program to resume. The US flew a nuclear-capable B-1B bomber over major waterways of the Middle East, the Air Force said Sunday, in Washington’s latest show of force amid tensions and …

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Syrian jihadi group cracks down on last pocket of rivals in Idlib

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham , which controls Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, is waging a war against the jihadi Jundallah group, which it sees as an extremist organization that exposes the Islamic State’s ideology and harbors jihadists that HTS is chasing. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which controls Syria’s northwestern province of …

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Iran presumed behind attack on US outpost in eastern Syria

Drones that targeted US forces in the Syrian desert in late October were allegedly Iranian. US officials believe that Iran “resourced and encouraged” an October 20 attack on a military outpost housing US forces in the eastern Syrian desert which involved drones carrying explosive charges and “indirect fire,” possibly rockets. …

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