Syria’s rebels take over oilfields once belonging to Assad

Al-Qaeda’s Syrian wing is helping to finance its activities by selling the product of oilfields that once helped to prop up the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Up to 380,000 barrels of crude oil were previously produced by wells around the city of Raqqa (more…)

Dozens killed in blasts targeting Iraqi Sunnis

More than 60 people have been killed and dozens hurt in several bomb attacks apparently targeting Sunnis in Iraq.

In the first attack, in Baquba, about 50 km (30 miles) north of Baghdad, at least 41 people were killed when two bombs detonated outside a Sunni mosque. (more…)

Attacks on 29 Sunni mosques in Iraq fuel fears

A sharp rise in attacks on Sunni holy sites in Iraq is feeding fears that the country could spiral into a new round of sectarian violence similar to the bloodletting that brought Iraq to its knees in 2006 and 2007.

Majority Shiites control the levers of power in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq. (more…)

Obama’s Syria strategy needs teeth

There is something bizarre about the debate over how the United States should respond to the Syrian regime’s use of chemical weapons against its own people.

EU Urges Iraq To Prevent Arms Supply To Syria’s Regime

The European Union has called on the Iraqi government to do whatever is necessary to prevent any supply or transfer of arms to the Bashar-al-Assad regime and its supporters in Syria. A meeting of the Foreign ministers of the EU on Monday also called on the Government of Iraq to allow entry to civilians fleeing violence in Syria. (more…)

Iraqi refugees in Syria have a choice between 2 bad options

BEIRUT , Lebanon – As the conflict in Syria has raged over the past two years, the sectarian bloodletting, the car bombs and the rise of religious extremists have been all too familiar to one group of people in the country: Iraqi refugees. (more…)

AL Nusra front bomb targets Hezbollah in Lebanon

A bomb was discovered overnight Tuesday in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Beirut’s Hay al-Sellom with a message targeting Hezbollah, MTV television station.

MTV report added that it bore markings signed by Al-Nusra Front and targeting the Shiite group. (more…)

Syria’s Nusra pledges allegiance to Qaeda’s Zawahri

BEIRUT , Lebanon – Syria’s al-Nusra Front formally pledged allegiance to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, according to an audio tape posted online on Wednesday.

Abu Mohammad al-Golani, leader of the Syrian group, said: “The sons of Nusra Front renew their pledge (of allegiance) (more…)

9 killed in suicide bombing in Tikrit, Iraq

A suicide bomber drove an oil tanker packed with explosives into a local Iraqi government compound on Monday, killing at least nine people, mostly policemen, in the northern city of Tikrit.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, (more…)

Iraq pledges to search for weapons destined for Syria

Iraq says it will stop more aircraft moving through its airspace and vehicles travelling overland to search for weapons being sent to the Syrian civil war, a senior official said Friday.

Government spokesman Ali al-Moussawi said Iraq would conduct more random searches to check for weapons (more…)