Turkey, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe.
Today's three stories you should know.
Turkey
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is making noises about launching a ground invasion into Syria to go after a Kurdish armed group his forces are already attacking from the air. "We are continuing the air operation and will come down hard on the terrorists from land at the most convenient time for us," he told parliament. Turkey has carried out incursions into Syria before to confront the Kurdish YPG group. Istanbul views the YPG as the Syrian wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which launched an insurgency against the Turkish government in 1984. Much to Turkey’s annoyance, the YPG has been a key Western ally in the fight against ISIS in Syria, and Western nations and Russia have pressured Erdogan not to attack the group.
More from Reuters here.
Afghanistan
The Taliban, it appears, are bent on becoming more and more draconian. The group today flogged nine men and three women at a crowded sports stadium town of Pul Alam south of the capital Kabul. The 12 were lashed between 21 and 39 each after being convicted of theft and adultery. The governor of the province where the punishment took place issued an invitation to the event on social media for “honorable scholars, mujahideen, elders, tribal leaders and local people.” Flogging as