Hezbollah targets Israeli forces with bomb, Israel shells south Lebanon
An Israeli artillery gun fires a shell into Lebanon, Jan. 4. Photo: ReutersBEIRUT — Hezbollah set off a bomb targeting Israeli forces at the Lebanese border on Monday in an apparent response to the killing in Syria last month of a prominent commander, triggering Israeli shelling of southern Lebanon.Israel has struck its Iran-backed...Saudi Arabia sentences writer to four years in jail
RIYADH — A Saudi tribunal has sentenced a writer who called for political reform to four years in prison and barred him from appearing in the media for 15 years, his family and Saudi media reported. The Specialized Criminal Court (SCC), a tribunal established in 2008 to try terrorism cases, convicted Zuhair Kutbi on charges of...Former Lebanese prisoner Samir Kuntar killed in strike
Kuntar with Hezbollah leader Hassan NasrallahBEIRUT — An Israeli air strike killed Samir Kuntar, a Hezbollah militant leader, in Damascus on Saturday evening, the Lebanese group and Syrian state media said on Sunday.Israel welcomed Kuntar's death, saying he had been preparing attacks on it from Syrian soil, but stopped short of...“Members” of Saudi-led ‘anti-terrorism’ coalition surprised by announcement
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has formed a coalition of 34 mainly Muslim countries - including powers such as Egypt and Turkey - to coordinate a fight against "terrorist organizations."But some supposed members of the coalition said they were surprised by their inclusion. Officials in Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia all said they had not...Yemen peace talks struggle amid intensifying clashes
SANAA — U.N.-sponsored Yemen peace talks are struggling amid disputes over releasing prisoners, sources close to the talks said on Thursday, as local officials reported intensifying clashes and fresh air strikes despite a ceasefire.Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's representatives are demanding that their foes, the...Syrian rebels arrive in Idlib after Homs ceasefire deal
Red Crescent units wait in Homs during a truce between the government and rebels, Dec. 9DAMASCUS — Buses carrying Syrian rebel fighters and their families safely reached the northwestern city of Idlib on Thursday after withdrawing from Homs under a local ceasefire agreement, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.The United...Imprisoned Saudi blogger goes on hunger strike
Badawi is sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashesOTTAWA — Imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi has been on a hunger strike since Tuesday, Dec. 8, after being transferred to a "new isolated" prison, his wife, Ensaf Haidar, said on Thursday.Haidar, who lives in Canada where she and their three children were granted political...Al-Qaeda militants take over two south Yemen towns, residents say
Houthi rebels in a truck past a Ansar al-Sharia flag painted on the side of a hill, in Rada, Nov. 22, 2014.ADEN — Al-Qaeda fighters retook on Wednesday two southern Yemeni towns they briefly occupied four years ago, residents and local fighters said, exploiting the collapse of central authority in Yemen in its eight-month war. In an...Kerry: Air strikes alone won’t defeat ISIS
John Kerry (C) participates in the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Belgrade.BELGRADE — Syrian and other Arab ground forces must be found to take on ISIS, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday, saying the militant group would not be defeated by air strikes alone. Kerry was speaking hours after Britain began bombing ISIS...Putin to Turkey: Expect more sanctions for jet shoot-down
Putin.MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin said Turkey's shooting down a Russian military jet was a war crime and that the Kremlin would punish Ankara with additional sanctions, signaling fallout from the incident would be long-lasting and serious. Minutes after Putin had finished speaking, his energy minister, Alexander Novak, said...Saudi Arabia, Iran back deal to make Franjieh Lebanon’s president
Suleiman Franjieh.BEIRUT — Saudi Arabia lent its backing on Thursday to a power-sharing plan that would make a family friend of Syria's Bashar al-Assad president of Lebanon, saying it hoped it would happen within weeks. The proposal tabled by Sunni politician Saad al-Hariri would see him return to Lebanon as prime minister and make...Bored Mauritanian president orders penalties in 63rd minute of soccer game
President Mohamed Ould Abdel AzizNOUAKCHOTT — The Mauritanian federation has been forced to deny that the country’s president, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, ordered a penalty shootout in the 63rd minute of the Super Cup final out of boredom.Abdel Aziz was in attendance to watch the final between FC Tevragh-Zeina and ACS Ksar last...
Prisoner swap frees 16 Lebanese soldiers held by Nusra
December 1st, 20150 Lebanese soldiers who were captured by the Nusra Front in Arsal, celebrate upon their arrival in Beirut, Dec. 1BEIRUT — Al-Qaeda's Syrian wing freed 16 Lebanese soldiers and policemen on Tuesday in exchange for the release of jailed Islamists including the ex-wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.The Nusra Front seized the Lebanese...Shia pilgrims killed in Baghdad bombings
BAGHDAD — Two bombings in Iraq’s capital targeted Shia Muslims on an annual pilgrimage, killing at least 15 people and injuring 38 others, Al Jazeera reported.One of the attacks on Monday hit a checkpoint in the Saiydiyah district along a route pilgrims use to travel to the city of Karbala for the "Arbaeen" commemoration. Nine people...Russia and Turkey refuse to back down in row over jet downing
RUSSIA — Russia sent an advanced missile system to Syria on Wednesday to protect its jets operating there and pledged its air force would keep flying missions near Turkish air space, sounding a defiant note after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet. Underscoring the message, Russian forces launched a heavy bombardment against......
ISIS suicide bomber kills 12 in Tunisia
November 25th, 20150 Tunisian forensics police inspect the scene of a suicide bomb attack in Tunis, Nov. 25TUNIS — Tunisian authorities said on Wednesday a suicide bomber wearing a vest packed with plastic explosive blew up a presidential guard bus a day earlier, killing at least 12 troops in an attack claimed by ISIS.Tuesday's explosion on a main...Yemen’s Socotra burns two tons of qat after island bans drug
YEMEN — Authorities on Yemen's Socotra island burned two tons of the mild narcotic drug qat on Saturday, a shipment seized from smugglers trying to defy last week's ban by the archipelago's governor, local officials said. Yemenis have chewed qat for centuries and although widespread, its use is seen as a social ill by some, sapping......
Saudi court sentences Palestinian poet to death for apostasy
Ashraf Fayadh has been sentenced to death by a court in Saudi Arabia.RIYADH — A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a Palestinian poet to death for apostasy, abandoning his Muslim faith, according to trial documents seen by Human Rights Watch, its Middle East researcher Adam Coogle said on Friday. Ashraf Fayadh was detained by the...ISIS says ‘Schweppes bomb’ used to bring down Russian plane
ISIS' official magazine carried a photo on Wednesday of a Schweppes soft drink can it said was used to make an improvised bomb that brought down a Russian airliner over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula last month, killing all 224 people on board. The photo showed a can of Schweppes Gold soft drink and what appeared to be a detonator and switch...‘Spider in web’ mastermind of Paris attacks killed in raid
The suspected ISIS mastermind of the Paris attacks was among those killed in a police raid north of the capital, France confirmed on Thursday, bringing an end to the hunt for Europe's most wanted man. Authorities said they had identified the mangled corpse of Belgian national Abdelhamid Abaaoud from fingerprints in the aftermath of...Blast at market in northeastern Nigeria kills 32
People at the scene of a bomb blast at a fruit market in the Jimeta area of Yola, Adamawa, NigeriaA blast struck a market in the northeastern Nigerian city of Yola on Tuesday evening, killing 32 people and wounding 80 others, both the Red Cross and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said. The explosion occurred at a fruit and......
U.S. approves $1.29 billion sale of smart bombs to Saudi Arabia
RIYADH — The State Department has approved the sale of $1.29 billion in smart bombs to Saudi Arabia to help replenish supplies used in its battle against insurgents in Yemen and air strikes against ISIS in Syria, the Pentagon said on Monday. The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which facilitates foreign arms...Russia to West: Drop Assad condition to unite against ISIS
MOSCOW — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday the West had to drop its demands about the political exit of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad if it wanted a genuinely international coalition against ISIS. Lavrov, who said there was still no agreement about Assad's political fate after international talks in Vienna,......
One dead, 8 wounded in West Bank
WEST BANK — At least one attacker opened fire from a car then crashed into a group of pedestrians near a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank Thursday, killing an Israeli and wounding eight people, police and the army said. The army said an assailant was shot, but the condition of the attacker was unclear. The incident...Lebanon arrests man in connection to Beirut bomb attacks
Lebanon's security forces arrested a Lebanese man on Wednesday in connection with twin suicide bomb attacks that killed 44 people in Beirut last week, a security source said. The authorities had arrested five Syrians and a Palestinian linked with the attacks, which took place on Thursday in a crowded residential and commercial area of......