The U.S. hasn’t decided whether to attack Islamic State targets inside Syria and won’t ask President Bashar al-Assad for permission if it does, a White House spokesman said. President Barack Obama, who has ordered airstrikes against the Islamist militants in Iraq, hasn’t reached a conclusion about similar actions in Syria, White House press secretary Josh […] Continue reading → 
He won’t recommend Syria strikes yet. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said that he would not recommend U.S. military airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria until he determines that they have become a direct threat to the U.S. Gen. Martin Dempsey, speaking to reporters on board a military plane traveling […] Continue reading → 
A new round of Israeli airstrikes and tank fire pounded Gaza on Monday as officials in the coastal strip said two more Palestinian civilians died from the violence. There has so far been no end in sight for the war, which has already killed more than 2,100 Palestinians since the fighting erupted on July 8. […] Continue reading → 
President Barack Obama’s effort to have Arabs play the lead role in combating the Islamic State terrorist group suffered a setback yesterday when Sunni lawmakers quit talks on forming a new Iraqi government after Shiite gunmen killed scores of worshipers at a Sunni mosque. The killings in Diyala province derailed at least temporarily the U.S.-backed […] Continue reading → 
The Israeli military renewed its campaign in the Gaza Strip as fresh rocket attacks by Gaza militants targeted Israel on the third day since an Egyptian-led temporary cease-fire collapsed. The renewed exchanges have dashed hopes for a lasting truce after a monthlong war that has already killed over 2,000 people. Israeli airstrikes hit more than […] Continue reading → 
Cal Thomas U.S. airstrikes that have helped Iraqi and Kurdish forces recapture a strategic dam and halt, at least temporarily, the advance of ISIS terrorists on the Kurdish capital of Erbil are a welcome pushback against a relentless enemy that for a time seemed invincible. But it may be of no more strategic significance than […] Continue reading → 
The U.S. military earlier this summer carried out an attempt to rescue journalist James Foley and other American hostages held in Syria, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, in an operation that the Pentagon said ultimately failed to find the captives. Foley, 40, was beheaded by an Islamic State militant in a video that surfaced […] Continue reading → 
Israel’s prime minister says he will press forward with a military operation in the Gaza Strip until rocket fire out of the Palestinian territory is halted. Benjamin Netanyahu made the comments in a nationwide address Wednesday, a day after talks aimed at ending Israel’s monthlong war against Hamas militants collapsed in failure. Netayahu’s tough words […] Continue reading → 
President Barack Obama said the beheading of a U.S. journalist by Islamic radicals won’t deter him from a bombing campaign aimed at driving them back. “The United States of America will continue to do what we must do to protect our people,” he said. “We will be vigilant, and we will be relentless.” Obama spoke […] Continue reading → 
As the U.S. military strikes the Islamic State group in Iraq, Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces have significantly stepped up their own campaign against militant strongholds in Syria, carrying out dozens of airstrikes against the group’s headquarters in the past two days. While the government in Damascus has long turned a blind eye to the […] Continue reading → 
Kurdish forces took control of most of Iraq’s largest dam after battling Islamic State fighters in nearby villages, reversing some of gains made by the insurgents in the north with U.S. military support. Kurdish forces, also known as the peshmerga, will have full control of the Mosul Dam in “just a matter of time,” Fuad […] Continue reading → 
The United States on Saturday launched several more air strikes in Iraq at Islamic State, including ones targeting members of the Islamic militant group who are positioned around the country’s largest dam, near Irbil. Islamic State captured the Mosul Dam last month in its surprisingly swift and deadly run across northern Iraq in recent months. […] Continue reading → 
Syrian government troops seized control of most of a contested suburb southeast of the capital of Damascus on Thursday, and were trying to crush remaining resistance on the town’s northern outskirts, activists and state media said. Forces loyal to President Bashar Assad have waged a ferocious offensive for months to try to dislodge rebels from […] Continue reading → 
The U.S. is pursuing a four-pronged strategy to thwart Islamic State extremists in Iraq and avert a collapse of the oil-rich nation, while plans to do more depend on the outcome of the leadership struggle in Baghdad. The steps to deal with the immediate crisis include some that have been made public, such as limited […] Continue reading → 
The Real Revo He is right. The air strikes will not stop the Islamic State. President Obama is so afraid of being called a war monger that he has ordered US aircraft to drop a few bombs on some small targets. IS will not be deterred by this half-assed action. McCain is wrong, though, when […] Continue reading → 
The U.S. conducted new airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq today and Iraq’s parliament went home without ending a political deadlock that’s seen as adding to the turmoil. Coming to the aid of Kurdish forces near Erbil, the regional capital, the U.S. used fighter jets and armed drones to destroy several armed trucks and […] Continue reading →