Monday, 6th June 2016
JORDAN – The Jordanian government said a terrorist attack against the office of the national intelligence agency Monday killed five employees, including three intelligence officers, in a rare assault on a crucial U.S. ally in the Middle East. (The Wall Street Journal)
SYRIA – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov vowed to “actively support” Syrian troops from the air around Aleppo Monday, after a weekend of fierce fighting left dozens dead in the divided city. (Al Monitor)
TURKEY – Turkey is not considering cancelling an agreement with the European Union to readmit migrants who had previously reached the bloc illegally from Turkish territory, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Monday. (The Daily Star)
MIGRANT CRISIS – The European Union will present proposals on Tuesday to relaunch a little-used work permit scheme, similar to the U.S. Green Card, as part of efforts to curb irregular migration to the 28-nation bloc, officials said on Monday. (Reuters)
Tuesday, 7th June 2016
IRAQ – Nineteen girls from the Kurdish Yazidi religious community were burned to death in iron cages by Islamic State militants in the Kurdish region of Iraq on Thursday after refusing to have sex with their ISIS captors, the ARA News website reported on Tuesday. (Haaretz)
Iraqis who fled Islamic State-held Falluja as government and allied forces advanced on the city said they had survived on stale dates and the militants were using food to enlist fighters whose relatives were going hungry. (Reuters)
ISRAEL – Controversy over contributions to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by a French tycoon on trial for fraud deepened on Tuesday after the Frenchman disputed the premier’s version of events. (Al Monitor)
TURKEY – A bomb attack targeting a police vehicle in a central Istanbul district has killed at least 12 people, including seven members of the police force, the city’s governor has said. (Al Jazeera)
MIGRANT CRISIS – The European Union laid out plans for migration-control agreements with countries ranging from Lebanon to Nigeria in a bid to prevent waves of arrivals that would risk destabilizing governments and stoking populism in Europe. (Bloomberg)
Wednesday, 8th June 2016
ISRAEL – Two attackers identified as Palestinians opened fire Wednesday night at a popular food and shopping complex near the Israeli Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, killing four Israelis and sending other patrons scrambling to safety. (CNN)
TURKEY – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan signed a bill on Tuesday lifting lawmakers’ immunity from prosecution, his office said, a constitutional change likely to remove a pro-Kurdish opposition party from parliament. (The Jerusalem Post)
MIGRANT CRISIS – An Eritrean man accused of organizing an extensive people-smuggling network that led to the deaths of hundreds of Africans trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea has been captured in Sudan and extradited to Italy, the authorities said Wednesday. (The New York Times)
WAR ON TERROR – The UN has significantly revised the number of civilians believed to be trapped in besieged Falluja, an Islamic State stronghold near Baghdad, to possibly 90,000 from a previous estimate of 50,000. (The Guardian)
Thursday, 9th June 2016
ISRAEL – All permits given to Palestinians for Ramadan have been suspended following the Tel Aviv terror attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said overnight on Thursday. (Haaretz)
Israel imposed travel restrictions Thursday on tens of thousands of Palestinians and sent hundreds of additional troops into the West Bank in response to a deadly shooting at a popular Tel Aviv tourist spot. But as the nation’s leaders vowed tough responses, they stopped short of taking wider-scale military action. (The New York Times)
LIBYA – Libyan forces claim to have reached the centre of the coastal city of Sirte, Islamic State’s key stronghold, meaning the jihadi group may have lost all territorial control in the country. (The Guardian)
SYRIA – As artillery shells and airstrikes shook several Syrian towns and cities, a United Nations mediator said Thursday that although the time was not right for new talks between the warring parties, it was urgent that they resume by early August. (The New York Times)
MIGRANT CRISIS – A quarrel over meal times during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan likely sparked an arson attack that destroyed a German refugee shelter, said a report on Thursday quoting prosecutors. (The Telegraph)
Friday, 10th June 2016
ISRAEL – France’s foreign minister warned Friday that Israel’s ban on Palestinians entering its territory following the “abominable” attack on a popular cafe in Tel Aviv could escalate violence instead of focus attention on the need to pursue peace. (The New York Times)
TURKEY – A Kurdish militant group has said it carried out a car bomb attack in central Istanbul on Tuesday that killed seven police officers and four civilians. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) said the attack was in revenge for Turkish army operations in the Kurdish-dominated south-east. (BBC)
SYRIA – Syrian government forces and their allies took control of a strategic crossroads in Raqqa province on Friday in their latest advance towards Islamic State strongholds in the area, the army and a monitoring group said. (Reuters)
Food aid has been delivered to the Damascus suburb of Darayya for the first time since it came under siege in 2012, a development that the UN and the World Food Programme hope will presage a new willingness by the Syrian government to allow aid delivery to besieged towns. (The Guardian)
WAR ON TERROR – A new suspect has been arrested on accusations of “terrorist murders” during Isis’s Brussels attacks as security services continue attempts to root out a European network of jihadists. (The Independent)
An Eritrean man extradited to Italy in a major people-smuggling sting denied any involvement in criminal activity, saying that authorities had arrested the wrong man, according to the man’s lawyer. (The Wall Street Journal)
