Turkey and the United States have agreed on the outlines of a de facto “safe zone” along the Turkey-Syria border under the terms of a deal that is expected to significantly increase the scope and pace of the U.S.-led air war against the Islamic State in northern Syria, according to U.S. and Turkish officials.
Turkey will open up Incirlik Air Force Base, about 250 miles from the Syrian city of Raqqa, to U.S. and coalition strike operations against the Islamic State, or ISIS, Pentagon and Obama administration officials confirmed. The move puts anti-ISIS aircraft, which had been flying some 1,200 miles to strike enemy positions, much closer to the various battlegrounds, including Raqqa, the effective capital of the Islamic State in Syria.
On Wednesday, Turkey said it was holding talks with Israel over a deal to reconcile the two former allies following a deadly Israeli commando raid on a Turkish aid vessel bound for Gaza.
The presidents of Russia and Turkey have met and discussed a proposal for a pipeline that would carry natural gas from Russia to Turkey.
As photos of heavily armed police officers in full combat gear squared off against protesters in the small suburban town of Ferguson, Missouri, America got a sobering wake up call of the militarization of its local police forces. Since 2006, U.S. police departments have acquired 93,763 machine guns, 432 mine-resistant trucks, over 500 aircraft and hundreds of thousands of ammunition magazines, all provided by the U.S. military with the help of Congress.
The Syrian civil war has once more taken a dire turn for the worse. Turkey has altered its strategy against its opponents, the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Instead of simply aiding the Syrian rebels, Turkey is now also killing them with dehydration. The problem is, this brutal act threatens the lives of millions of Syrian and Iraqi citizens.
Eighty Christians were killed and thousands more displaced after Islamic militants attacked the strategic Syrian town of Kessab near the Turkish border on March 21, according to Barnabas Aid.
Last week’s disappearance of an Italian Jesuit priest in Syria suggested foul play following the kidnappings of two other clergy in April, according to Morning Star News.
According to the Assyrian International News Agency, Assyrian Christians who have fled from an area of Syria called al-Thawrah (also known as al-Tabqah), have been told by rebels, “If you want to come back, convert to Islam, or you will be killed.”
A Catholic priest has been publicly beheaded by suspected Islamic militants in northern Syria after accusations of collaborating with President Bashar Assad’s government, Worthy News established Tuesday, July 2.
Minority Christians in Iraq feared more violence Saturday, June 29, after several Assyrian Christian shops and one church were attacked, killing two people and injuring a dozen others, church representatives said.
Minority Christians in Syria’s largest city Aleppo said they face starvation after dozens of believers already died in targeted attacks rocking Christian areas of the war-torn country.
Syrian Christians are reportedly targeted by rebels linked to Islamic terror groups and it remained unclear whether everyone fleeing the violence would be able to reach neighboring Turkey.
Mosul is now one of the most violent cities in Iraq with Christians and other minorities singled out for attacks and thousands continue to flee from the troubled nation, a Christian group said Thursday, August 16.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended that the Secretary of State name Pakistan as a Country of Particular Concern in its 2012 Annual Report.
Yet another convert and member of a house church was arrested along with many other Christians in Esfahan, according to the Iranian Christian news agency, Mohabat News.
An Algerian court acquitted two Christians of breaking the Ramadan fast despite the prosecution’s demand that they be punished for “insulting Islam.”
A Turkish court on Friday, June 4, charged a Turkish man with murdering a Roman Catholic bishop — the latest in a series of violent attacks against the country’s tiny Christian minority.
Somalia’s minority Christians observed Pentecost amid gunfire Sunday, May 23, as witnesses reported that at least 14 people died in clashes between pro-government troops and Muslim militants who have killed Christians and pledged to turn Somalia into a strict Islamic state.
The former Soviet republic of Armenia and Turkey have signed a historic accord on normalizing relations after a century of hostility.