Islamic State

Syrian army says Damascus ‘completely secure’ after taking Yarmouk camp from ISIS

Syria’s army said it was in full control of the capital Damascus and its outskirts after ousting Islamic State, marking a major milestone in the seven-year war. “The Syrian army announces today that Damascus, its outskirts and surrounding towns are completely secure,” it said in a statement carried by state media network SANA on Monday, May 21. The development came after troops had captured a key southern portion of Damascus from IS, the statement said, including the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk and the adjacent district of Hajar al-Aswad. “The wheel of our progress on the battlefield will not stop until all Syrian land is purified,” it added. Russian-langauge Russkaya Vesna posted video of Syrian Arab Army troops raising the national flag in the Yarmouk camp, which had been under siege for years. Syria’s war erupted in 2011 with protests against President Bashar al-Assad, including in the capital. The following year, the government began losing control of parts of Damascus and placed a crippling siege around Yarmouk, which lies in the capital’s south. The army’s announcement came hours after a tenuous evacuation deal saw hundreds of ISIS fighters and their relatives quit Yarmouk, according to reports. Videos posted on social media on Sunday …

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High-value target captured by SDF isn’t ISIS spokesperson Abu Hasan al-Muhajir

Reports that the Syrian Democratic Forces backed by the U.S.-led Coalition against Islamic State captured the group's spokesperson Abu Hasan al-Muhajir in a raid in Eastern Syria are untrue, a spokesperson for the Coalition said

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Denmark to withdraw special forces from Iraq, but capacity-building contingent will stay

Denmark said that special forces assigned to the U.S.-led Coalition will be withdrawn because they have completed their mission, but other troops in capacity building, and radar operation roles will remain

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Indonesia police shoot dead 4 men after sword attack on Pekanbaru HQ

Indonesian police said they shot and killed four men who used swords in an attack on a police station in Pekanbaru, on Sumatra island, in which one officer was killed and two others were injured

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Indonesia: Suicide bombings by a single family strike Surabaya churches, killing at least 13

A series of coordinated suicide bomb attacks perpetrated by a single family struck churches in Surabaya, Indonesia, killing at least 13 people and wounding dozens, the deadliest attack for years in the Muslim-majority country

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Death toll in Libya election commission bombing rises to 14

Libya's health ministry said the death toll from the suicide attack against the headquarters of the electoral commission in Tripoli had risen to 14.

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Pentagon prepares new policy for transferring terrorism detainees to Gitmo

The U.S. Department of Defense has developed new guidance on critera for transferring detainees to the military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a Pentagon spokesperson said

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Mali Tuaregs blame ISIS-linked group for third deadly attack on civilians in a week

Jihadists killed 17 civilians in an attack of “inexplicable horror” in northern Mali near the border with Niger, local militia groups said

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SDF to restart offensive operations against ISIS in the MERV and on Syria-Iraq border

The Syrian Democratic Forces announced its Operation Jazeera Storm would return to offensive operations against Islamic State in eastern Syria to the border with Iraq

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Suicide bombers kill dozens in northeast Nigerian market and mosque

Dozens of people were killed when two suicide bombers detonated their explosives at a mosque and a market in Mubi, northeast Nigeria, residents said.

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