Four Iraqi troops were killed Wednesday and several wounded in an ambush by the extremist Islamic State group, Iraq’s Interior Ministry said.
The attack came days after the U.S. military announced that troops from its coalition against IS in Iraq and Syria will withdraw from Iraqi territory next year but maintain a presence in Syria until 2026.
In the years from 882 to 1242 the first and original national state organization of the Russians – the Kievan Russia (not Kyivan Rusia or Kyiv Rus’!) became directly and indirectly subject to external political influences by several external political units of the time. According to the official historiographical traditions (mainly of Western origin), Kievan Russia was established and governed by the Nordic Vikings (“Varyagi/Varangians/Rus’”) with the Dnieper as its axis with Kiev as capital and later received Christianity of the Eastern (Greek) type from the Byzantium in the south and was finally conquered by the barbaric Mongol Tartars from the east.
When Hamas launched an attack against Israel on 7th October, 2024, Israel was caught unaware and unprepared. In the attack, around 1200 people in Israel lost their lives and around 250 people were taken as hostage by Hamas. It was an unprovoked attack. This attack can justifiably be termed as act of terrorism, though Hamas claims that it was justified from their viewpoint.
The Lebanese Army Command confirmed on Wednesday that “an Israeli enemy force breached the Blue Line for approximately 400 meters inside Lebanese territory in the areas of Khirbet Yaroun and Bab Al-Adaisseh, and withdrew after a short period.”
The incursion, justified by the aim of eliminating Hezbollah, resulted in three confrontations with the group — along the road to Adaisseh, in the town of Maroun Al-Ras, and on the road to Yaroun.
What happened?
In early October 2024, Iran launched an attack against Israel, using about 180 Fateh ballistic missiles, which were launched from Iranian territory and targeted, according to Iranian sources, Mossad headquarters and three major air bases, including the Nevatim base in southern Israel, and Israeli troop concentrations around the Gaza Strip. This is Iran’s second direct attack against Israel since the outbreak of the war in the Gaza Strip.
Terror organization: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
Status: was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). From 1998 until his assassination by the United States in 2020, he was the commander of the Quds Force, an IRGC division primarily responsible for extraterritorial and clandestine military operations, and played a key role in the Syrian Civil War through securing Russian intervention.
ECOWAS should use its special summit on regional integration in 2025 to reconsider its approach to managing coups.
Recurrent coups since 2020 and the decision by Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to withdraw from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) reveal the region’s deep governance and democracy challenges.
The number of African refugees, internally displaced persons, and asylum seekers grew by 14 percent over the past year—to more than 45 million people.
The recent militant Islamist attack in Bamako is part of a broader push by violent extremist groups into southern Mali and reflective of the deteriorating security in Mali under military rule.
How can reporters learn from new tools about specific causes of methane leaks in conflict-affected areas? We have examined some of the recent conflict hotspots across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) — namely Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya — to identify what the major sources of methane release are in the region, as well as to better understand how conflicts around the world could damage existing infrastructure and governance and lead to more emissions.