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Yemeni officials said that Shiite rebels have captured a key military base south of the capital, where U.S. advisers had previously trained counterterrorism forces. They say that the Republican Guard camp captured on Thursday was used by American experts until 2012 to train local forces battling al Qaeda’s powerful Yemeni affiliate. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. The Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, have seized a number of key military facilities in recent days, including the headquarters of the paramilitary special forces. They took control of the capital in...

The New York Times launched some weapons grade stupidity on Sunday with an article by Rod Nordland and Eric Schmitt citing “experts” claiming that the Iranian-backed Houthi militias in Yemen that have swept though critical parts of the country, including the capital Sanaa, are not just moderates, but possible U.S. counter-terrorism partners.Because of the ongoing Houthi offensive, Yemen’s Information Minister admitted last week that the government had lost effective control of the country. JUST IN: Yemeni Info Minister @NadiaSakkaf tells me government control in Yemen is "almost non-existent". Intv airs 8pm CET // 2pm ET— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) January...

At the moment, this is AP Breaking News.

Syrian rebel Yarmouk Brigades ditch US and Israel allies, defect to ISIS The Syrian rebel militia Al Yarmouk Shuhada Brigades, backed and trained for two years by US officers, mostly CIA experts, in Jordan, and supported by the Israeli army, has abruptly dumped these sponsors and joined up with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, debkafile’s exclusive military and counter-terrorism sources reveal. The sudden defection of this 2,000-strong anti-Assad force leaves IDF defense formations on the Golan, US and Jordanian deployments in the northern part of the kingdom, and pro-Western rebel conquests in southern Syria in danger of collapse....

Conflict Armament Research tracks the weapons the self-proclaimed Islamic State uses. As Damien Spleeters tells NPR's Scott Simon, the group traced weapons back to more than 20 countries. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: ISIS has used ammunition and arms from many sources in its campaign in Kobani and across Syria and northern Iraq. The private group that tries to track these weapons is called Conflict Armament Research. This week, they released a new report. They found that the weapons come from over 20 countries and include arms that are both modern and sometimes decades-old. Damien Spleeters is a field investigator from the...

"But, may I add, the training also will service these troops in the same struggle that they've been in since the beginning of this conflict against the Assad regime"

As proof of their bravery, rebels fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are suspected of sabotaging a batch of measles vaccinations, leading to the deaths of up to 50 young children. If true, it's a new low in an especially discouraging chapter of modern history.LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Dozens of infants in the rebel-held cities of Jarjanaz and Sinjar in Idlib province fell ill and died after being given the drugs. The causes of death has not yet been established. Officials reportedly suspect the vaccines may have been tampered with while left unguarded in a storage facility in...

Washington (AFP) - Training and equipping moderate Syrian rebels to fight Islamic State extremists will take months, the White House warned Friday a day after Congress approved the plan. "We will move out as rapidly as can be done, in partnership with the countries that will host the training facilities," said Susan Rice, national security advisor to President Barack Obama. "This will be a process that takes months," she said, adding it will not "happen overnight." "This is a serious training program, and we are serious about vetting those that we will be training and equipping," Rice emphasized. "It is...

One of the key components of the strategy President Obama outlined in his speech earlier this week to fight ISIS was to arm and train Syrian rebels to fight ISIS. Obama and others like Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) assure us that the Syrian rebels are “vetted moderates” who only want to bring freedom to Syria.Well, this component of the Obama strategy appears to be falling apart. ISIS and some of the “moderate” rebel factions have signed a non-aggression pact pledging to concentrate on fighting the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.The Huffington Post has more: According to Agence France-Presse, ISIS and...

First, Germany and UK (and Australia) - the USA' broad coalition of allies to strike ISIS - will not support airstrikes on ISIS in Syria. Second, Turkey - the USA's closest ally in NATO among the Middle East - denies them its airbases for use as launch sites of airstrikes and will not support airstrikes in Syria (after John Kerry visits) Third, Iraq's newly-installed US-friendly PM al-Abadi defies the US and halts airstrikes on ISIS-held civilian areas (leaving it up to the US to be the bad guys against his people once again), and Finally, The USA's proxy boots-on-the-ground -...

One concern about President Obama‘s counterterrorism strategy against ISIS is the plan to arm moderate Syrian rebels to fight the terrorist group. Arming moderate rebels was a contentious debate last year in the national fight over how to deal with President Bashar al-Assad, but now a new enemy is inspiring the calls for action. John McCain, in one of his rare TV appearances, said on Fox News today that anyone saying they mistrust the Free Syrian Army is just making excuses for not taking action against ISIS. McCain touted that he’s “vetted a number of them because I know them.”...

Seventy-five UNDOF peacekeepers in the Golan Heights fled Syrian territory for the Israeli-controlled Golan on Saturday after their positions were attacked by rebel forces. An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that a number of UN peacekeepers entered Israel. He spoke on condition of anonymity. Channel 2 said 75 UN troops had crossed the borders, after two UN positions on the Syrian side of the border were targeted by al-Nusra rebel forces. Earlier in the day, the Philippine defense chief said that Filipino peacekeepers in the Golan Heights were attacked by Syrian rebels, who are also holding dozens of Fijian troops hostage....

In Moscow, conspiracy theories abound, along with disdain for the separatists and some support for Putin 'So will the Americans attack us now?" At my dentist's surgery in Moscow I am used to being the one nervously asking questions. Yet on the day after flight MH17 was brought down, everyone here – including my dentist, the receptionist and the guy fixing the receptionist's computer – wants me to tell them what will happen next. "You're a journalist. You probably know something we don't know," says the receptionist. "And I don't trust the television," says the receptionist. In the aftermath of...

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Separatist rebels in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk have denied that they are responsible for shooting down a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane.

Obama is saying he is contemplating arming and training Syrian rebels (just the 'moderates' which will be identified by their smiles). However, as the following PBS Frontline documentary exposes, the Syrian rebels themselves say they are already armed and trained by US in the use of sophisticated weapons and fighting techniques, including, one rebel said, "how to finish off soldiers still alive after an ambush." The interviews are the latest evidence that after more than three years of warfare, the United States has stepped up the provision of lethal aid to the rebels, as PBS notes "it appears the Obama...

<p>The Ukrainian army said Tuesday that it had evicted armed separatists from the international airport in Donetsk after a 24-hour gun battle, but the government in Kiev warned of a new threat as truckloads of armed Russian volunteers reportedly crossed the border.</p>

Ukraine's acting president says 13 service members were killed when pro-Russian separatists attacked a military checkpoint in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region. President Oleksandr Turchnyov said Thursday the soldiers who died in the overnight attack near the town of Volnovakha "gave their lives for Ukraine." He said the separatists attacked the checkpoint using mortars, grenade launchers and heavy automatic weapons. Ukraine's Defense Ministry earlier reported that 17 servicemen were wounded in the attack. Another government serviceman was killed overnight in the neighboring Luhansk region.

There are reports of a possible chemical weapons attack in at least one area of Syria, but possibly more. Below we will be analyzing the information as it comes in. 2034 GMT: A potentially very important video. This claims to have been taken this evening in Kafr Zita, and it is uploaded by a channel that has posted videos nearly exclusively from Kafr Zita. It claims to show a helicopter dropping a barrel bomb filled with the chemical weapons. SNIP- Just today, the Local Coordination Committees reported that five people were killed in Harasta and several more were injured in...

The U.S. government is finalizing a plan to increase training and small-arms shipments for Syrian rebels, two U.S. security sources said on Friday, as Syrian government troops gain momentum following the collapse of U.S.-backed peace talks.

Egypt has not invited Qatar and Turkey for a major Islamic conference due in Cairo later this week, according to a report published on March 22. “We are not having a crisis with the Qatari or Turkish people … The issue lies in the policy of the Turkish and Qatari governments,” Egyptian Minister of Waqfs (religious endowments) Mohammad Jumaa told at a press conference, gulfnews.com has reported. Cairo will host a conference on March 25 on religious extremism, as Egypt continues a crackdown on Islamists in what the military-backed government portrays as a “war on terrorism”. Around 80 scholars from...