BANGOR, Maine (AP) — Horror author Stephen King says Islamic State is a “rogue cult” and that the group’s bombings will eventually lead to its undoing. King made the comments via his Twitter account on Tuesday morning in the aftermath of a suicide bombing attack at an Ariana Grande show on Monday night that left … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new U.S. special operations team has been questioning a key Islamic State leader in Iraq since seizing him in a raid last month, U.S. officials said Wednesday, Mar. 3. It is believed to be the first case of a top IS militant captured alive in that country. The officials would not … Continue reading
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s offer to send troops to fight Islamic State in Syria is as much about the kingdom’s growing determination to flex its military might as it is about answering U.S. calls for more help from its allies in the Middle East. A Saudi deployment runs the potentially … Continue reading
BAGHDAD (AP) — President Barack Obama’s envoy to the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State said he visited northern Syria over the weekend, Jan. 30-31, to review the ongoing fight against the extremist group, marking the first visit by a senior administration official to Syria since the beginning of the U.S.-led campaign against IS in … Continue reading
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of the Islamic State group’s relentless destruction of ancient cultural sites. For 1,400 years the compound survived assaults by nature and man, standing as a place of worship recently for U.S. troops. In earlier … Continue reading
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The Islamic State can be defeated within “months” of a ceasefire between Syria’s government and moderate rebels, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday, urging the world to come together behind a peace strategy recently hashed out by the United States, Russia and other countries. Kerry said air power alone … Continue reading
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that he and President Barack Obama have a shared understanding on how to move toward a political settlement in Syria, but added that incidents like the recent downing of a Russian warplane by a Turkish fighter jet stymie broader cooperation against extremism. Putin and Obama had a half-hour meeting … Continue reading
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a French-sponsored resolution Friday calling on all nations to redouble and coordinate action to prevent further attacks by Islamic State terrorists and other extremist groups. The resolution says the Islamic State group “constitutes a global and unprecedented threat to international peace and security” and expresses … Continue reading
PARIS (AP) — France identified a 27-year-old Belgian who once boasted about killing “infidels” and fought for the Islamic State group in Syria as the mastermind of the Paris attacks, and President Francois Hollande vowed Monday to forge a united coalition capable of defeating the jihadists at home and abroad. Addressing lawmakers after France observed … Continue reading
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Call it a tale of two debates. The deadly attacks in Paris cast a somber mood at the start of the second Democratic presidential debate, but the field spent the rest of the night tossing sharp elbows over Wall Street reform, gun control and the minimum wage. Hillary Rodham … Continue reading
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian intelligence on Wednesday warned of an increased risk of Taliban or Islamic State fighters invading Central Asia. FSB director Alexander Bortnikov said in comments carried by Russian news agencies that a concentration of Taliban fighters, some of whom had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, at Afghanistan’s northern border make … Continue reading
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian troops and their allies launched an offensive in the central province of Homs on Thursday and Russia’s government said its warplanes carried out a rare airstrike near Damascus targeting an Islamic State group position southeast of the capital. The offensive came as a senior Iranian official told reporters in Damascus … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Wednesday that the Russian airstrikes in Syria appear to have targeted areas that do not include Islamic State fighters, a development which Secretary of State John Kerry said would cause “grave concern” for the United States. Kerry told the United Nations Security Council that the U.S. would … Continue reading
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian military jets carried out airstrikes Wednesday against the Islamic State group in Syria for the first time — a move that came after President Vladimir Putin received parliamentary approval to send Russian troops to Syria. The airstrikes targeted positions, vehicles and warehouses that Russia believes belong to IS militants, ministry spokesman … Continue reading
MOSCOW (AP) — The latest developments as Russia and other nations counter Islamic State militants in Syria. All times local: 5:00 p.m. Pentagon’s press secretary says Defense Secretary Ash Carter has instructed his staff to talk to Russian officials about how to keep each other’s air operations in Syria from colliding or getting in each … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 