ISIS

Read recent news stories and reports about ISIS on Newser.com

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ISIS: Destroying the Language of Jesus?

Aramaic is under threat as ISIS invades northern Iraq

(Newser) - Islamic militants may have an unexpected victim in northern Iraq: an ancient collection of dialects and languages that's been around for over 3,000 years, Foreign Policy reports. Called Aramaic, it was flourishing among Assyrian Christians in the Nineveh plain of Iraq until ISIS invaded earlier this month and...

US Sends More Troops to Iraq
 US Sends More Troops to Iraq 
Aug 13, 2014 7:57 AM CDT

US Sends More Troops to Iraq

Maliki in talks to step down as France sends weapons to Kurds

(Newser) - Another 130 Marines and special operations forces have been sent to Iraq to help rescue tens of thousands of Yazidi refugees still trapped on a mountain, but this "is not a combat boots on the ground kind of operation," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says. Speaking at California's...

Helicopter Overloaded With Rescued Iraqis Crashes

Pilot appears to be only fatality; 2 journalists among those injured

(Newser) - An Iraqi helicopter that brought supplies to tens of thousands of Yazidi minorities still trapped on Iraq's Mount Sinjar crashed today because too many refugees clambered on board, an Iraqi military spokesman tells the AP . The pilot is apparently the only fatality. New York Times journalist Alissa Rubin, 56,...

'Barbaric': Terrorist's Boy Poses With Severed Head

Photo from Syria outrages world leaders

(Newser) - "Horrendous," "barbaric," and "depraved" are just a few of the words being used to describe an image posted on Twitter and in the Australian of an Aussie terrorist's young son appearing to tightly and cheerfully grasp the head of a decapitated Syrian soldier. "...

Iraq's Newest Mess: A Possible 'Coup'

Prime Minister Maliki wants a third term, but president is balking

(Newser) - Tense times in Baghdad: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki deployed troops at strategic locations in the Iraqi capital amid a power struggle with newly elected President Fouad Massoum. Maliki accuses Massoum of carrying out "a coup against the constitution and the political process" by failing to nominate him for a...

Clinton Knocks White House 'Failure' in Syria

And suggests she'll run in 2016?

(Newser) - In a new Atlantic interview, Hillary Clinton has underlined her differences with President Obama on foreign policy—particularly when it comes to Syria. Clinton pointed to the administration's limited involvement in Syria as a major factor in the Islamic State's surge to power in Iraq, Politico notes. "...

The Next Target of ISIS: Western Nations?

CNN looks at possible ways the extremist group might attack

(Newser) - In the wake of two US airstrikes against ISIS, supporters of the extremist group that's been seizing towns in northern Iraq are calling for retaliatory strikes against America, CNN reports. "It is a clear message that the war is against Islam and the mujahideen," wrote the administrator...

US Launches 2nd Round of Airstrikes on ISIS

Attacks strike mortar and convoy near Irbil, officials say

(Newser) - American officials say the US launched a second round of airstrikes against Islamic State targets near Irbil today, using drones and fighter jets. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the strikes by name, say unmanned aircraft struck a mortar near Irbil and...

Sword-Swinging 'Hipster Jihadi' Is New ISIS Mascot

Well-educated Egyptian with black-rimmed glasses tweets support for militants

(Newser) - Islam Yaken is a law school graduate who comes from an affluent Egyptian family, speaks three languages, and sports a trendy haircut and thick-rimmed glasses that make him look more like an extra on Portlandia than a Sunni insurgent. But Yaken's vocal support for the Islamic State, or ISIS,...

Why Obama Approved Airstrikes in Iraq

Extremists' rapid push north forced his hand, say analysts

(Newser) - President Obama gave the green light last night for the US military to launch airstrikes in Iraq, but why now? Some explanations:
  • Twofold mission: The US has already dropped food and supplies to Iraqis trapped on Mount Sinjar by extremist fighters from the Islamic State, or ISIS, and it may
...

Obama Authorizes Airstrikes in Iraq

US also begins humanitarian aid drops to trapped Iraqis

(Newser) - President Obama said tonight he has authorized the US military to carry out airstrikes in Iraq against Islamic militants if necessary to protect American personnel in northern Iraq. He emphasized, however, that no ground troops would be sent back to Iraq. Obama also said the US has begun humanitarian aid...

Obama Mulls Airstrikes, Aid to Help Trapped Iraqis

Decision on Yazidi surrounded by Islamic State expected 'imminently'

(Newser) - Both passive and active options are on the table as President Obama decides how to handle the humanitarian catastrophe developing at Iraq's Mount Sinjar , says a senior administration official who spoke to the New York Times . The passive alternative: Airdrops of food and much-needed medicine to the 40,000...

ISIS Seizes Major Dam, Could Now Flood Baghdad

200K civilians flee after Kurdish forces defeated

(Newser) - ISIS militants have made major gains after a fresh push in northern Iraq, seizing three towns after defeating Kurdish forces and taking control of the country's biggest and most important dam. The militants have been destroying Shiite shrines and executing resisters in the captured towns and up to 200,...

ISIS Blows Up Jonah&#39;s Tomb
 ISIS Blows Up Jonah's Tomb 
Jul 25, 2014 12:27 AM CDT

ISIS Blows Up Jonah's Tomb

Mosul shrine destroyed as new president elected

(Newser) - Jonah, the prophet who ends up in a whale's belly, is as big a figure in the Koran as he is in the Bible, but that didn't stop ISIS militants yesterday from blowing up a shrine devoted to him in Mosul. Officials tell CNN that the shrine—one...

UN Official: ISIS Demanding Female Genital Mutilation

Militant Sunni group issues fatwa, official says

(Newser) - A UN official in Iraq shared disturbing news with reporters today: ISIS militants have issued a religious edict declaring that all women in or around Mosul must undergo female genital mutilation, reports Reuters . The fatwa from the Sunni insurgents, who overtook the northern Iraqi city in June, applies to females...

60 Die in Iraq Prisoner Convoy Ambush

Militants attacked convoy after jail evacuated

(Newser) - Gunmen attacked a prisoner convoy north of Baghdad today, setting off a gun battle with troops in which 52 prisoners and eight soldiers were killed, officials say. The attack came as Iraq's parliament was set to elect a president, part of a troubled political transition that has seen repeated...

Rand Paul, Rick Perry Squabble Over Iraq

Senator targets governor's 'new glasses'

(Newser) - We've got a few years yet before 2016, but two potential GOP candidates are already taking shots at each other in dueling foreign policy pieces. Texas Gov. Rick Perry got the party started with a Washington Post op-ed, in which he attacked Sen. Rand Paul for being "curiously...

Iraq to UN: ISIS Swiped Chemical and Nuke Materials

Militants grabbed 88 pounds of uranium from Mosul University

(Newser) - On Tuesday, Iraq confirmed to the UN that ISIS militants had control of Saddam Hussein’s former chemical-weapons stronghold. Now Iraq is saying that the Sunni insurgents also overran the University of Mosul last month on their way to Baghdad and pilfered nuclear materials used for scientific research, Reuters reports....

Confirmed: ISIS Seized Saddam's Sarin Facility

Militants took over chemical weapons stash, which is likely degraded, on June 11

(Newser) - Saddam Hussein’s former chemical-weapons stronghold outside Baghdad is in the hands of ISIS militants, Iraq said in a letter to the UN yesterday, confirming previous reports. The letter stated that on June 11, "armed terrorist groups" commandeered Saddam's Muthanna facility, which includes two bunkers believed to hold...

In Iraq, Clues to Long-Lost Temple Emerge

Doctoral student works amid threat of ISIS attack in Kurdistan

(Newser) - An archaeologist is closing in on the location of an ancient temple so venerated that when it was sacked in 714 BC, its king tore off his crown, "pulled out his hair, pounded his chest with both hands"—then killed himself, according to an early account. The long-lost...

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