Special to WorldTribune.com North Korea’s recently-launched satellite is “tumbling in orbit,” rendering it virtually “useless,” a U.S. official said. If the description is accurate, the satellite launched by Pyongyang on Feb. 7 would be incapable of functioning in any useful way, a senior U.S. defense official told CNN. Kwon Ki-hyun, a spokesperson for South Korea’s […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Syrian forces, in a major offensive supported by Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, advanced toward the Turkish border on Feb. 8. The Syrian advance and relentless Russian air strikes in recent days have led to one of the biggest shifts in momentum of the five-year war. The offensive by President Bashar […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Baghdad is preparing for a major offensive in Mosul, mobilizing thousands of troops in a plan to drive Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) out of its main Iraqi stronghold. The Iraqi army has sent large numbers of soldiers to a base near Mosul, officials said on Feb. 8. “Units from […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he will not meet with Egyptian President Abdul Fatah Sisi until Egypt lifts the death sentences of Mohammed Morsi and other Muslim Brotherhood leaders. “My stance on that issue is clear; in the first place, I will not meet Sisi until the decisions of death penalty […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) has executed 300 people in Mosul, Iraq. “Daesh (ISIL) terrorists executed 300 people by firing squad in Mosul,” said Mahmoud al-Sourji, a spokesman for Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces on Feb. 7. Those executed were “Iraqi police personnel, army troopers and civilian activists,” Arabic-language al-Sumaria satellite television network […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Some 35,000 Syrians are stranded at the Turkish border after fleeing a Russian-backed Assad regime offensive in Aleppo. Turkish humanitarian groups warned of a desperate situation in the making as they set up camps and sent in truckloads of aid on Feb. 8 for people, many of them women and children, amassed […]
Special to WorldTribune.com U.S.-led coalition warplanes dropped thousands of leaflets over Islamic State of Iraq and Levant’s (ISIL’s) de facto capital in Syria vowing that ISIL will soon be defeated. The leaflets were dropped over Raqqa during a break in coalition airstrikes. ISIL opposition group “Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently” (RBSS) said on Twitter that […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Saudi Arabia and Turkey are considering sending ground troops into Syria to support rebels fighting the Russia-backed Bashar Assad regime, analysts say. “The Saudis believe that the chance of a peaceful solution for the Syrian crisis is very limited,” said Mustafa Alani of the independent Gulf Research Center. “They don’t see that […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Iraq has begun construction on fortifications in Baghdad that include a moat and a 10-foot high wall. Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. Saad Maan said the military’s Engineering Corps has started work on a 100 kilometer (65-mile) stretch of the wall and trench on the northern and northwestern approaches of the capital, […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Moscow said it has reason to suspect that Turkey is planning a military incursion into Syria. The Russian Defense Ministry said it has observed “a growing number of signs of hidden preparation of the Turkish armed forces for active actions on the territory of Syria.” Ankara responded by saying it has the […]
