Syrian army, Hezbollah advance in campaign against rebels in south
People inspect a site hit by what activists said were airstrikes by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.DAMASCUS — Syrian government forces and their Lebanese allies took new ground in a major offensive in southern Syria pressing a campaign against insurgents posing one of the biggest remaining threats to Damascus. The...“Islamic State” seizes western Iraqi town
A banner is placed at a IS checkpoint, in Anbar province, July 22, 2014. The banner reads, ''Islamic State, State of Anbar, City of Rawah.''BAGHDAD — "Islamic State" insurgents took control on Thursday of most of the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, threatening an air base where U.S. Marines are training Iraqi troops, officials...
UN warns Yemen is on the brink of collapse
February 13th, 20150 Houthi rebels drive through Sanaa amid rival protests for and against them, Oct. 11.SANAA — Al-Qaeda-linked fighters seized a large army base in a dawn attack in southern Yemen on Thursday, militants and residents said, hours after the United Nations warned that the country was on the brink of civil war. The base in the southern...Egypt releases Al Jazeera journalists on bail
Mohamed Fahmy's fiancée Marwa Omara is pictured here reacting to the news in a Cairo courtroom, Feb. 12.CAIRO — Two remaining Al Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt on charges of aiding a "terrorist organization" were freed on bail on Thursday after more than 400 days, but the court said the case against them was still pending. The...Russia to help build Egypt’s first nuclear power plant
Putin and Sisi at a joint press conference in Cairo.CAIRO — The presidents of Russia and Egypt have announced after talks in Cairo, that the two countries are to build Egypt's first nuclear power plant together, as well as boosting natural gas trade among other deals. Vladimir Putin and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi made the announcement on...Israel bans Arab MP from next elections
JERUSALEM — Firebrand Arab MP Haneen Zuabi, a regular critic of Israel's right-wing government, was banned Thursday from standing in next month's general election. The elections committee gave no reason for the disqualification, reported on its website, but Zuabi's lawyer Hassan Jabareen said it was because she was deemed "hostile to...Saudi Arabia beheads Pakistani man in 29th execution of 2015
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia on Thursday beheaded a convicted Pakistani drug smuggler, bringing to 29 the number of executions in the first six weeks of the year. Babir Hussein Mohammed Ishaq was found guilty of transporting heroin which he had ingested, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press...The battle of Sinai: How to lose a ‘War on Terror’
Smoke rises after a house was blown up during a military operation by Egyptian security forces in the Egyptian city of Rafah, Oct. 29, 2014.The Sinai Peninsula has moved from the margins of the Egyptian body politic to the uncontested center, as Egypt’s strong man – President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi – finds himself greatly undercut...UAE stops airstrikes against “Islamic State”
Pilots of the UAE Air Forces.ABU DHABI — The United Arab Emirates withdrew from coalition air strikes against the "Islamic State" group in Syria after the capture of a Jordanian pilot since murdered by the jihadists, US officials said Wednesday. The UAE pulled out of the flights soon after the pilot fell into IS hands in December, a...Gaza militants condemn Egypt’s branding of Hamas as terror group
GAZA — In a statement read by a masked gunman, 10 armed Palestinian factions jointly condemned on Thursday an Egyptian decision to list the military wing of the Islamist group Hamas as a terrorist organization. An Egyptian court last week banned the Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's armed wing, in line with a crackdown by...Most Yemeni parties agree on transitional council
SANAA — Most Yemeni factions have agreed to set up an interim presidential council to manage the country for up to one year, negotiators said on Thursday, in a step to ease a power struggle that forced the president to step down two weeks ago. The dominant Houthi movement had set a Wednesday deadline for political factions to agree...
Jordanian jets pound “Islamic State” militants after pilot’s death
February 6th, 20150 Jordan's King Abdullah (C), walks with Safi al-Kasaesbeh (2nd L), the father of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh, as he arrives to offer his condolences at the headquarters of the family's clan Feb. 5. Photo: REUTERSAMMAN — Jordanian fighter jets pounded "Islamic State" hideouts in Syria on Thursday and then roared over the hometown...CIA, Mossad killed Hezbollah’s Imad Mughniyeh
WASHINGTON — The CIA and Israel's spy agency Mossad were behind an elaborate plot to kill Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh in a 2008 car bomb attack in Syria, the Washington Post reported. Citing former intelligence officials, the newspaper reported that U.S. and Israeli spy agencies worked together to target Mughniyeh on Feb. 12,...Iraq PM orders lifting of decade-old Baghdad curfew
BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered an end to the nightly curfew that has been in force in Baghdad for years, Brigadier General Saad Maan said on Thursday. "The prime minister ordered that the curfew in the city of Baghdad be completely lifted starting from this Saturday," Maan, the spokesman for the Baghdad...Heavy fighting in Libya’s Benghazi as army pushes to take port
BENGHAZI — Clashes erupted in the center of Libya's main eastern city on Thursday as pro-government forces pushed to take the port district from Islamist militants, and seven soldiers were killed, witnesses and military officials said. The fighting mirrors a wider struggle in the oil-producing North African state where two governments......
Dubai airport becomes the busiest in the world
Dubai airport terminal.DUBAI — Dubai airport has soared ahead of London's Heathrow, riding a boom in long-haul flights between Asia and the West to become the world's top international travel hub, UAE airport authorities said Tuesday. Traffic at the airport increased 6.1 percent last year to 70.47 million passengers, Dubai Airports...Saudi king orders payout to state employees, reshuffles cabinet
Saudi Arabia's King Salman.RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's new King Salman ordered a lavish payout to all state employees on Thursday and reshuffled some top government jobs while keeping in place the oil, foreign, finance, defense and interior ministers. The top oil exporter will pay two months of bonus salary to all state employees and......
Attacks kill 26 Egyptian soldiers
Shaimaa Sabbagh.CAIRO — Twenty-five people were killed in a bomb attack on military buildings in the capital of Egypt's restive North Sinai province on Thursday, while an army major was shot dead at a checkpoint in Rafah near the Gaza Strip, medical and security sources said. The flagship government newspaper, al-Ahram, said its...Hopes of return muted in devastated Syrian Kurdish town
Fighters of the Kurdish People's Protection Units walk past damaged buildings in the northern Syrian town of Kobani Jan. 28KOBANI, SYRIA — Sheets meant to hide residents from snipers' sights still hang over streets in the Syrian border town of Kobani, and its shattered buildings and cratered roads suggest those who fled are unlikely...
Calm prevails after Hezbollah’s attack in Shebaa
January 30th, 20150 Israeli soldiers carry the flag-draped coffin of Captain Yochai Kalangel during his funeral at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem Jan. 29.BEIRUT — Israel and Hezbollah signaled on Thursday their rare flare-up in fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border was over, after the Lebanese guerrillas killed two Israeli troops in...Iraq to investigate Diyala massacre
BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered an investigation into allegations that Shi'a militiamen massacred Sunni residents in the eastern province of Diyala, his spokesman said Thursday. "The prime minister has ordered an investigation into the matter," Rafid Jaboori said, without elaborating. Witnesses and Sunni......
Militants kill two Yemeni soldiers
SANAA — Two Yemeni soldiers were killed and two wounded when they were ambushed while on patrol by suspected al-Qaeda militants in the central province of Marib, a regional official said on Thursday. Marib has most of Yemen's oil and gas fields and has long been a battleground between various factions, including local tribesmen,...Jordan wants to see pilot is alive before exchange
AMMAN — Jordan said on Thursday it was still holding an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber as a deadline passed for her release set by "Islamic State" militants who threatened to kill a Jordanian pilot unless she was handed over by sunset. An audio message purportedly from a Japanese journalist also captured by the insurgents said the......
Netanyahu gambles by challenging Obama in Congress
Boehner is inviting Netanyahu back just four years after his last address to Congress.I know what America is," Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israeli settlers in 2002 in a hot-mic moment captured on video by Israel’s Channel 10. “America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right...
Saudi King Abdullah dies, his brother Salman succeeds him
January 23rd, 20150 RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah died early on Friday and his brother Salman became king, the royal court in the world's top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam said in a statement carried by state television. King Salman has named his half-brother Muqrin as his crown prince and heir. "His Highness Salman bin Abdulaziz Al......