Staley Smith previously was a National Security Intern at the Brookings Institution. She spent the past year studying in Jordan and Israel and will graduate from Johns Hopkins University in 2016 with a major in political science.
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Yesterday, Ben announced the Omphalos Middle East Journalism Program that we are launching in cooperation with our friends at Academic Exchange.
ISIS may have used chemical weapons against Kurdish forces in Iraq, the Wall Street Journal reports. On Wednesday, Peshmerga fighters southwest of Erbil reported injuries “consistent with a chemical attack,” most likely a mustard agent. While U.S.
At least 80 people were killed and hundreds more injured in the deadliest attack in Baghdad since Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi took office one year ago. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the truck bomb, which exploded outside a bustling farmer’s market in a Shia neighborhood earlier today. The suicide bomber lured people to the truck by telling them he had cheap tomatoes to sell.
Another day, another ceasefire. Syrian pro-government forces and rebel groups have successfully agreed to a 48-hour truce in three Syrian towns, one held by rebels and two by the government. The ceasefire will allow civilians to be evacuated and food to be delivered in the besieged areas, which include the rebel stronghold of Zabadani.
We begin today with southeastern Turkey, where after two years of relative calm, violence has returned and “the tension is palpable” as conflict intensifies between the Kurds and the Turkish state. The latest clashes follow a suicide bombing that killed 32 Kurdish and Turkish activists in Suruç last month, but reflect long-running political conflicts that have simmered for years.
It’s summertime in Raqqa, but rather than learning arts and crafts or singing campfire songs, children at the Farouq Academy for Cubs—an indoctrination and training center run by the Islamic State—are busy practicing beheadings.
A series of terror attacks rippled across Turkey early this morning. In Sirnak province, a majority-Kurdish region near the borders with Iraq and Syria, a roadside bombing and a separate attack on a military helicopter resulted in the deaths of five policemen. In Istanbul, a police station was first bombed and then targeted in a firefight. Finally, two women believed to belong to the far-left terrorist group Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front, or DHKP-C, opened fire on the U.S.