Erdogan rules out meeting Egypt’s Sisi over death sentences for Brotherhood

Erdogan rules out meeting Egypt’s Sisi over death sentences for Brotherhood

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 […]

Iran awards medals to its nuclear negotiating team

Iran awards medals to its nuclear negotiating team

Special to WorldTribune.com Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Iran has awarded medals to its nuclear negotiators who helped reach a landmark agreement with world powers last year. President Hassan Rouhani presented the Medal of Merit to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at a ceremony in Teheran on February 8. Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head […]

ISIL, said to fear uprising, executes 300 by firing squad in Mosul

ISIL, said to fear uprising, executes 300 by firing squad in Mosul

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 […]

Turkey closes border to thousands of Syrians fleeing Russia-backed offensive in Aleppo

Turkey closes border to thousands of Syrians fleeing Russia-backed offensive in Aleppo

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 […]

Iran’s IRGC chief: Saudis wouldn’t ‘dare’ send troops to Syria

Iran’s IRGC chief: Saudis wouldn’t ‘dare’ send troops to Syria

Special to WorldTribune.com Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) says Saudi Arabia lacks the courage to send ground troops to Syria. “They claim they will send troops [to Syria], but I don’t think they will dare do so,” IRGC commander Mohammad Ali Jafari was quoted as […]

Raqqa residents said overjoyed as U.S.-led coalition planes drops leaflets vowing ISIL’s defeat

Raqqa residents said overjoyed as U.S.-led coalition planes drops leaflets vowing ISIL’s defeat

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 […]

Saudi Arabia and Turkey weigh military action in Syria

Saudi Arabia and Turkey weigh military action in Syria

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 […]

Iraq building moat, wall around Baghdad to keep out ISIL

Iraq building moat, wall around Baghdad to keep out ISIL

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, […]

Russia suspects Turkey is preparing for incursion into Syria

Russia suspects Turkey is preparing for incursion into Syria

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 […]

Paris attack leader says he entered France with 90 jihadists: ‘It’s not over’

Paris attack leader says he entered France with 90 jihadists: ‘It’s not over’

Special to WorldTribune.com The leader of the Paris terrorist attacks slipped into France with a group of 90 jihadists who then spread out “everywhere” around the city. Abdelhamid Abaaoud “was proud of himself. That was the worst. He appeared to fear no one, a superman,” according to testimony from the woman who tipped police to […]