The Syrian army is 850 meters away from retaking the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria which has been systematically destroyed by the Islamic State/IS/ISIS. The city has become encircled by Syrian troops aided by Russian helicopters targeting armored ISIS vehicles. China Xinhua reports: The Syrian force also used motorcycles in their attack on the IS in Palmyra due to the geographical nature of that area.
In a new interview with Bloomberg Politics, Donald Trump fleshed out aspects of his national security strategy that include weighing whether NATO is obsolete, an emphasis on the virtues of unpredictability on the part of an American president and the potential use of nuclear weapons against the Islamic State as a last resort.
Donald Trump explains...
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/api/embed/iframe
Trump on earning the respect of the Muslim world:
There was more than a little confusion on Wednesday morning when Belgian media reported that ISIS bomb maker Najim Laachraoui had been arrested in Anderlecht.
Laachraoui is now Europe's most wanted man after being identified as the third suspect shown in a screengrab from CCTV footage recorded in Brussels airport before Tuesday's terrorist attacks that killed 11 and wounded dozens more.
According to a new report from Yahoo News, North Korea has stated both South Korea’s president and her U.S. allies will suffer a “miserable end”: Pyongyang declared it would wage a “retaliatory battle of justice” against Park Geun-Hye, with its artillery units standing ready to turn her office into a “sea of flames and ashes”. “What the DPRK warns is not hot air. It will be clearly proved by the miserable end the US and the Park group will meet while going reckless,” said the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), using the formal name for North Korea.
A top Kurdish commander says that the impending battle to liberate Mosul in northern Iraq from Islamic State forces could turn into a bloodbath. Polad Jangi Talabani says that sectarian disputes between Iraqi Arab Muslims needs to be settled somewhat before considering attacking Mosul that has been under Islamic State control since 10th June 2014. ISIL militants easily took over major parts of Iraq mainly due to the tension that exists between Sunnis and Shiites since the removal of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.