ISIL fighters take pay cut: New air strikes incinerate hundreds of millions in cash

ISIL fighters take pay cut: New air strikes incinerate hundreds of millions in cash

Special to WorldTribune.com The U.S.-led coalition bombed ten Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) cash depots this past weekend, incinerating hundreds of millions in currency. Col. Steve Warren, the spokesman for the American-led campaign against ISIL in Iraq and Syria, said the targeting of ISIL’s cash hoards is having an impact on the terror […]

Report: Israel strikes Syrian army outposts near Damascus

Report: Israel strikes Syrian army outposts near Damascus

Special to WorldTribune.com Israeli rockets struck Syrian army outposts near Damascus on Feb. 17, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. According to the Observatory and a report by Reuters, the outposts south of Damascus were hit by three Israeli rockets. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recently that Israel “is active from time […]

Erdogan: Will Turkey stop shelling anti-ISIL Kurdish forces in Syria? No way

Erdogan: Will Turkey stop shelling anti-ISIL Kurdish forces in Syria? No way

Special to WorldTribune.com President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will not cease its attacks on Kurdish forces even though the Kurds have been the only consistently effective ground force against common foe Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). Erdogan on Feb. 17 said Turkey would continue shelling Kurdish targets in Syria to prevent the […]

Russia-Turkey spat threatens to draw NATO into Syrian conflict

Russia-Turkey spat threatens to draw NATO into Syrian conflict

Special to WorldTribune.com Turkey and Russia risk setting off an “accidental war” which threatens to bring NATO into the equation, analysts say. “Both Russia and Turkey are looking to position for strategic advantage,” Tim Ash, head of emerging-market strategy at Nomura in London, said on Feb. 15. “The risk is of an actual Russo-Turkish military […]

Egyptian schools, in first, to teach 1979 peace accord with Israel

Egyptian schools, in first, to teach 1979 peace accord with Israel

Special to WorldTribune.com President Abdul Fatah Sisi’s overhaul of Egypt’s education system will include, for the first time, fact-based instruction on the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. A report by Army Radio on Feb. 17 said the new curriculum pushed by Sisi “does not stray into the aggressive, biased characterizations of Israel as […]

China deploys missile system to disputed S. China Sea island

China deploys missile system to disputed S. China Sea island

Special to WorldTribune.com Satellite images show China has deployed the advanced HQ-9 surface-to-air missile system to a disputed island in the South China Sea. Taiwanese and U.S. officials confirmed that batteries of the HQ-9 surface-to-air missile launchers were set up on Woody Island in the Paracels chain, according to a report by Reuters. China, Taiwan […]

Boutros-Ghali, former UN secretary general, dies at 93

Boutros-Ghali, former UN secretary general, dies at 93

Special to WorldTribune.com Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who led the United Nations as secretary general in the 1990s, died on Feb. 16 in an Egyptian hospital. He was 93. Current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Boutros-Ghali “a memorable leader who rendered invaluable services to world peace and international order.” A senior minister to Egyptian President Hosni […]

China launches major Saudi refinery project

China launches major Saudi refinery project

Special to WorldTribune.com Chinese President Xi Jinping was on hand for the Feb. 16 launch ceremony for China’s largest investment project in Saudi Arabia, the Yasref oil refinery. Xi told reporters the refinery, which covers more than 5 million square meters in the city of Yanbu on Saudi’s west coast, conforms to the Saudi national […]

Report: ISIL used mustard gas against Kurds in Iraq

Report: ISIL used mustard gas against Kurds in Iraq

Special to WorldTribune.com Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) used the chemical agent mustard gas in attacks on Kurdish forces in Iraq in 2015, according to tests by a chemical arms watchdog group. A source at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) told Reuters that “laboratory tests had come back positive […]

Hizbullah leader in Iran for cancer treatment, reports say

Hizbullah leader in Iran for cancer treatment, reports say

Special to WorldTribune.com Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah is in Iran for urgent treatment for cancer, according to Lebanese media reports. Nasrallah was evacuated to an Iranian hospital on Feb. 14 after his condition recently deteriorated. He was treated by doctors from Russia and North Korea after cancer cells spread to new parts of his body, […]