by Heather Hastie | Oct 27, 2015 | Middle East, USA
I’ve just watch the first segment of today’s episode of Fox New’s The Five (5pm Monday EST, 10am Tuesday NZT). The segment was about the operation where US soldiers helped in the rescue of DAESH hostages, who, intelligence suggested, were about to be...
by Heather Hastie | Oct 4, 2015 | Middle East, Russia, Winners and Worries
In reality, Syria has been a worry for years. Bashar al-Assad took over the presidency, the role of commander-in-chief of the Syrian armed forces, and the leadership of the ruling Ba’ath party on his father’s death in 2000. For several reasons, including...
by Heather Hastie | Aug 20, 2015 | Middle East, Religion, Terrorism
Renowned antiquities scholar, Khaled al-Asaad (82), is dead. On Tuesday (18 August 2015) a member of DAESH chopped his head off then hung his body from a column in the town square in Palmyra, Syria. Why? Because he wouldn’t tell them where some Syrian...
by Heather Hastie | Apr 15, 2015 | Africa, Religion, Terrorism
It’s been just over a year since 219 girls were kidnapped from a school in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria by Boko Haram. That atrocity prompted the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Those girls still aren’t home, although there has been a report that some were...
by Heather Hastie | Feb 13, 2015 | Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Religion, Terrorism, USA
On Tuesday 10 February 2015, Sydney Police arrested two Muslim men. They had received information that they planned to carry out a random murder that day. On raiding the men’s home the police found a hunting knife, a DAESH flag and a self-made video describing...