Category:

Iraqis Make Gains Against Militants in Key City

Iraqi security forces and their tribal allies made gains in heavy fighting on Sunday in Ramadi, reclaiming parts of the city from Sunni militants aligned with Al Qaeda, security officials and tribal leaders said. But the insurgents appeared to maintain control of much of Falluja, another important city in Anbar Province, and had the upper hand in fighting on its outskirts. The government’s efforts to retake Falluja were set back by the apparent defection of some tribal militias, who are now siding with the Qaeda-linked militants, according to officials. The fight in Falluja is complicated by the widespread disenchantment of Sunnis in Iraq toward the policies of the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki. Some armed tribesmen with little sympathy for Al Qaeda and its desire to set up a Sunni Islamic state in Iraq have now apparently decided that the government is their greater […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Libya bars oil tanker headed to militia-held port

A Defense Ministry official says Libya’s navy has prevented a Malta-flagged oil tanker from entering its territorial waters apparently en route to a militia that has shut down oil terminals for months in a challenge to the government. Spokesman Abdul-Razak al-Shabahi told The Associated Press on Monday that the tanker tried to enter the northeastern city of Misrata’s port the previous night. He says the tanker and its cargo were not meant for the government. Libya’s eastern militia is demanding more autonomy from the government in Tripoli and a share of oil revenues. Last summer, its fighters shut down most of the country’s terminals and mediation has failed. The government has threatened to use force if the militia attempts to bring in oil before the standoff is resolved. © 2014 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Iraqi air force strikes city to try to oust al Qaeda

Iraqi government forces battling an al Qaeda offensive near the Syrian border launched an air strike on Ramadi city on Sunday killing 25 Islamist militants, according to local officials. Government officials in western Anbar province met tribal leaders to urge them to help repel al Qaeda-linked militants who have taken over parts of Ramadi and Falluja, strategic Iraqi cities on the Euphrates River. Al Qaeda’s Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has been steadily tightening its grip in the vast Anbar province in recent months in a bid to create a Sunni Muslim state straddling the frontier with Syria. But last week’s capture of positions in Ramadi and large parts of Falluja was the first time in years that Sunni insurgents had taken ground in the province’s major cities and held their positions for days. Local officials and tribal leaders in Ramadi said that […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.S. Won't Send Troops to Iraq to Fight al-Qaeda

Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. won’t send troops to Iraq to help the government battle al-Qaeda-linked militants who have seized control of much of the city of Fallujah and nearby towns. “This is a fight that belongs to the Iraqis,” Kerry said at a news conference in Jerusalem today. “We’re going to do everything that is possible to help them,” while stopping short of putting boots on the ground, he said. The U.S. is in touch with tribal leaders in the region “who are showing great courage” against militants, he said. There is little appetite in the U.S. for renewed military involvement in Iraq, where 4,489 Americans were killed and 51,778 wounded in action after President George W. Bush ’s administration invaded the country almost 11 years ago. Obama has listed ending direct U.S. military action in Iraq two years ago as one of his main […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.S. Won’t Send Troops to Iraq to Fight al-Qaeda

Secretary of State John Kerry said the U.S. won’t send troops to Iraq to help the government battle al-Qaeda-linked militants who have seized control of much of the city of Fallujah and nearby towns. “This is a fight that belongs to the Iraqis,” Kerry said at a news conference in Jerusalem today. “We’re going to do everything that is possible to help them,” while stopping short of putting boots on the ground, he said. The U.S. is in touch with tribal leaders in the region “who are showing great courage” against militants, he said. There is little appetite in the U.S. for renewed military involvement in Iraq, where 4,489 Americans were killed and 51,778 wounded in action after President George W. Bush ’s administration invaded the country almost 11 years ago. Obama has listed ending direct U.S. military action in Iraq two years ago as one of his main […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Syria rebel infighting spreads to city in east

Clashes between Syrian rebels and their rivals from an al-Qaida-linked faction spread on Monday from the country’s opposition-held areas in the north to a key eastern city, activists said. The rebel-on-rebel fighting in the eastern city of Raqqa – a long-time bastion of an al-Qaida-linked group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – reflects a widening war within a war in Syria, this one against radical extremists. It also suggests emboldened rebels are trying to completely overrun their al-Qaida rivals. The infighting has been the most serious since armed groups initially rose to try overthrow the rule of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The clashes erupted in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib on Friday after residents there accused ISIL fighters of killing a popular doctor. An activist group, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated that at least […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Fallout From Syria Conflict Takes Rising Toll on Mideast

Spiraling violence and advances by al Qaeda-linked fighters in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon are underscoring the cost of Syria’s civil war as it increasingly spills over the country’s borders. The rise of the Islamist forces in Iraq is particularly worrisome to the Obama administration. In response, U.S. officials said Sunday they were seeking to boost military support—though they emphasized no troops—for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to help in his campaign to push back al Qaeda. U.S. officials are also considering new military aid for Lebanon, which is plagued by rising sectarian violence. Resurgent al Qaeda-allied forces battled Sunday in both Iraq and in neighboring Syria. Fighters in Iraq’s Anbar Province pillaged American weapons from armories after taking control of the town of Fallujah and skirmished with Iraqi government troops on the road to Baghdad, said residents and officials there. In Syria, al Qaeda-linked militants battled as well—but this […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

The Muslim Brotherhood, Back in a Fight to Survive

They hide in safe houses on the outskirts of this city, talk only fleetingly on cellphones and avoid the cafes where they used to meet. Heavy scarves obscure their identities when they venture out to join protests. The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, now outlawed, have adjusted to life underground, even while hundreds of their fellow members have been arrested in this city since the military deposed President Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood leader, and the Egyptian government branded the group a terrorist movement. Yet, rather than crack and disintegrate under the pressure, members say, the group has fallen back on the organizational structure that sustained it for decades as a banned and secretive movement. It is becoming more decentralized, but also more cohesive and rigid, as its members abandon activities like preaching and social work and shift their attention to a virtually singular goal: resistance to […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Brazil’s big oil dreams begin to sour

“It’s funny, a few years ago, everybody loved Brazil,” said Roger Tissot, a veteran consultant on Latin America energy. “And now it seems the love is gone.” Brazil once saw itself as an up-and-coming oil power that would help meet the world’s demand, but it now faces a hard reality and might have to scale back its pretensions, former energy officials, oil executives and advisers say. The country’s deep-sea bonanza has suddenly become less alluring to big, rich oil companies that had been excited about Brazil. Other promising prospects around the world have emerged instead, from fields in Africa to the shale deposits unlocked by hydraulic fracking in the United States to the tar sands of Canada. “These companies have the financial muscle and engineering capacity and technologies to move around the world,” said Ramon Espinasa, an oil specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington. “They are able […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

South Sudan general killed in fighting, rebels say

Rebels in South Sudan said Sunday they had killed an army general during fighting near the town of Bor, at the same time direct negotiations between warring factions began in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Rebel spokesman Moses Ruai said the general, Lual Mayok, was killed along with his deputy in an ambush on Friday, and said he was in charge of government troops trying to recapture Bor, capital of Jonglei state, situated 130 miles north of the capital Juba. "Our forces are well organized. They are not just hit-and-run. The next target is now Juba, but I cannot tell you exactly when they will attack Juba, but they are heading there," the rebel spokesman said. South Sudan’s Defense Minister Kuol Manyang Juuk dismissed the claim, saying there was no general of that name in the country’s armed forces. "I have no information of any general killed," he told […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple