Grisly Execution Videos Show Growing Brutality in Syria
Stockbyte/Thinkstock(RAQQA, Syria) — The camera pans up from three blindfolded men with their hands bound to a rebel fighter speaking into a megaphone. He stands by a white pickup truck, his face covered with a white and red checkered scarf.In classic…
Grisly Execution Videos Show Growing Brutality in Syria
Stockbyte/Thinkstock(RAQQA, Syria) — The camera pans up from three blindfolded men with their hands bound to a rebel fighter speaking into a megaphone. He stands by a white pickup truck, his face covered with a white and red checkered scarf.In classic…
Manhunt: Meet the CIA ‘Sisterhood’ That Tracked Bin Laden
AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Years before Osama bin Laden became a household name, a group of female analysts at the CIA was so determined to find and stop the terror leader that one said she was once counseled by an Agency superior that she was spen…
Former Pakistani Leader Poised to Rise from the Ashes
AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images(ISLAMABAD, Pakistan) – As Pakistanis take to the polls for a historic election, the man poised to become Pakistan’s new leader isn’t really a new leader at all. He’s an old one.
Mian Nawaz Sharif,…
New Terrorist Magazine Targets Obama, Drones
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — President Barack Obama appears with a bull’s-eye on his head in a new English-language magazine published online apparently by Islamist militants, who also urge Muslims around the world to try to hack an…
Syria Warns Israel of ‘All Possibilities’ After Strikes
Stockbyte/Thinkstock(DAMASCUS, Syria) — Syria responded angrily to the overnight air strikes on military targets that it accused Israel of carrying out, warning that the attack “opens the door to all possibilities.”
Israel has not claimed responsibili…
Bill Richardson: U.S. Military Strikes Against Syria are ‘In the Cards’
Kris Connor/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — In an appearance on ABC’s This Week, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said that American military strikes against Syria are likely, an opinion echoed by several other officials.
“I think [Presid…
Amid New Reports of Massacres, Israel Strikes Syria
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(TEL AVIV, Israel) — Israeli warplanes struck weapons inside Syria that were bound for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, American and Israeli officials say.The attack, which reportedly took place Friday morning, was the seco…
Terrorism, Counterterrorism Changed Two Years After bin Laden’s Death
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — It has now been two years since U.S. Navy SEALs dropped into a dark compound in Abbotabad, Pakistan, and killed Osama bin Laden. It was an event that stopped the nation in its tracks and was seen as a turning point…
Chemical Weapon Use in Syria Challenges Obama’s ‘Red Line’
Stockbyte/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — Pressure is mounting for the Obama administration to act after obtaining evidence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on his own people, an act that crossed what Obama had previously called &l…
Family of Marine Held Prisoner in Iran Asks Secretary of State for Help
ABC News(WASHINGTON) — The family of a U-S marine who has been held captive for nearly two years in Iran is calling for Secretary of State John Kerry to get involved.
Amir Hekmati, 29, has been languishing in an Iranian prison since August of 2011 whe…
Evidence of Chemical Weapons in Aleppo
DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images(ALEPPO, Syria) — Lying in a hospital bed north of Aleppo in Afrin, Yasser hasn’t been told that his wife and children are dead, as his doctors don’t think he can handle the shock in his fragile state. His home wa…
US Diplomat Killed in Afghanistan ‘Loved the Work She Was Doing’
ABC News(KABUL, Afghanistan) — The friends and family of Anne Smedinghoff are mourning the 25-year-old Foreign Service Officer killed in a car bomb blast in southern Afghanistan whom they describe as vivacious and loving.
Smedinghoff was one of five A…
NATO Airstrike in Afghanistan Kills Children
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(SHIGAL, Afghanistan) — As many as ten children and two women are reported to have been killed after a NATO air strike in Shigal, in eastern Afghanistan, according to a report from BBC News.
A local official said the Nato strikes…
Six Americans Killed in Attacks in Afghanistan
iStockphoto(KANDAHAR, Afghanistan) — A suicide bomber killed five Americans and an Afghan doctor while wounding several others on Saturday while another American was killed in a separate incident in another part of the country.
In southeastern Afghani…
No Agreement Reached in Talks on Iran’s Nuclear Program
iStockphoto(ALMATY, Kazakhstan) — Iran and the major powers have failed to reach an agreement after two days of talks on Iran’s nuclear program taking place in Kazakhstan.
Iran had been negotiation with six world powers, the United States, Russia, Ch…
Kerry Urges Iraqis to Stop Iranian Aid to Syria
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State John Kerry made his first visit to Iraq on Sunday as America’s top envoy in an effort to convince leaders there that they must stop Iran from using Iraqi airspace to transport m…
Palestinians Frustrated by Obama’s Trip to the Middle East
(WASHINGTON) — President Barack Obama’s last day visiting Israel took him back to the West Bank for a cultural stop in Bethlehem. There he toured the Church of the Nativity, the biblical birthplace of Jesus, with Palestinian Authority President …
“Reality” Weighs Heavy on Obama’s Mideast Peace Efforts
Photo by Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images(JERUSALEM) — Middle East peace has been slow going for President Obama, as his administration’s relationship with Israel has unfolded under his presidency in fits and starts.In his first year in office, Obama brought…
Senior Cleric Killed in Damascus Suicide Bombing
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(DAMASCUS, Syria) — A deadly suicide bombing inside a Damascus mosque on Thursday killed senior cleric Mohammad Said Ramadan al-Bouti, one of the most notable Sunni supporters of the current regime.According to the New York Times…