During a news conference held in New Delhi, India, on January 20, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that al-Qaeda, and what he called its "syndicate" in South Asia, could provoke a new war between India and Pakistan.

The Middle East-based al Jazeera news network reported on January 20 that Yemeni fighter jets have conducted an attack against the home of Ayed al-Shabwani a suspected al-Qaeda leader. The raids took place in Erq al Shabwan village in Maarib province, about 80 miles east of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.

The Middle East-based al Jazeera news network reported on January 20 that Yemeni fighter jets have conducted an attack against the home of Ayed al-Shabwani a suspected al-Qaeda leader. The raids took place in Erq al Shabwan village in Maarib province, about 80 miles east of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.

Missiles fired from U.S. drone aircraft struck a militant training camp in the Pakisani village of Pasalkot in a remote area of North Waziristan on January 14. Pakistani security officials say the atack killed 12 Taliban militants.

The town of Garmsir in southern Afghanistan exploded in violent protest on January 12, fueled by rumors spread by the Taliban that members of the U.S. military had desecrated a Koran and defiled local women in a nearby village two nights before.

Mainland Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters on January 12 that China has successfully carried out a test of military technology to shoot down missiles in mid-air.  Jiang says the January 11 test of "ground-based, mid-course missile intercepting technology" had what she described as "the expected result."

Following the failed attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253 by Nigerian Umar Abdulmutallab — a man with ties to al-Qaeda in Yemen — the United States is asking the Arabian Peninsula nation for help in restricting the terrorist organization’s activities.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, upon completing a two-day visit to Afghanistan on December 22, pledged that the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is committed to staying in the country until the Afghan government and military are ready to take over their own defense and that there would be no deadline for the exit of allied troops from the country.

Iran test fired an improved version of its Sejil 2 medium-range missile on December 16, increasing tensions between Iran and Western powers. The Sejil 2 has a range of about 1,200 miles.

The Islamic State of Iraq, a militant umbrella group linked to al-Qaeda, claimed the blame on December 10 for a series of coordinated bombings in Baghdad this week that killed 127 people and wounded more than 500. The group posted a message on its website that it would “uproot pillars of this government and … demolish its corners.”