Iran

Iran's Anti-U.S. Conspiracies - Michael Crowley (Politico) A top Iranian general, Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, the commander of Iran's ground forces, recently claimed that the U.S. staged the 9/11 attacks as an excuse to invade the Muslim world.

Iraq

Islamic State 'executes 300 Yazidi hostages in Iraq' – AFP (The Telegraph)

Morocco

Morocco battles Islamic State cells – Imad Stitou (Almonitor)

Partners for Peace?

Hamas Destroys Jihadist Gaza Mosque - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
The Islamic State and Hamas Compete for Gaza - Siobhan L'Grady (Foreign Policy)

With new hawkish coalition, what hope for the peace process? - Raphael Ahren (Times of Israel)

Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Connection: Wahhabism and Global Jihad - Carol E. B. Choksy and Jamsheed K. Choksy (World Affairs) Saudi Arabia complains that the US is no longer the reliable ally who agreed in 1945 to guarantee the monarchy’s security. But as the cradle of Islamist terror, it has become a duplicitous friend as well. It should no longer be allowed to use its oil wealth to take its terror connections off the table.

Syria

Syria's Transformation into an Iranian Base - N. Mozes (MEMRI)

UN

UNRWA takes no responsibility for rocket launchers in shelters – Shlomi Elder (Almonitor)

United States

With Malice Toward Nun – Nina Shea (Hudson Institute) The State Department officials made the determination that the Catholic nun could be falsely asserting that she intends to visit Washington when secretly she could be intending to stay. That would constitute illegal immigration, and that, of course, is strictly forbidden. Once here, she could also be at risk for claiming political asylum, and the U.S. seems determined to deny ISIS’s Christian victims that status. 

U.S. Lets American Pastor Saeed Abedini Rot in Iran's Prison – Uzay Bulut (Gatestone Institute) Shamefully, the U.S. government has said that the four Americans being held by Iran are not even part of the current negotiations with Iran.