War

Captured Paris terror suspect, Salah Abdeslam, accused of being involved in the November attacks in Paris that killed 130 people was supposed to blow himself up at the Stade de France stadium but had a change of mind, it has emerged. Abdeslam was on the run evading the police for 120 days until his capture during an anti-terror raid on Friday. The Independent reports: Abdeslam told investigators he had planned to blow himself up at the Stade de France, but changed his mind, the French prosecutor has said.

A U.S. Marine was killed when ISIS  fired rockets at a military base near the city of Makhmour in Nineveh province. Iraqi and Kurdish forces are preparing an assault on the city to liberate it from IS. The Marine killed near the front line on Saturday is the second since U.S. military began advising and operating with Iraqi forces against ISIS militants.

As a string of suicide attacks on Ankara and Istanbul have made abundantly clear, Turkey is in a state of turmoil. In fact, one might fairly say that the country has descended into outright chaos.

Today’s bombing of Istiklal Caddesi was just the latest tragedy to strike one of Turkey’s urban centers. Images from the aftermath of the blast are, much like those that appeared on social media in the wake of last Sunday’s TAK attack on a transit hub in Ankara’s Kizilay, horrific.

For the fourth time this year and the second time in seven days, one of Turkey’s major cities has been hit with a deadly suicide bombing.

Just six days after an explosion ripped through a transit hub in Ankara’s Kizilay neighborhood killing 34 people and wounding more than 100, a bustling shopping street in Istanbul was shaken by a powerful blast on Saturday.

Russia has pulled most of its strike aircraft out of Syria and is following through with its intention of withdrawing assets, according to U.S. military on Friday. Washington Examiner reports: A spokesman for U.S. Central Command also said that the Russians have not conducted any air strikes in Syria over the past week. “We assess that the majority if not all strike aircraft have left,” Col. Pat Ryder told reporters.