The State Department’s annual report on global terrorist activity, which was released on Thursday, stated that Iran “remains the foremost state sponsor of terrorism in 2015.” The report noted that Iran provides “a range of support, including financial, training, and equipment, to groups around the world.” Iran continued to be deeply involved in...

• Kindle

An Iran-backed militia leader whom the United States considers to be a terrorist has grown increasingly important to Iraq’s security apparatus, reflecting Iran’s rising influence in the affairs of its western neighbor, The Wall Street Journal reported (Google link) on Thursday. Jamal Jaafar Ibrahimi, popularly known by the nom de guerre of Abu...

• Kindle

June 1-2 is the 75th anniversary of the Farhud, the 1941 pogrom by pro-Nazi Arabs attempting to exterminate the Jews of Baghdad. Hundreds were murdered and raped, and many Jewish homes and business looted and burned during a two-day orgy of hate and violence orchestrated by the Grand Mufti of...

• Kindle

On a day to celebrate the coming of the Kurdish New Year, Sherzad Omer Mamsani placed his right hand on his front door and felt it explode. It was 1997, and Mamsani had just published his book on Jewish and Kurdish relations. The work sparked the ire of local Islamists, who responded...

• Kindle

Iran’s defense minister claimed that conflicts in Iraq and Syria are the result of a “deep-seated U.S.-Zionist conspiracy” during a memorial service for Mustafa Baddredine, a Hezbollah commander who was responsible for bombing the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, Iranian media reported on Wednesday. “Zionists are supporting terrorists and equipping them,...

• Kindle

Israel needs to hold on the Golan Heights “for the foreseeable future” to as a buffer against the instability in Syria, and “the wisdom of that has only increased” since Syria descended into an intractable civil war, former presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said in wide-ranging talk at the Hudson...

• Kindle

Low-level members of Hezbollah are growing increasingly frustrated with the Iran-backed terrorist militia, with many saying that they just want to be paid so they can go home. Hanin Ghaddar, the managing editor of the Lebanese news website NOW, came to this conclusion after interviewing after interviewing a number of young men who have been...

• Kindle

The Middle East, as we know it, is crumbling. Civil wars rage across the region, millions have become refugees, and hundreds of thousands are dead. Borders that have existed for over a century are ripe for reshaping. All of this has given rise to a major threat to Western democracies: The Islamic State. ISIS has filled...

• Kindle

An Iran-backed Shia militia led by a designated terrorist has recently been spotted operating an American-made M1 Abrams tank, the Long War Journal reported on Monday. In a recently released video montage showcasing the various groups within the Popular Mobilization Units, a collection of Shia militias in Iraq, the flag of Kata’ib Sayyid al Shuhada...

• Kindle

U.S. intelligence officials are disputing the Obama administration’s claim that Iran was not involved in the kidnapping of three American contractors in Iraq earlier this month, Jay Solomon of The Wall Street Journal reported (Google link) Tuesday. The three contractors were abducted in Baghdad on January 16, the same day that...

• Kindle