Tag: Middle East

Smoke rises after airstrikes by the U.S. forces targeting Islamic State militants near the Khazer checkpoint outside of the city of Irbil in northern Iraq, Friday, Aug. 8, 2014. The airstrikes by the U.S. forces were launched outside the Kurdish regional capital Irbil, and marked the first time U.S. forces have directly targeted the extremist Islamic State group, which controls large areas of Syria and Iraq. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)

National Security

Iraqis flee militants as US warplanes strike

BRAM JANSSENDIAA HADID · August 8, 2014 7:24 pm

FILE - In this file photo taken Monday, July 21, 2014, Palestinians pray over Hamas flag-draped bodies of 17 members of the Abu Jamea immediate and extended family, killed by an Israeli strike at their house, during their funeral at the main mosque in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. In the grisly math of the Israel-Hamas war, conflicting counts of combatants and civilians killed in Gaza are emerging - with the ratio perhaps more important to shaping international opinion of the monthlong conflict than any final toll. U.N. researchers and local rights groups say three-fourth of some 1,900 dead were civilians, while the Israeli military estimates the split is closer to 50-50. Those doing the tallies use different methods and standards to make that all important determination of who is a civilian. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali, File)

In Gaza, dispute over civilian vs combatant deaths

KARIN LAUBYOUSUR ALHLOU · August 8, 2014 7:07 pm

Immigration reform won't happen until next year, House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday on Hugh Hewitt's radio show. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

National Security

John Boehner supports airstrikes but ‘dismayed’ by Obama’s Iraq policies

Sean Lengell · August 8, 2014 5:57 pm

President Obama turns to leave the podium after he spoke about the situation in Iraq in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, Thursday. (AP/Charles Dharapak)

Beltway Confidential

Obama’s narrow, specific, extremely limited action in Iraq

Byron York · August 8, 2014 4:24 pm

Palestinian supporters of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement chant slogans against the Israeli military action in Gaza, during a demonstration in the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday. (AP/Mohammed Ballas)

How the United Nations prevents peace in the Middle East

Mona Charen · August 8, 2014 2:46 pm

Kurdish soldiers with the Peshmerga keep guard near the frontline with Sunni militants on the outskirts of Kirkuk, an oil-rich Iraqi city on June 25 in Kirkuk, Iraq. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

National Security

U.S. military aircraft conducts first airstrike in Iraq

Susan Crabtree · August 8, 2014 2:10 pm

National Security

VIDEO: Obama announces Iraq airstrikes, humanitarian aid

Ed Sykes · August 8, 2014 1:07 pm

Lebanon’s former PM returns from exile amid crisis

Zeina Karam · August 8, 2014 12:57 pm

A displaced Iraqi Christian woman holds a picture of her four-year-old relative, David, who was killed by militants, at St. Joseph Church in Irbil, northern Iraq, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014. Late Wednesday, militants overran a cluster of predominantly Christian villages alongside the country's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, sending tens of thousands of civilians and Kurdish fighters fleeing from the area, several priests in northern Iraq said Thursday. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

US airdrops supplies to thousands besieged in Iraq

SAMEER N. YACOUBVIVIAN SALAMA · August 8, 2014 3:28 am

President Barack Obama speaks about the situation in Iraq in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

National Security

Obama authorizes renewed airstrikes in Iraq

JULIE PACEROBERT BURNS · August 8, 2014 3:07 am

Palestinian Hamas supporters gather for a rally in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014. Thursday's rally drew several thousand supporters and a senior Hamas official has told supporters at the rally that the war with Israel won't be over until the group's political demands are met. Israel and Hamas were holding indirect negotiations in Cairo, Egypt about new border arrangements for blockaded Gaza and extending a cease-fire. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Hamas rejects disarmament proposal

HAMZA HENDAWIMAGGIE MICHAEL · August 7, 2014 7:57 pm

Israel and Hamas Dig in As Gaza Talks Go on

Washington Examiner · August 7, 2014 7:16 pm