IS beheads leading Syrian antiquities scholar in Palmyra
By ALBERT AJI and BASSEM MROUE Islamic State militants beheaded a leading Syrian antiquities scholar who spent most of his life looking after the ancient ruins of Palmyra, then hung…
Iraq
Trump wants money from Mideast countries supported by US
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is outlining a foreign policy in which the United States would put ground troops in the fight against Islamic State militants and demand money from…
IS top command dominated by ex-officers in Saddam’s army
By HAMZA HENDAWI and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA While attending the Iraqi army’s artillery school nearly 20 years ago, Ali Omran remembers one major well. An Islamic hard-liner, he once chided Omran…
Obama: Critics of Iran nuclear deal ‘selling a fantasy’
President Barack Obama assailed critics of his Iran nuclear deal Wednesday as “selling a fantasy” to the American people, warning Congress that blocking the accord would damage the nation’s credibility…
Obama: Iran vote most important intl. debate since Iraq war
By JULIE PACE President Barack Obama is casting a looming congressional vote on the Iran nuclear deal as the nation’s most consequential foreign policy debate since the authorization of the…
Joint Chiefs nominee: Russia is top security threat to US
By DEB RIECHMANN President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday that Russia poses the greatest threat to U.S. national security and it would be…
An IS secret to success: Shock troops who fight to the death
By HAMZA HENDAWI, QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and BASSEM MROUE They are the Islamic State group’s elite shock troops. Fanatical and disciplined, they infiltrate cities of Iraq and Syria, unleash mayhem and…
US to send 400-plus more troops to train Iraqis
By JIM KUHNHENN and NEDRA PICKLER The Obama administration is about to announce the U.S. will send more troops to Iraq to boost the training of local forces, officials said…