Since the crisis in Syria started in March 2011, over four million Syrians have fled their country. More than half now live in Turkey, now the country with the biggest refugee population worldwide.

The young woman's sister is no longer there. She disappeared with her two children two months ago. For two days, the family heard nothing but then they received a call from Greece.

read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34472884

Iraq has said that its military officials are engaged in intelligence and security cooperation in Baghdad with Russia, Iran, and Syria to counter the threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a pact that could raise concerns in the US.

A statement from the Iraqi military's joint operations command on Saturday said the cooperation had come "with increased Russian concern about the presence of thousands of terrorists from Russia undertaking criminal acts with [ISIL]".

The move comes as at the same time Russia has stepped up its military involvement in Syria in recent weeks, while pressing for Damascus to be included in international efforts to fight ISIL, a demand Washington rejects.

The announcement also reflects Iran's increasing influence just four years after the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

Russian news agency Interfax quoted a military-diplomatic source in Moscow as saying the Baghdad coordination centre would be led on a rotating basis by officers of the four countries, starting with Iraq.

The source added a committee might be created in Baghdad to plan military operations and control armed forces units in the fight against ISIL.

Iraqi officials on Friday had denied reports of a coordination unit in Baghdad set up by Russian, Syrian, and Iranian military commanders aimed at working with Iranian-backed Shia militias in Iraq.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09/iraq-liaising-russia-iran-syria-isil-150927032744633.html

The US is to end its efforts to train new Syrian rebel forces and says it will shift to providing equipment and weapons to existing forces.

Its $500m (£326m) programme was heavily criticised after it emerged that US-trained rebels had handed vehicles and ammunition over to extremists.

It emerged last month that only four or five of the fighters were in Syria.

The programme had aimed to train and equip 5,400 fighters this year and a further 15,000 in 2016.

A senior administration official said the programme was being put on "pause".

The programme had suffered from "significant challenges", the official said, adding: "We had a very high bar in terms of recruiting".

The US will no longer vet every individual recruit but just the leaders of the groups they decide to work with, who will face "very vigorous vetting".

Of the initial two groups sent into the country under the previous programme, the first was rounded up by Jabhat al-Nusra, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, in July. The second handed much of its equipment over to the same group in September, reportedly in exchange for safe passage.

read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34486572

NAJAF, Iraq — One of the most popular Facebook posts in Iraq’s Shiite heartland is a Photoshopped image of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia dressed in the robe of a southern tribal sheikh.

It was the American-led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein and empowered Iraq’s long-repressed Shiite majority. The United States also took the lead more than a year ago to assemble a coalition to conduct airstrikes in Syria and Iraq against the Sunni militants of the Islamic State.

But with the struggle against the Islamic State largely stalemated, it is the naked display of Russian military power in neighboring Syria, as well as the leadership of “Sheikh Putin,” that is being applauded by residents of this Shiite power center. Russian planes continued to hit targets in Syria on Sunday, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

“What the people in the street care about is how to get Daesh out of Iraq,” Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, a member of Iraq’s Parliament, said, using an Arabic name for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. “Now they feel Russia is more serious than the United States.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/12/world/middleeast/russian-intervention-in-syria-excites-iraqs-disillusioned-shiites.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

"We are not planning to engage in military sabre-rattling [with Turkey]," Putin said.

"But if anyone thinks that having committed this awful war crime, the murder of our people, that they are going to get away with some measures concerning their tomatoes or some limits on construction and other sectors, they are sorely mistaken."

Moscow has already responded with measures including bans on some Turkish fruit and vegetables, and in his icy remarks Putin made clear that would not be the end of it.

"It appears that Allah decided to punish the ruling clique of Turkey by depriving them of wisdom and judgment," Putin said. 

He harshly criticised Turkey, accusing it of buying oil from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group. 

"We are fighting for justice, happiness and the entire future of our civilisation. We have to be prepared and we have to defeat them [terrorists] before they get here. That's why we launched this operation in Syria."

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, said: "Putin's speech echoed statements by US President George Bush after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"Notably, his emphasis on terrorism and fighting terrorism in a world full of terrorism underlines the attack on Russian values, and makes it clear the likes of Turkey are either with Russia or with the terrorists.

"He didn't give any signal of backing down. He seemed to be escalating the war of words with Turkey and other Russia detractors in Europe and the Middle East."

read more: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/putin-turkey-regret-downing-jet-151203071324354.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGLn9wGGSOQ

Megyn Kelly is joined by author and historian David Garrow to discuss how he began to uncover that former President Obama's books were actually fiction, what his ex-girlfriend really revealed, and more.

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