Blog Posts

"In a major victory for U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security team, the United Kingdom and France have agreed to send additional forces to Syria to pick up the slack as U.S. troops withdraw."

"Turkey enjoyed Israeli-provided information that enabled its security services to prevent 12 attacks by Iran and ISIS."

U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has described the latest round of U.S.-Taliban peace talks as the "most productive" ever, telling RFE/RL that "a lot of progress" has been made.

"U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers completed the first irregular and unconventional warfare training iteration for members of the Polish Territorial Defense Forces and Latvian Zemmessardze as a part of the Ridge Runner program in West Virginia, according to service officials."

"A government spokesman says Germany isn’t considering sending ground troops to Syria as part of its contribution to fighting the Islamic State group."

“The aim of Muslims is to take over all our land and everything we value,” he said. “Think of what used to be Buddhist lands: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Indonesia. They have all been destroyed by Islam.”

"President Trump said Monday that the United States would “no longer deal with” the British ambassador who disparaged his administration."

Somali militant group al-Shabab has executed 18 people since Wednesday, an unprecedented rate of executions for the group, which is under pressure from U.S. airstrikes.

"Iraq has a decades-long tradition of extensive paramilitary forces. They are highly varied in their political affiliations, ideologies, and objectives, and some have historically been part of the state while others have battled against it. Although formed mostly along sectarian lines and around particular political and tribal leaders, today some 60 paramilitary groups have coalesced under an umbrella organization known as the Popular Mobilization Forces."

"There is one place on earth right now that Americans are most in harm’s way. It is Afghanistan, the place of this nation’s longest war."

With the United States aiming for a potential deal with the Afghan Taliban by September, analysts and Afghan officials are skeptical that a comprehensive deal could be reached when the Afghan government has yet to hold direct talks with the Taliban.

"Jordanian minister presses Washington to heed Palestinian position, warning of consequences of failure."

"US Special Representative for Syria Engagement James Jeffrey has called on Germany to send military trainers, logistics specialists and technicians to help the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group."

"Afghan officials say the Taliban has detonated a vehicle bomb near the Afghan spy agency's office in the central eastern Ghazni city."

"The Iranian announcement marks the latest breach of the accord."

"In Marawi, mosques and Islamic schools — which housed archives and libraries — were left in ruins after occupation by militants and airstrikes by the military."

"Syria's Idlib is becoming a bog of deadly violence where Turkish and regime armies are being drawn into direct confrontations."

The U.S. envoy helping to broker peace talks with the Taliban said that the current round of negotiations have been the "most productive" so far. Zalmay Khalilzad made the comments on July 6 while attending meetings in Qatar.

"The U.S. called for a special session of the United Nations atomic agency board, increasing the pressure on Europe and others to take a stand against Iran after Tehran said it breached the 2015 nuclear treaty."

"Venezuelan special forces have carried out thousands of extrajudicial killings in the past 18 months and then manipulated crime scenes to make it look as if the victims had been resisting arrest, the United Nations said on Thursday in a report detailing wide-ranging government abuses targeting political opponents."

"Pakistan's prime minister is expected to become the first head of state to meet the Taliban leadership since the militant group's ouster from power in 2001. An Afghan official confirmed, on the condition of anonymity, that the move has the Afghan government's consent."

"Tighter new U.S. sanctions have proved more punishing than Iran’s leaders expected, driving Tehran to hit back militarily and breach limits it had agreed to put on its nuclear program."

"A spokesman for one of Libya's two rival armies has denied targeting civilians after an airstrike blamed on the armed group killed as many as 55 people in Tripoli on Tuesday night."

"The Iraqi government’s move this week to place Iranian-backed militias under the command of the armed forces is a political gamble by a prime minister increasingly caught in the middle of a dangerous rivalry between Iran and the U.S, the two main power brokers in Iraq."

"President Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner called on the Palestinians to reengage with the administration’s peace efforts in the Middle East, stressing they would benefit from the plan’s economic assistance only after agreeing to its yet undisclosed political demands."