The United Nations has called for a pause in the fighting for the ISIL-held Syrian city of Raqqa to let thousands of civilians escape the battle. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters backed by US-led coalition fighter jets, has retaken 60 percent of Raqqa from the group. Yet, about 20,000 civilians remain trapped in five ISIL-controlled neighbourhoods, according to UN estimates. Jan Egeland, head […]
An American fighter jet on Sunday shot down a Syrian warplane that the US-led coalition said attacked its allies in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group in the war-torn country. The escalation comes as Syria's six-year-old war becomes ever more complex, with US forces and their allies converging on the northern IS bastion of Raqqa in close proximity to Russian-backed regime troops. Further complicating matters, Iran said it […]
Russia's defence ministry said on Friday it was checking information that a Russian air strike near the Syrian city of Raqqa may have killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in late May, Russian news agencies reported. The air strike targeted a meeting of IS leaders and was carried out on 28 May, the agencies cited the ministry as saying. In the statement, the army said Sukhoi jets carried out […]
Islamic State (ISIS) fighters have closed the streets around Mosul's Grand al-Nuri Mosque, residents said, apparently in preparation for a final showdown in the battle over their last major stronghold in Iraq. Dozens of fighters were seen by residents taking up positions in the past 48 hours around the medieval mosque, the site where Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamist caliphate in July 2014. Islamic State's black […]
Fighters and civilians celebrated in Tabqa in Syria on Thursday, a day after the city and nearby dam were liberated from the Islamic State group. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces scored one of their biggest victories against IS as controversy intensified over a US decision to arm the alliance's Kurdish component. The YPG, the largest group in the SDF, posted footage on Thursday of half a dozen fighters and children […]
Sitting in a dimly lit room with his three-year-old son on his lap, Taha points to the boy’s lips where a rat had bitten him twice while he was sleeping in the night. With a look of hopelessness, Taha, a refugee from Syria, explains how he and his family of seven now live in a horse barn in the Bekaa Valley after they were served eviction notices to leave their […]
Turkish jets hit 15 "targets" in the al-Bab area of northern Syria on Sunday in an operation with Syrian rebels that could foreshadow a push on ISIL's de facto capital Raqqa, the Turkish military said. Ten defensive positions, command centres and an ammunition store used by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) were destroyed in the raids, the army said in a statement. […]
VOC became the first Muslim radio station in South Africa when a special events license was granted to the station in Ramadan/January 1995. Subsequent temporary broadcast licenses were granted, permitting the station to broadcast for 24 hours.
