Iran's former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani reportedly admitted that Iran began its nuclear program with the intention of pursuing nuclear weapons capability. In a lengthy interview with state-run IRNA news agency - which does not appear on the agency's English-language website - Rafsanjani recounted how the decision to launch a nuclear program began
Russian President Vladimir Putin, determined to strengthen his country’s only military outpost in the Middle East, is preparing to launch unilateral airstrikes against Islamic State (ISIS) from inside Syria if the U.S. rejects his proposal to join forces, two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg on Wednesday. Putin’s preferred course of action, though,
Israel has given retired US-supplied Cobra combat helicopters to Jordan to help it fend off insurgent threats on its Syrian and Iraqi borders, a US official with knowledge of the deal told Reuters Thursday. The supply of the choppers was initiated last year and has been approved by the US, which provided mechanical overhauls
Palestinian Authority officials are quick to accuse Israel of deliberately “targeting innocent Arabs” when IDF soldiers fire at rock-throwers and others who engage in acts of terror against Israelis, but they have yet to comment on the nearly 3,000 Palestinians killed in Syria in recent years. To be precise, at least 2,910 residents of
Israel carried out an air strike in eastern Lebanon on Sunday targeting a drone belonging to the Jewish state that crashed in the area, a security source told AFP. "An Israeli air strike was launched this morning to destroy one of their drones that crashed in the mountains outside Saghbine yesterday," the source said,
The Palestinian Authority (PA) unity government of Hamas and Fatah was said to be on the brink of resigning Wednesday in a deepening rift with Gaza as its de facto rulers Hamas hold separate, indirect talks with Israel. A Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official said the government of technocrats formed last year to replace
Members of the Yazidi community, one of the Iraqi minorities hardest hit by jihadist atrocities including mass rapes and executions conducted by Islamic State (ISIS), killed 21 Sunni Arab villagers in a January revenge attack, Amnesty International said Wednesday. The London-based watchdog investigated attacks carried out on January 25 by a Yazidi militia in
Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists are being smuggled into Europe, a Libyan advisor told BBC Sunday, with cooperation of gangs in the Mediterranean. Abdul Basit Haroun stated that smugglers have been ferrying jihadists to Europe among migrants on refugee boats, with ISIS authorities in North Africa allowing the smugglers to continue their work in exchange
Islamic State (ISIS)'s second-in-command has been killed in a US-led airstrike in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, the Iraqi Defense Ministry stated Wednesday. Abdul Rahman Mustafa Mohammed, also known as Abu Alaa al-Afri, was in a mosque struck by US and coalition forces, they said. According to Iraqi government spokesman Tahsin Ibrahim, he
Palestinian Authority (PA) security officials have warned that Islamic State is acting to mobilize in Gaza to serve as an extension of its activities in the Sinai Peninsula. Journalist Gal Berger reports that the PA knows of eight extremist Salafi groups operating in Gaza in recent years with several hundred members total. Many
