Persecution of Christians

The U.S. military has officially ended operations in a former Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) bastion in Libya, officials announced Dec. 20.

The Pentagon had launched Operation Odyssey Lightning to help local forces push the jihadists from the coastal city of Sirte on Aug. 1.

According to German Bild, authorities are on a nationwide hunt for a Tunisian man, between 21 and 23 years old, named Anis A, who is suspected to have been the driver of the truck that plowed through the Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring another 48, Monday. Bild reports that the German police found his papers in the driver’s cab under one of the seats.

Who killed Andrey Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Ankara? Officially, the assassin is a young anti-riot police officer. According to the government narrative, he must be a pawn of the Gülenist terrorists who wanted to sabotage Turkey's relations with Russia - just like the fighter jet pilots who shot down a Russian Su-24 on Nov. 24, 2015. This narrative is highly problematic.

According to international media, the ISIS claims that the perpetrator of Monday’s attack in Berlin that claimed the life of 12 people and injured 48, is an “Islamic State fighter”. The statement was made almost at the same time as the German authorities was releasing the 23 year old Palestinian that was initially arrested after the attack.

An Islamic State Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) suspect detained in the Central Anatolian province of Konya raised eyebrows with his interesting question to reporters en route to police headquarters on Dec. 16, asking: "Am I handsome?" 

Counterterrorism police in Konya had raided 43 different addresses and detained 33 suspects over alleged links to ISIL, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Last Saturday was a sad day globally and in Turkey. While twin attacks in the center of Istanbul killed 44 people and wounded more than 150, a suicide attack on a military base in Aden killed 48 and wounded at least 40 and, the next day, a bomb attack at Cairo's Coptic Cathedral killed 25 and wounded another 49.

ISIS is struggling to recruit new fighters from Bosnia and Herzegovina as the supply of susceptible recruits dries up and the terrorist organisation struggles to hold territory in Syria and Iraq, experts and data suggest.

Eight suspected militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), including two children, were captured on Dec. 3 in an operation in Istanbul. 

Police teams carried out a raid at an address in the Sultangazi district of Istanbul, capturing six adults and two children, who were allegedly preparing to cross over to Syria to fight for ISIL. 

An Istanbul court on Dec. 1 ordered the release of two suspects who were arrested over a deadly suicide bomb attack in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet neighborhood earlier this year, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

A string of miscommunications, intelligence shortcomings and human errors resulted in a U.S.-led coalition air strike in Syria in September that reportedly killed around 90 regime forces, the Pentagon said Nov. 29, AFP reported.