Globe Trot: Kurds launch bold effort to retake Sinjar from ISIS

IRAQ: Kurdish forces have begun a concerted assault to retake Sinjar from the Islamic State, in what could be the start of a major military campaign to recapture Mosul.

SYRIA: The Pentagon confirmed Mohammad Emwazi, the ISIS executioner known as “Jihadi John,” was the target of an airstrike near Raqqa, Syria, the militants’ headquarters. But it’s not certain the joint U.S.-U.K. effort killed him. Last year, foreign policy expert and former U.S. intelligence official Angelo Codevilla spoke to WORLD about the fallacy of going after non-state terrorist leaders instead of the states that support them.

IRAN: The wife of imprisoned pastor Saeed Abedini sent emails to supporters revealing details of an allegedly troubled marriage that included “physical, emotional, psychological, and sexual abuse,” according to a report yesterday. In a statement released today through the American Center for Law and Justice, Naghmeh Abedini said, “I regret having sent the emails. I was under great psychological and emotional distress.” Abedini has been a tireless advocate for her husband, who has been jailed by the Islamic regime in Iran for more than three years and even this month was beaten and tasered in prison.

SWEDEN: Yesterday a district court ruled against Elinor Grinmark, saying she has to assist in abortions to practice as a midwife. Grinmark has pressed her case, saying she was unjustly denied employment over her objection to abortion, and plans to appeal.

BURMA: Christians in Burma, also known as Myanmar, are “cautiously hopeful” following the election of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, long an opposition and outlawed party. But they’re also concerned the NLD ascendency will give new lift to Buddhist organizations that have long tried to suppress religious freedom (à la the rise of Narendra Modi’s BJP in India).

GAZA: Here’s what Islamic hate preaching looks like (knife optional).

I’M READING: The Supper of the Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon, and I’d really like to know what you’re reading that’s worthwhile.