Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press yesterday (video embedded below). The primary focus of his interview with host David Gregory was the current turmoil in Iraq. MTP: Netanyahu on Iraq: "Both sides are enemies of the US. You don't strengthen one – you weaken both"...

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President Barack Obama on Thursday announced plans to send 300 American military personnel to train and advise Iraqi forces and to expand intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance missions as Washington aims to curb recent advances by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The President also addressing growing concerns from U.S....

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Reuters reported today that a tanker carrying oil from Kurdistan is anchored in the Israeli port city of Ashkelon and is prepared to dock Saturday. Officials said Israel was keen to build good ties with the Kurds, hoping to expand its limited diplomatic network in the Middle East and broaden options...

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani traveled to the Iraqi border on June 18 to pledge his country will do whatever it takes to protect the holiest sites in Shia Islam, which are located in southern Iraq. Rouhani said there are petitions from Iranians who are willing “to destroy the terrorists and...

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A Monday morning interview between Yahoo! News and Secretary of State John Kerry generated a firestorm of controversy – along with a series of retractions and clarifications from various Obama administration officials – after Kerry seemed to imply to interviewer Katie Couric that he was open to cooperating militarily with...

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Analysts and journalists seeking to explain the lightning advance of fighters loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) – the Al Qaeda offshoot that has been steadily consolidating territory across northern Iraq, despite being outnumbered roughly 30 to 1 by the country’s forces – have begun to specifically focus on...

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Gains being made across Iraq by the radical Sunni group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) – Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul on Tuesday, Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit on Wednesday, and what appeared to be further gains aimed at marching on Baghdad on Thursday –...

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This week the Iraqi cities of Mosul – the second largest city in the country – and Tikrit – Saddam Hussein’s birthplace – fell to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a terror group that broke away from al-Qaeda. The Guardian reported that some 30,000 Iraqi troops fled an...

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The Telegraph on Wednesday described the United States and Britain as having expressed deep concerns over the ongoing seizure of Iraqi territory by fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), as forces from the Al Qaeda offshoot followed up their Tuesday conquest of Mosul – Iraq’s...

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The Iraqi city of Mosul fell on Tuesday to fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) – a jihadist group once affiliated with Al Qaeda that was subsequently disavowed for among other things being too radical and brutal – with American-trained Iraqi security forces abandoning their...

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