A U.N. investigative team that will collect and preserve evidence of acts by Islamic State in Iraq that may be war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide started work this week, nearly a year after the Security Council created it. At last September’s annual U.N. gathering of world leaders, the council unanimously adopted a British-drafted […]
Continue ReadingIslamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is on the brink of losing the two main centres of his ‘caliphate’ but even though he is on the run, it may take years to capture or kill him, officials and experts said. Islamic State fighters are close to defeat in the twin capitals of the group’s territory, […]
Continue ReadingAn audio message purporting to come from the spokesman of Islamic State called on followers to launch attacks in the United States, Europe, Russia, Australia, Iraq, Syria, Iran, and the Philippines during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which began in late May. The audio clip was distributed on Monday on Islamic State’s channel on […]
Continue ReadingRoad to Peace Registered Charity Number 1165299 MOSUL EMERGENCY RESPONSE Children are being killed or seriously injured as Iraqi forces battle Islamic State militants in heavily populated areas of Mosul. But the battle to retake the city — where 750,000 people still live — is far from over, and the heaviest fighting may still be […]
Continue Reading“My dear family, please forgive me,” reads the handwritten letter discarded in the dusty halls of an Islamic State training compound in eastern Mosul. “Don’t be sad and don’t wear the black clothes (of mourning). I asked to get married and you did not marry me off. So, by God, I will marry the 72 […]
Continue ReadingWestern-backed Syrian forces should isolate Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria “by the spring” before an offensive on the city itself, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said on Saturday. The Syrian Democratic Forces, which includes the powerful Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, launched the campaign on Raqqa in November. It announced this month the start of […]
Continue ReadingIslamic State attacked an Iraqi police checkpoint near the southern city of Najaf on Sunday, killing seven policemen as government forces in the north made more gains against the militants in Mosul, their last major stronghold in the country. The Najaf attack, which involved gunmen and a suicide car bomb, followed blasts a day earlier […]
Continue ReadingIraqi forces are facing fierce resistance from Islamic State militants in southern Mosul on their second day of a renewed push to take back the city after fighting stalled for several weeks. Nathan Frandino reports. Firing from the sky and on the ground, Iraqi forces engage Islamic State fighters during the second day of a […]
Continue ReadingNo food or fuel has reached Mosul in nearly a week and the onset of rain and cold weather threatens a tough winter for more than a million people still in Islamic State-held areas of the city, residents said on Saturday. Iraqi troops waging a six-week-old offensive against the militants controlling Mosul have advanced into […]
Continue ReadingThe bells have rung out after two years of silence in the Mar Korkeis church in the town of Bashiqa, some 15 km (10 miles) north of Mosul, Islamic State’s last major city stronghold in Iraq. Kurdish Peshmerga fighters retook the town on Nov. 7, ending two years of rule by the hardline Sunni group […]
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