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"First came a destabilization campaign in Moldova, followed by the poisoning of an arms dealer in Bulgaria and then a thwarted coup in Montenegro. Last year, there was an attempt to assassinate a former Russian spy in Britain using a nerve agent. Though the operations bore the fingerprints of Russia’s intelligence services, authorities initially saw them as isolated, unconnected attacks."

"A Pakistani doctor who helped the US find al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is appealing against his jail sentence."

"At the center of a recent Middle East exercise that saw the U.S. partner with 28 other nations for theater movement on land, air, sea and simulated cyber and electronic warfare threats, soldiers with the 4th Infantry Division put steel on target and practiced urban attacks with Jordanian counterparts."

"Turkey launched a military operation Wednesday against Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria after U.S. forces withdrew from the area, with activists reporting airstrikes on a town on Syria’s northern border."

"As peace negotiations between the Taliban and U.S. unraveled, the U.S. dramatically ramped up its air campaign against militants in Afghanistan."

Turkish military officials say their troops are ready to launch a long-planned incursion into Syria to take out Kurdish forces branded by Ankara as terrorists, but viewed by much of the West as key partners in the fight against the Islamic State terror group.

Via 'Business Insider' - "Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Monday warned Turkey a bipartisan group of lawmakers would introduce sanctions against it and 'call for their suspension from NATO' if it attacks the Kurds in Syria."

Al-Qaida’s South Asia region chief, Asim Omar, was killed in a raid in southern Afghanistan last month, according to a statement released by Afghanistan’s intelligence agency.

"After U.S. pulls forces back from border, Kurds remain determined to resist Turkish incursion."

U.S. President Donald Trump sent out a stern but conflicting warning Monday saying that U.S. troops would step aside for an expected Turkish attack on the Kurds, but he threatened to destroy the Turkish economy if they went too far.

"The Pentagon fought back against President Donald Trump’s surprise decision to remove US troops from northeast Syria to allow a Turkish operation, a senior administration official told Al-Monitor on Monday."

"President Donald Trump's announcement of a U.S. withdrawal from northern Syria, paving the way for a Turkish military operation against a Kurdish militia in the area, is widely being seen as a diplomatic triumph for Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan."

"Taliban officials say several of their group’s members have been freed from Afghan jails, including former shadow governors, just days after a U.S. envoy met top Taliban leaders in the Pakistani capital following the suspension of U.S.-Taliban talks last month."

"Syria’s Kurds accused the U.S. of turning its back on its allies and risking gains made in the fight against the Islamic State group as American troops began pulling back on Monday from positions in northeastern Syria ahead of an expected Turkish assault."

"As bipartisan criticism greets Trump move, Senate majority leader cautions against ‘retreat’."

"Kurdish-led forces have until now been a key US ally in Syria, where they helped defeat the Islamic State group, but Turkey regards them as terrorists. The main Kurdish-led group called the surprise US move a 'stab in the back'."

"Sunday’s White House announcement that U.S. troops would withdraw from northeastern Syrian ahead of a potential Turkish military incursion threatens a resurgence of ISIS fighters in the region."

"The US will play no role in an imminent Turkish operation against Kurdish-led forces in north-eastern Syria, the White House has said, in a major shift."

"The White House says Turkey will soon invade Northern Syria, casting uncertainty on the fate of the Kurdish fighters allied with the U.S. against in a campaign against the Islamic State group."

"Years of runaway spending, economic mismanagement and corruption in Iraq have combusted in protests that have killed more than 100 people and risk spiraling into civil conflict."

"When Hong Kong’s leader invoked emergency powers to ban face masks during protests, she went to great lengths to explain that the city wasn’t in a state of emergency."

"The workers were sleeping on the mountainside where they had spent a long day harvesting pine nuts in eastern Afghanistan. Some were in tents, others lay outside under the stars, when the U.S. airstrike tore into them."

"The Russian firm Wagner Group, a shadowy mercenary outfit waging secret wars on the Kremlin’s behalf from Ukraine to Syria to the Central African Republic, seems like something from a Tom Clancy novel."

A group of eleven key Taliban prisoners is reported to have been released from the U.S.-run Bagram military base in Afghanistan in exchange for three Indian hostages.

Thousands of demonstrators are rallying in Kyiv against President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's plan to hold local elections in eastern Ukrainian territory that is under the control of Russia-backed separatists.