Armin Rosen

ISIS just accepted Boko Haram’s pledge of allegiance. On March 7, the Nigerian jihadist group, which has killed 11,000 people since 2011 and 6,000 people in 2014 alone, pledged itself to the Islamic State.

Today, an audio recording whose authenticity has confirmed by an official ISIS media arm accepted the Nigerian organization’s pledge.

As Aaron Zelin, a terrorism researcher with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy explained to Business Insider on March 10th, ISIS would have to send emissaries to northern Nigeria to work out the terms of the relationship between the groups after accepting Boko Haram’s pledge.

Boko Haram’s domains, which include a self-declared Islamic state in a fairly remote corner of northeastern Nigeria, would become a "valiyat" or province of the caliphate, and Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau would assume the title of "vali," or provincial emir.

  BEIRUT: The U.N.’s International Civil Aviation Organization lauded progress made to improve Beirut’s international airport after conducting a routine inspection of its facilities Thursday. The visiting delegation was impressed with measures taken towards improving defects mentioned in a previous ICAO inspection report carried out in 2012, a statement released by Lebanon’s Civil Aviation Organization, […]

  Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch detained on Thursday three women in the southern port city of Sidon linked to the smuggling of Lebanese and Palestinian people to Italy on a ferry traveling from Libya. Two Lebanese women identified as Ghinwa Z. and Rita R., who own a traveling agency, and a Palestinian female Hasibay […]

  BEIRUT: Investigators intensified efforts Wednesday to determine reasons behind the death of a university student whose body was found in an empty lot in the capital’s Hamra district, a security source said. Speaking to The Daily Star, the source said authorities were trying to establish if the death of Nicole Assaf, 21, was the […]

  The government announced on Thursday that it has appointed the members of the Banking Control Commission of Lebanon (BCCL). Information Minister Ramzi Jreij said after a cabinet session at the Grand Serail that the commission would be chaired by Samir Hammoud. The other members are Ahmed Safa, Munir Elyan, Joseph Sarkis, and Sami Azar, […]

LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) – The Islamic State has been referred to as "al Qaeda’s JV team" by President Obama and they are widely viewed as the angry little brother of al Qaeda, or as just another terrorist organization bent on hatred of Israel and the West. However, these off-the-cuff, and frankly, cavalier assessments are absolutely wrong.  Instead, the Islamic State could be regarded as a genuinely "evil" organization by western standards. Their leadership is seeking nothing less than the apocalypse and they have a very specific vision of how to trigger that event.
Here are some need-to-know facts about that Islamic State that may shock you.

Chris Wright – Forbes

As an investor, one has to say there was a lot of downside. Lebanon is unable to elect a President; it hasn’t had one for about 10 months now. It is digesting more than a million Syrian refugees whose arrival has dramatically strained every possible resource in a country which has a population of 4.4 million. And it is fighting off the threat of both ISIS and Hizbollah at the same time. Yet despite these headwinds, Lebanon raised $2.2 billion of debt, including $1.4 billion of 15-year paper, paying just 6.65% (and a lower-still 6.2% on a 10-year tranche), about three per cent tighter than most other countries with the same credit rating.

How?

  The Change and Reform bloc welcomed on Tuesday the resumption of cabinet sessions, hoping that normal operations would resume at other constitutional institutions. Former Minister Salim Jreissati said: “The vacancy in the presidency should not hinder state institutions from functioning.” He made his remarks after the parliamentary bloc’s weekly meeting. Speaker Nabih Berri had […]

  BEIRUT: A Lebanese Army colonel convicted of spying for Israel is set to be released in the coming weeks after a court reduced his sentence Tuesday, a judicial source said. Col. Antoine Abu Jaoude, who was convicted of providing Israel with sensitive information on Lebanese Army and Hezbollah positions, was initially sentenced to seven […]

  The Beirut criminal court approved on Tuesday a request to release on bail former Higher Relief Council chief Ibrahim Bashir. The court agreed to release him on bail of L.L. 1 billion. The case has been referred to the financial general prosecution for its approval. Bashir, his wife Rajaa, her brother Mohammed Younes, Ghassan […]