Monday, 27th June 2016
JORDAN – The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed seven members of the Jordanian security forces and wounded 13 others on Tuesday at a border crossing with Syria, according to a news agency that frequently serves as a conduit for reports about the militant group. (The New York Times)
ISRAEL – The reconciliation deal with Turkey will dramatically boost Israel’s economy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday during a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Rome, hours before he was expected to present the full terms of the agreement. (The Times of Israel)
TURKEY – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized Monday for the downing of a Russian warplane in November and called for Russia and Turkey to mend a bilateral relationship that has become openly hostile over the incident. (The Washington Post)
Tuesday, 28th June 2016
TURKEY – Three suicide attackers killed at least 41 people and wounded dozens more at Istanbul’s main airport on Tuesday night, in the latest in a string of terrorist attacks in Turkey, a NATO ally once seen as a bastion of stability but now increasingly consumed by the chaos of the Middle East. (The New York Times)
LEBANON – At least five people have been killed and 28 others wounded in two series of suicide bombings on a predominantly Christian village in northeastern Lebanon near the border with Syria, officials said. (Al Jazeera)
ISRAEL – The Israeli military has canceled a contentious directive known as the Hannibal procedure, which calls for the use of maximum force to prevent the capture of Israeli soldiers, even at the risk of harming them. (The New York Times)
Wednesday, 29th June 2016
SYRIA – The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has pushed back an offensive led by US-trained rebels targeting a key route linking eastern Syria to Iraq, according to a monitor and rebel sources. (Al Jazeera)
MIGRANT CRISIS – Italy has begun to salvage the bodies of people killed in the Mediterranean’s deadliest modern shipwreck, in an operation that experts say is of historic scale. (The Guardian)
WAR ON TERROR – A brazen assault by three suicide bombers on Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport has set the stage for a more violent conflict between Turkey and the Islamic State, a development that would deepen Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war. (The Washington Post)
Thursday, 30th June 2016
EGYPT – Italy has punished Egypt for its lack of cooperation over an inquiry into the brutal murder of a Cambridge University graduate by cutting back on a key defence contract. (The Telegraph)
ISRAEL – A Palestinian man stabbed and killed an Israeli teenage girl as she slept inside her home on Thursday in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba. A civil security guard responding to the attack shot and killed the assailant at the scene. (Haaretz)
TURKEY – The three suicide bombers who brought horror and bloodshed to Istanbul’s main airport were identified Thursday as nationals from Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, adding fresh leads for investigators digging into suspected Islamic State networks. (The Washington Post)
Friday, 1st July 2016
LIBYA – Libyan pro-unity government forces said they seized a key central district of the Islamic State jihadist group’s coastal bastion of Sirte on Friday. (Al Monitor)
JORDAN – More than 30,000 Syrian children are facing starvation in Jordan after authorities in Amman suspended life-saving food and medical aid to refugees living along its northeastern border with Syria. (Al Jazeera)
ISRAEL – An Israeli was killed and three were wounded Friday after their car crashed as a result of gunfire near Hebron. A manhunt is underway for a Palestinian suspect in Hebron and the army has set up checkpoints in the area. (Haaretz)
Israel deployed several hundred soldiers around the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday after two Israelis were killed in separate attacks in the past 48 hours. (The Washington Post)
After two deadly attacks in the West Bank in two days, the Israeli government and military announced sweeping measures on Friday against Palestinians and their government. (The New York Times)