Arab world

    In an article entitled why We Hate you and Want to Fight You, the 15th edition of the terrorists' periodical Dabiq spells out why the jihads are hell bent on destroying the West. Warped jihadis around the globe have killed hundreds in terror attacks within the past month. Atrocities in Nice, Normandy, Ansbach and Wurzburg are just a few of the recent massacres carried out by the twisted killers. The poisonous 'listicle-style' feature opens by glorifying Omar Mateen's murderous rampage at Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando . It begins: "Shortly following the blessed attack on a sodomite, Crusader nightclub by the mujahid Omar Mateen, American politicians were quick to jump into the spotlight and denounce the shooting, declaring it a hate crime, an act of terrorism, and an act o...

    A Russian helicopter has been shot down by rebels in northern Syria, Russian military officials say. Defence officials say the Mi-8 transport aircraft had five people on board. Unconfirmed reports say at least four of them are now dead. The helicopter was returning from delivering humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted officials as saying. It is not clear which group brought the helicopter down. Pictures on social media purportedly of the aftermath of the crash show charred wreckage and bodies, with armed men milling around. Russia is a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and is supporting pro-government forces with air strikes on rebels. Government forces cut off rebel-held eastern parts of Aleppo last month. Russia and Syr...

    A scheme designed to offer Syrian refugees a fresh start away from their war-torn homeland has backfired after two families said the Scottish island they were sent to is "full of old people waiting to die" and they would rather be in Glasgow or Manchester. The refugees praised the people of Scotland and said they had been made welcome on the Isle of Bute, but also complained that they were unable to find work and said they felt ashamed that they had to rely on charity. Abd, a 42-year-old father of four, said: “I feel like I have one option now, to die here. Only die here, nothing else.” The families said they felt isolated, were struggling to learn English and there was nothing to do on the island in the Firth of Clyde. Some of the refugees said that they spent most of the...

    Explosions rocked a peacekeeping base and the airport in Somalia's capital, police and local residents said Tuesday. Details of the number of blasts and casualties in Mogadishu were not immediately clear. A suicide car bomb was detonated close to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) base near the airport, police told Reuters. The base is in the "green zone" of Mogadishu, which also contains the United Nations offices as well as foreign embassies. Somali soldiers stand near the wreckage of a car bomb outside the UN's office in Mogadishu. Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP Police captain Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press that a suicide bomber had targeted the U.N.'s Mine Action Service office in the area, killing three people. A huge cloud of smoke was visible over the ...

    If you're feeling flustered by the mini-heathwave over parts of the UK and Europe at the moment, then you'll want to avoid the Middle East right now. On Thursday a blistering temperature of 54C (129.3F) was recorded in Kuwait, firmly putting our hot spell into context. It is the highest temperature ever recorded in the eastern hemisphere and almost certainly the highest temperature ever recorded on earth. A weather station in Mitribah, a remote featureless area of north-west Kuwait, took the temperature last week during an intense heatwave that continues in parts of the Middle East. The mercury in neighbouring Iraq on the same day soared to 53.9C (129F) in the ancient city of Basra. If verified by the World Meteorological Organisation, they will almost certainly be the two...

    A senior official working for Istanbul’s Sisli district city hall died Monday after two gunmen walked into his office and shot him in the head. It was not immediately clear if the incident was related to the failed coup that has been roiling Turkey for the past several days. Deputy Mayor in charge of Development Cemil Candas was rushed to a nearby hospital, but succumbed to his injuries afterwards. Police detained the two gunmen, who were taken out by the rear entrance. Various reports inaccurately stated that Candas was Jewish. Sisli is home to some of Istanbul’s remaining Jews, as well as the Jewish newspaper and the Ottoman-Turkish Sephardic Culture Research Center. The Sisli municipality is run by the opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP. The CHP condemned Frid...

    The US has declared that Isis committed genocide in Iraq and Syria. (Picture: [copyright]) In the global revulsion at the past week’s terror attacks in four Muslim countries, the United States and its allies have a new opportunity to build a unified command against Isis and other extremists. But as the US seeks to broaden this counter-terrorism alliance, it should be careful about partnering with Russia — unless Moscow distances itself from a Syrian regime that many Sunni Muslims despise. The savage attacks in Turkey, Bangladesh, Iraq and Saudi Arabia should convince Muslim nations and the West that they share a common enemy in extremist groups such as Isis. What they need now is a shared command-and-control structure, like what the US and Britain forged in December 1941, ...

    A suicide bomber has killed four security officers and injured five others near one of Islam's holiest sites in the Saudi city of Medina, according to the interior ministry. The bomber detonated his explosives after being stopped outside the Prophet's Mosque, a statement said. The mosque is the burial place of the Prophet Muhammad and Medina the second-holiest city in Islam after Mecca. Suicide blasts also struck two other Saudi cities on Monday. That an attack happened in Medina at such a place is likely to leave Muslims around the world aghast, BBC World Service's Middle East editor, Alan Johnston, says. Suspicion is likely to fall on so-called Islamic State (IS), he adds.Al-Arabiya gave a different account of the incident, saying the bomber had targeted the security off...

    Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority has condemned the armed groups Islamic State and al-Qaeda as apostates and labelled them the "number one enemy of Islam". The country's grand mufti, Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, said on Tuesday that terrorism, which he accuses the groups of committing on a systematic scale, had no place in Islam's ideology. "Extremist and militant ideas and terrorism which spread decay on Earth, destroying human civilisation, are not in any way part of Islam, but are enemy number one of Islam, and Muslims are their first victims," he said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. The Saudi government has been a main supporter of rebels battling Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, but has funnelled arms and money away from Islamic State and ...

    As today marks the last Friday of Ramadan, dozens of Muslims who were on their way to pray at the Temple Mount threw stones at Israeli security forces and tried to break through the Kalandia Checkpoint. Two Broder Policemen were injured during the riots. According to Palestinian media outlets, a man in his 40s died due to the security forces’ use of tear gas. Two Border Policemen were slightly injured today (Friday) from stones that were thrown at them by dozens of Muslim worshipers who tried to break through the Kalandia Checkpoint near Jerusalem. The Israeli security forces that were at the scene used non-lethal weapons designed for dispersing riots. Palestinian news agencies are reporting that one person was killed in the riots. According to the Palestinian News Agency ...