Tag: Middle East

U.S. F/A-18 fighter jets take off for mission in Iraq from the flight deck of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, in the Persian Gulf, Monday, Aug. 11, 2014. U.S. military officials said American fighter aircraft struck and destroyed several vehicles Sunday that were part of an Islamic State group convoy moving to attack Kurdish forces defending the northeastern Iraqi city of Irbil. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

National Security

Iraq crisis deepens; US directly arms Kurds

VIVIAN SALAMASAMEER N. YACOUB · August 12, 2014 1:27 am

FILE - The June 12, 2014 file photo shows Amal Alamuddin, human rights lawyer and fiancee of US actor George Clooney, as she attends the 'End Sexual Violence in Conflict' summit in London. Alamuddin has been chosen for the U.N.'s three-member commission of inquiry looking into possible violations of the rules of war in Gaza, United Nations Human Rights Council said Monday, Aug. 11, 2014. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, file)

Clooney’s fiancee Alamuddin rejects Gaza probe job

John Heilprin · August 11, 2014 9:34 pm

A Palestinian woman stands in the rubble of her destroyed home in Gaza City's Shijaiyah neighborhood, Monday, Aug. 11, 2014. An Egyptian-brokered cease-fire halting the Gaza war held into Monday morning, allowing Palestinians to leave homes and shelters as negotiators agreed to resume talks in Cairo. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

Gaza cease-fire takes hold as negotiators gather

Mohammed Daraghmeh · August 11, 2014 9:14 pm

A U.S. F/A-18 fighter jet takes off for Iraq from the flight deck of the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, in the Persian Gulf, Monday, Aug. 11, 2014. U.S. military officials say American fighter aircraft struck and destroyed several vehicles Sunday that were part of an Islamic State group convoy moving to attack Kurdish forces defending the northeastern Iraqi city of Irbil. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

Whatever it takes to defeat the Islamic State must be done now

Cal Thomas · August 11, 2014 9:00 pm

U.S. and Kurdish flags flutter in the wind while displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community cross the Syria-Iraq border at Feeshkhabour bridge over the Tigris River at Feeshkhabour border point, in northern Iraq, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2014. Kurdish authorities at the border believe some 45,000 Yazidis passed the river crossing in the past week and thousands more are still stranded in the mountains. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)

National Security

US sending arms to Kurds in Iraq

LARA JAKESKEN DILANIAN · August 11, 2014 7:58 pm

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 file photo, Israeli Yair Lapid, a popular former TV anchorman, head of the new centrist party Yesh Atid, delivers a speech in the Ariel college of Judea and Samaria in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ariel. In an interview with the Associated Press Monday Aug. 11, 2014, Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid called on the international community to pull together a massive aid package for Gaza conditioned on the Palestinian Authority returning to power in place of the Islamic militant group Hamas. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

Lapid: Gaza aid should be tied to restored PA rule

Dan Perry · August 11, 2014 7:26 pm

In this Sunday, Aug. 10, 2014 photo, Ibrahim al-Telbani, left, and Ahmad Baraka inspect the damaged and burned Al Awda snack food factory in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip. Factory owner, Mohammed al-Telbani, lost his life's work during the Gaza war after Israeli shells slammed into his four-story factory, one of Gaza's largest, sparking a fire that engulfed vats of margarine and sacks of cocoa powder. Al-Telbani and others in Gaza say anything short of a complete opening of Gaza's borders, after seven years of closure by Israel and Egypt, will do little to change their lives. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

7-year-old Gaza closure key in Israel-Hamas talks

Karin Laub · August 11, 2014 7:25 pm

In this Sunday, Aug. 10, 2014, displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community cross the Iraq-Syria border at Feeshkhabour bridge over Tigris River at Feeshkhabour border point, northern Iraq. Kurdish authorities at the border believe some 45,000 Yazidis passed the river crossing in the past week and thousands more are still stranded in the mountains. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

UK warns of humanitarian crisis in Iraq

Danica Kirka · August 11, 2014 6:13 pm

Iraqis chant pro-government slogans and display placards bearing a picture of embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during a demonstration in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Aug. 11, 2014. Al-Maliki is taking his struggle to keep his job to the courts after announcing he will file a legal complaint on Monday against the country's newly elected president. President Barack Obama warned Americans on Saturday that the new campaign to bring security in Iraq requires military and political changes and "is going to be a long-term project." (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban)

Iraq president names deputy speaker new PM

SAMEER N. YACOUBVIVIAN SALAMA · August 11, 2014 5:37 pm

National Security

Biden calls Iraq president, prime minister nominee

Washington Examiner · August 11, 2014 5:08 pm

This image posted by the Raqqa Media Center shows fighters from the Islamic State group on top of a military vehicle with anti-aircraft guns in Raqqa, Syria, Thursday, Aug 7, 2014. The Islamic State militants seized the Brigade 93 base overnight after days of heavy fighting, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Raqqa Media Center, an activist collective. The base lies some 40 miles (60 kilometers) from the provincial capital of Raqqa, a stronghold for the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Raqqa Media Center)

Islamic militants crush tribal uprising in Syria

Bassem Mroue · August 11, 2014 4:10 pm

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan acknowledge supporters after Erdogan's election victory, in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, Aug. 10, 2014. Erdogan won Turkey's first direct presidential election Sunday, striking a conciliatory tone toward critics who fear he is bent on a power grab as he embarks on another five years at the country's helm.(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Turkey to select new PM end August

ELENA BECATOROSSUZAN FRASER · August 11, 2014 3:34 pm