In a move that has undermined the ceasefire deal, Syrian rebels declared a new battle against government forces on Monday. Sign of escalating violence is also threatening to derail U.N.-led peace talks. The rebel groups, which included factions fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army and powerful Islamist Ahrar al-Sham, said in a statement they would respond “with force” against any government forces that fired on civilians.
This weekend's biggest, and most shocking story, was the report that in response to a proposed Congressional Bill that would allow a probe into the Saudi role behind the Sept 11 terrorist attack, Saudi Arabia had threatened the US with dumping its roughly $750 billion in Treasury holdings.
Headlines that have recently hit the media say that the Saudis are threatening to sell off assets worth hundreds of billions of US dollars if the congress passes the 9/11 report. But according to a report by Moon of Alabama, it is not the Saudis who are making threats, it’s actually congress who are threatening to seize Saudi U.S. assets: It is the U.S. Congress that is threatening to lift the immunity of nation states in front of U.S.
Back in 2014 Obama promised that as part of the US war against ISIS, there would be "no ground troops in Iraq." Moments ago U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter gave the latest confirmation that Obama was not being exactly "honest", when during a visit to Baghdad in which he met U.S. commanders, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi, he announced that the US would send another 200 additional troops, raising the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to about 4,100.