Washington is supplying some Syrian rebels with both "lethal and non-lethal" aid, according to National Security Adviser Susan Rice, who confirmed the longstanding suspicion that the Obama administration is arming anti-Assad forces. “That’s why the United States has ramped up its support for the moderate vetted opposition, providing lethal and nonlethal support where we can to support both the [...]

Kiev's artillery attacked the city of Lugansk in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, witnesses and militia of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Lugansk (LNR) said. Ukrainian forces also attacked the city's suburbs from the air. [...]

A leaked memorandum from the RAND corporation think tank suggests the Ukrainian govt should engage in an all-out war in eastern regions, including shutting down all communications, putting citizens in internment camps and kill all who resist such actions. [...]

Ukraine's newly appointed defense minister was so fast to sign his oath of allegiance that even the capped pen in his hand failed to slow him down. The candidacy of Lieutenant-General Valery Geletey, which was proposed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, received support from the majority of the MPs in the country’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, on Thursday. [...]

A Verkhovna Rada deputy who is also an ex-defense minister of Ukraine, said during a prime time talk-show that the country' "patriots" would be justified"to kill" Russian President Vladimir Putin if he came to Kiev. [...]

Supporters of Sunni Islamists waging a campaign of terror across Iraq have vowed that any US airstrikes against its fighters will be met with attacks on Americans. The group has also threated to commandeer its own Air Force as Iraq risks disintegrating. A twitter account with 21,000 followers, dubbed the “League of Supporters”, called for ISIS sympathizers to post messages warning America not [...]

United States Senator Rand Pal (R-Kentucky) says jihadist wonderlands are sprouting up abroad, and American foreign policy is to blame. The possible 2016 presidential contender was discussing the escalating crisis in Iraq on camera with CNN host Candy Crowley over the weekend when he condemned the notion that the American military should intervene further. [...]

As the United States mulls whether or not to provide military support to Iraq in its battle against Sunni insurgents, recent reports indicate the White House wants Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki out of power. [...]

In less than three years US fighter jets have returned to Iraqi skies, as Obama's administration has authorized "manned and unmanned" surveillance flights there to keep an eye on the ISIS jihadist group that threatens to overrun the whole of Iraq. [...]

The Phantom of the (tragic) Middle East Opera is back. A killer without a clue, he can'€™t be blamed for not being consistent. His most recent opus speaks for itself; like a Kabuki mask high on Earl Grey tea, the Phantom is eviscerated by his own mighty pen, actually sword. The fact that the Phantom keeps getting away with his vast desert of convoluted lies – [...]

Two journalists for Russian TV channel Rossiya have died from wounds sustained during a Ukrainian military shelling attack near Lugansk, eastern Ukraine. Reporter Igor Kornelyuk passed away on the operating table, a doctor at the hospital confirmed to RT. [...]

It was a bad week for blow back. So it goes. Tit-for-tat. Violence begets violence, as every schoolboy knows. Just at the brouhaha over the US solider Bowe Bergdahl being freed by his Taliban captors was simmering, the Taliban attacked Karachi Airport. Soon after, this was followed by yet more drone attacks on Waziristan that killed women and children. [...]

So after the grotesquerie of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 suicide killers of 9/11, meet Saudi Arabia’s latest monstrous contribution to world history: the Islamist Sunni caliphate of Iraq and the Levant, conquerors of Mosul and Tikrit – and Raqqa in Syria – and possibly Baghdad, and the ultimate humiliators of Bush and Obama. [...]

The Sunni militants fighting to make an Islamic state in Iraq have scored another victory in their move to control more territory. They captured Tal Afar, a city of 200,000 residents in north-west of the country. The city was taken just before dawn on Monday, Mayor Abdulal Abdoul confirmed to AP. [...]

Tony Blair'€™s essay on how the Middle East should blame its own religious dynamics for its troubles -€“ instead of Western attempts at intervention - has seen London Mayor Boris Johnson launch a scathing attack on the "€œunhinged"€ former PM. Johnson’s strong condemnation is a reaction to the arguments made in the former British Prime Minister’s piece entitled 'Iraq, Syria and the Mi [...]

Apparently, the bloody wave of Islamic extremism gripping Iraq is an internal occurrence and was in no way facilitated by the Western invasion. This is former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair'€™s version of events concerning the entire Middle East. In fact, the former prime minister describes at length how it’s necessary to rid oneself of any feeling of responsibility that the crumbling country an [...]

Residents of Slavyansk and its suburbs were awoken overnight on Thursday by what they say were incendiary bombs that were dropped on their city by Kiev'€™s military. Witnesses and local media reports suggested that the bombs might be phosphorous. [...]

Despite President Poroshenko intention to bring about a ceasefire, Kiev’s relentless military operation in the country's east is intensifying. Slavyansk has become one of the main targets of artillery attacks, amateur videos filmed in the area show. [...]

Vladimir Putin faced a barrage of tricky questions from French media ahead of his meeting with world leaders at the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings. Here are his best replies on key issues: Ukraine, Crimea and relations with the US. [...]

Bodies are piling up in Donetsk morgues after Kiev unleashed fighter jets and artillery on the country'€™s southeast just hours after the presidential election. New leader-elect Petro Poroshenko is pushing for the crackdown to become even "€œmore effective."€ [...]

There is an air of unreality to Prince Charles'€™ spin-squad attempting this week to prove that the future British Head of State'€™s comparison of Putin to Hitler, while surrounded by journalists on a royal tour was said in a "€˜private conversation."™ [...]

The Ukrainian army shelled the eastern city of Kramatorsk on Sunday as fierce clashes erupted between Kiev's military and self-defense forces who stopped the APC convoy from entering the city, local activists said. [...]