Thousands of Yazidis are being held captive by Islamic State in Syria where many are used for sexual slavery or forced to fight for the group, the United Nations said on Wednesday, on the second anniversary of what investigators termed a genocide. - Reuters
The United States has spent more than $17 billion to provide weapons, ammunition, and other military equipment to Afghanistan’s struggling defense forces, even as the number of Afghans enlisted in these services dips amid a resurgence in Taliban-backed violence, according to new figures published by a government oversight body. – Washington Free Beacon
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s handpicked successor in his home state of Gujarat has been forced to resign following huge protests by low-caste Hindus targeted by India’s growing bands of cow protection vigilantes. – Financial Times India's interior minister will travel to Pakistan for a regional gathering but will not hold bilateral talks at a time when a surge of violence in disputed Kashmir has escalated rivalry between the nuclear-armed neighbours, officials said on Monday. - Reuters At least 42 Palestinian child terrorists have attempted 36 attacks from the second half of 2015 until May 2016, according to a new report obtained exclusively by the Washington Free Beacon that criticizes the United Nations for omitting these statistics from its official records on the use of child soldiers. – Washington Free Beacon
After five years of political and economic turmoil, a sense of gloom hangs over the country. Traditionally a leader of the Arab world, politically and culturally, and home to a quarter of its population, Egypt has become inward-looking and politically marginalized in a way not seen for generations. – New York Times
“Al-Qaeda Steps Back to Let Nusra Move Forward in Syria” (Hassan Hassan and Bassam Barabandi, Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy)
“Notwithstanding the circumstances surrounding the declaration on Thursday, the move is eerily reminiscent of a similar one made in January 2006, when al-Qaeda in Iraq dissolved itself and merged with five insurgent groups to form Majlis Shura al-Mujahideen, or the Mujahideen Shura Council (MSC). The two statements, by the MSC and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, are similar not only in content but also in terms of wording and structure. The MSC’s founding statement listed six objectives or reasons for the rebranding, while Fatah al-Sham’s declaration listed five objectives for the establishment of the new group. Four of the six objectives, in both cases mentioned in a numerical list at the end of the statements, are identical: fighting aggressors, uniting the mujahideen, implementing sharia, and calling for others to join the newly merged entity. A letter sent following the establishment of the MSC from Ayman Zawahiri, then al-Qaeda’s deputy, to Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi, the leader of the Iraqi franchise, could help explain al-Qaeda’s calculations behind Thursday’s move. In the letter, Zawahiri advises Zarqawi to focus on fostering deeper popular support for the new group and avoid alienating Iraqis.” Afghanistan
A powerful explosion shook Kabul, the Afghan capital, in the early hours of Monday, and Taliban militants claimed that they had targeted a heavily guarded guesthouse for foreign contractors on the outskirts of the city. – New York Times A 6-year-old girl in rural Afghanistan was reportedly sold in marriage recently to a Muslim cleric in his 50s or 60s. She was later rescued and held in a shelter, while the man was arrested and jailed, Afghan officials said last week. – Washington Post The number of U.S. air strikes over Afghanistan increased dramatically in July, following the Obama administration's decision the month before to widen the air war in support of Afghan troops on the ground. – Military Times U.S. military leaders are insisting that ISIS’s Afghan branch is not strengthening, despite an attack in Kabul last week that left 80 people dead and wounded more than 200. – The Hill Taliban attacks on a district in the southern Afghan province of Helmand province killed at least 24 police officers over the past two days, an Afghan official said on Sunday. – Associated Press Elliott Abrams writes: Why is this approach stupid? For two reasons. First, it’s false: construction in outlying areas of the West Bank may indeed appear to be a problem in creating a Palestinian state, but construction in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem is not, nor is construction in major blocs Israel will keep. Second, this failure to make distinctions means Israelis will disregard U.S. complaints instead of listening to them. If the State Department criticized construction by settler groups in remote West Bank areas, it would actually have most Israelis on its side. But when it treats Jerusalem neighborhoods and a place like Maale Adumim as indistinguishable from any and every settler activity no matter how remote, Israelis will mostly shrug and wonder why the Americans are so dumb. – CFR’s Pressure Points
As Iraq’s prime minister struggles to meet his goal of retaking Mosul from the Islamic State group by the end of this year, he also is racing to prevent a power struggle with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. – Washington Times
For the first time in years, the Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr and his militia are unleashing fiery anti-American rhetoric and threatening to attack U.S. troops. But top U.S. military officials have downplayed his remarks, saying that for now there’s no cause for concern. – Military Times Commanders of the war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria are planning to depart from using purely counterinsurgency tecniques and instead use a range of combat techniques in the upcoming attack upon Mosul - to include Iraqi Security Forces' use of traditional heavy "Combine Arms Maneuver" tactics, US ground fires support and potential use of US Apache attack helicopters from the air. – Scout Warrior Iraq's government is setting its sight on Mosul, Iraq's second largest city that has been under ISIS control since June 2014, as its next major target in the fight against ISIS. The assault is likely months away, but fierce fighting has already been raging as Iraqi forces try to clear the militants from villages and towns south of the city. – Associated Press |
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