Warring sides in Syria agree to local ceasefires
DAMASCUS — Warring sides in Syria have agreed to extend a ceasefire in a rebel-held town near the border with Lebanon and two Shi'a villages in the northwest, and to evacuate wounded, sources close to talks said. The truce is the second in a month in those areas between the Syrian army and its Hezbollah allies on one side and...Lebanon braced for more protests as crisis deepens
BEIRUT — Activists have promised to renew protest in downtown Beirut as the government continues to fail to solve the continuing garbage crisis. Protests against the government turned violent over the weekend, and Prime Minister Tammam Salam threatened to resign as public discontent brought thousands into the...Saudi Arabia holding main suspect in 1996 Khobar Towers bombing
RIYADH — The main suspect in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers residence at a U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia has been captured after nearly 20 years on the run, a Saudi-owned newspaper reported on Wednesday. Asharq al-Awsat said Ahmed al-Mughassil, leader of the Hezbollah al-Hejaz who had been indicted by a U.S. court for...ISIS attack kills two senior Iraqi commanders in Ramadi
BAGHDAD — Two senior Iraqi military commanders were killed on Thursday in suicide car bomb attacks claimed by ISIS in Anbar province where pro-government forces are battling the insurgents, a military spokesman and police sources said. The military and police, backed by Shi'a militias, Sunni tribal fighters and U.S.-led coalition air...Videos show Libyan officials abusing jailed Gaddafi son
TRIPOLI — New videos show Libyan security officials threatening Muammar Gaddafi's son Saadi in an effort to force him to talk, two weeks after footage emerged showing guards beating him in the same Tripoli jail. The videos, posted on social media, are an apparent attempt to embarrass the government controlling Tripoli, one of the...ISIS bomb wounds 30 at Cairo courthouse
CAIRO — ISIS's Egypt affiliate said it was behind a car bombing that wounded 30 people, including eight policemen, near a state security building and courthouse in a Cairo suburb on Thursday. A statement circulated on Twitter by supporters of the group, Sinai Province, said the bomb was a reprisal for the execution of six of its...Four Hamas militants abducted in Sinai
GAZA — Four members of Hamas' armed wing were abducted in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Wednesday after the bus they were on was stopped by unidentified gunmen, sources close to the Palestinian group and Egyptian security officials said. Russian news agency Sputnik reported that the Egyptian branch of ISIS abducted the...Israel launches strikes into Syria after rocket attack
BEIRUT — Rockets hit an Israeli village near the Lebanese border on Thursday and Israel struck back in the Syrian Golan Heights, saying the rare attack had been launched there by an Iranian-backed Palestinian militant group. The group, Islamic Jihad, denied the Israeli allegation. It had previously threatened reprisals should one of...War-torn Yemen on brink of famine and partition
SANAA — War-torn Yemen is on the brink of famine, with millions of women and children most at risk of starvation, as fighting around major ports stalls imports of food and other humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations. Some 13 million people in the impoverished Arab state, half the population, are hungry, while 6 million...Leading Israeli journalist: Israel is an apartheid
JERUSALEM — A leading Israeli journalist—writing in Haaretz, Israel’s oldest and most-prestigious daily newspaper—says “It’s Time to Admit It. Israeli Policy Is What It Is: Apartheid.” The author, Bradley Burston, a Haaretz columnist and senior editor of Haaretz.com, is well-known in the Israeli media. He has all the...Beheaded guardian of Palmyra was hostage like the city itself
ISIS has killed "the guardian of Palmyra." Tortured for a month and then beheaded for refusing to betray the secret location of the Roman’s city’s priceless artifacts, Khaled al-Asaad’s gruesome death has appalled his fellow archeologists. “ a joyful guy. You had to see him if you went to Palmyra. He was a guardian of the...Blast near Cairo state security building wounds six
CAIRO — At least six people were wounded early on Thursday in a car bombing near a state security building and courthouse in a Cairo suburb, security sources said.The sources, who inspected the site of the blast in Shubra al-Khaima, said there was a burned-out vehicle and crater.Comments on Twitter indicated the blast was heard...Lebanon arrests fugitive cleric Ahmed al-Assir
AssirBEIRUT - Lebanese authorities say they have arrested a fugitive extremist cleric who was wanted on suspicion of being involved in a deadly shootout with government troops last year.Two senior security officials say Ahmed al-Assir was detained on Saturday at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport as he was trying to flee the...Emirates Airlines to launch longest non-stop flight
DUBAI – Dubai's Emirates Airline announced Thursday it will launch the world's "longest non-stop flight" in February the fight will travel from the bustling Gulf emirate to Panama City, lasting more than 17 hours. The carrier will fly daily to Panama's capital in a passenger flight operated by a Boeing 777-200LR aircraft, which can...Lebanon’s FPM rallies for greater representation
BEIRUT – Thousands of supporters of Lebanon's Free Patriotic Movement have descended in convoys on the capital's downtown district to protest against what they consider to be the marginalization of Christian rights in the country, as well as the extension of the terms of top army commanders. Early on Wednesday evening, cars decked......
ISIS car bombs kill 135 Iraqis
BAGHDAD – A truck bombing claimed by ISIS killed at least 67 people in a Shi'a-majority area of Baghdad Thursday, in one of the deadliest single attacks in the city in months. The truck hit the Jameela market in the Iraqi capital’s crowded Sadr City neighborhood shortly after dawn, according to two local police officers. They said...Dengue rife, malaria spreading in the streets of Yemen
SANAA – Trash piling up on the streets of Yemeni towns is helping the spread of dengue fever and malaria, a charity employing local people to clear up the filth said on Wednesday, as fighting, baking heat and a lack of food and water add to their hardships. Garbage lying in the streets has contaminated soil and water and attracted......
Iran’s plan for Syria and the challenges for diplomacy
August 13th, 20150 Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L) talks with Lebanon's Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Government Palace in Beirut, Aug. 11.The Iranian nuclear deal is echoing through the halls of diplomacy in the Middle East. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has visited Beirut and Damascus, introducing a road map to end...Dengue rife, malaria spreading in the streets of Yemen
SANAA – Trash piling up on the streets of Yemeni towns is helping the spread of dengue fever and malaria, a charity employing local people to clear up the filth said on Wednesday, as fighting, baking heat and a lack of food and water add to their hardships.Garbage lying in the streets has contaminated soil and water and attracted...Iraqis protest against corruption, poor services
BAGHDAD — Iraqis complaining about corruption and poor services, epitomized by power cuts during a heatwave, took to the streets on Tuesday, underlining the pressures on a government struggling to fend off radical insurgents. The unrest, though limited and largely peaceful, could weigh down the government of Prime Minister Haider...U.S.-trained Syrian rebels captured by al-Qaeda
DAMASCUS — The United States said on Tuesday it had indications that Syrian rebels trained by the U.S. military were captured by fighters from al-Qaeda's Syria wing, Nusra Front, in the latest blow to a fledgling program at the center of America's war strategy. The Pentagon said in a statement it was monitoring the situation but had......
200 migrants feared drowned off Libya
TRIPOLI — More than 200 migrants attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean were feared to have drowned Wednesday after their overcrowded fishing boat capsized off Libya. The boat, believed to have been carrying more than 600 migrants, including women and children, ran into difficulty about 15 nautical miles off Libya...Suicide bombing in Saudi mosque for security forces kills 17
RIYADH — A suicide bomb attack on the mosque of a local security force headquarters in Abha city in south west Saudi Arabia killed 14 people on Thursday, most of them members of the force, the Saudi interior ministry said. The mosque in Abha, the capital of Asir province, was part of the local headquarters of the Special Emergency......
Diversion of aid ships in Yemen spreads fear of shortages
SANAA — Residents in the Yemeni capital Sanaa are stocking up on rare food and fuel supplies after the government in exile decided to divert aid ships from the Houthi rebel-held north to loyalist areas farther south. Sources in Yemen's government confirmed the move, though there has been no official announcement, and Yemen's exiled...Gaddafi loyalists stage rare protest in eastern Libya
BENGHAZI — Supporters of toppled Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi staged a rare demonstration in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday, shouting "Muammar, Muammar", but dispersed after opponents opened fire with guns and hurled rocks. No one appeared to have been hurt among dozens of supporters of Gaddafi, who was toppled in 2011 and......