New Yemeni VP says he hopes to avoid Saudi invasion
ADEN — Yemen's newly-appointed Vice President Khaled Bahah, a widely respected figure named this week to shore up the legitimacy of the exiled Saudi-backed government, said on Thursday he hoped to avert a Saudi-led invasion to restore unity to the country. Arab military exercises planned for Saudi Arabia have raised speculation that...Nusra hails slain Lebanese militant as hero
Osama Mansour.BEIRUT — On Thursday, Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate the Nusra Front mourned Thursday Lebanese militant Osama Mansour, who was killed during a shootout with police in Tripoli last week. In a video tribute posted to the Twitter account of the group's Qalamoun branch, Nusra called the notorious jihadi militant a...Palestinian rams car into bus stop, killing Israeli
Israeli border guards stand near a car that plowed into pedestrians in Jerusalem injuring several people, March 6.JERUSALEM — Police said Thursday a Palestinian whose car struck people at a Jerusalem bus stop, killing an Israeli, appeared to have driven into them deliberately. Police had said earlier it was unclear whether the...Saudi Arabia executes two Indonesian women
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia executed an Indonesian domestic worker Thursday just days after beheading another woman from that country, prompting the Indonesian foreign ministry to summon the kingdom's ambassador, Jakarta said. Karni binti Medi Tarsim, 37, was convicted of murdering a 4-year-old girl in 2012, according to a statement from...“Islamic State” clashes with security forces in Iraq’s largest refinery
Iraq’s largest oil refinery near the northern city of Baiji.BAGHDAD — "Islamic State" militants clashed with security forces inside Iraq's largest refinery on Thursday and held on to recent gains in the west of the country, as Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the extremist group remained "very, very dangerous".The insurgents...Hezbollah: Saudi Arabia is the Israel of Yemen
BEIRUT — Hezbollah condemned the U.N. Security Council decision to impose an arms embargo on Yemen’s Houthis Thursday, comparing the Saudi-led military campaign to the Israeli wars on Gaza. "What Saudi Arabia is committing is identical to what Israel commits in Gaza," Hezbollah deputy chief Naim Qassem told France 24 in an...Iran sends warships to the Gulf of Aden as fighting intensifies
SANAA — Houthi forces fought street-by-street battles with local militia in the old center of Aden on Wednesday, as the first boatloads of emergency medical aid reached the south Yemeni port city, which relief workers say faces a humanitarian catastrophe. Iran, which denies arming the Houthis, has condemned the Saudi-led...Lebanese security forces kill prominent militant
Osama Mansour speaking in front of supporters in Tripoli.BEIRUT — Lebanese police shot dead notorious Islamist militant Osama Mansour and another man in the northern city of Tripoli Thursday evening, state media reported. The National News Agency said Mansour and his partner Ahmad al-Nather were killed in a shootout with the Internal...Tsarnaev convicted in Boston bombing, may face death sentence
Tsarnaev.BOSTON — Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty on Wednesday of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and injured 264 others, and the jury will now decide whether to sentence him to death. Tsarnaev, 21, is the surviving member of pair of ethnic Chechen brothers who planted the homemade pressure-cooker bombs...Yemen’s Houthis seize central Aden district, presidential site
ADEN — Yemeni Houthi fighters and their allies seized a central Aden district on Thursday, striking a heavy blow against the Saudi-led coalition that has waged a week of air strikes to try to stem advances by the Iran-allied group. Hours after the Houthis took over Aden's central Crater neighborhood, they marked another symbolic...Egyptian terrorist group confirms leader’s death
CAIRO — Egyptian jihadist group Ajnad Misr confirmed Thursday the death of its leader, Hammam Mohamed Attiyah, who police said was shot dead in a gunfight in Cairo. On Sunday, the interior ministry announced that Attiyah was killed in a Cairo apartment when security forces raided it, without saying when. Police say Attiya previously...Saudi policeman killed during raid in Eastern province
RIYADH — A Saudi policeman was shot dead and three were wounded during a raid which devolved into a gun battle in the eastern Saudi city of Awamiya on Sunday, state news agency SPA said. "An exchange of fire led to the injury of Corporal Majid bin Turki al-Qahtani, and his death after being taken to hospital - may God have mercy on...Al-Qaeda in Syria vows to enforce Sharia law in Idlib
DAMASCUS — The al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front indicated on Wednesday that a Idlib, a Syrian city captured from the government in recent days would be ruled according to Islamic sharia law, but the group would not seek to monopolize power there. Nusra Front's leader, Abu Mohamad al-Golani, also said residents of the northwestern city of...Tunisia to restore diplomatic relations with Syria
TUNIS — Tunisia's foreign minister said the diplomatic relations with Syria will be restored at a consular level, following a long hiatus that began during the beginning of the Syrian uprising. Taieb Baccouche told journalists Thursday that Syria had responded positively to the suggestion to restore relations, which were cut in...Israel arrests Palestinian lawmaker
RAMALLAH — Israel arrested a Palestinian lawmaker from a left-wing militant group on Thursday for disobeying an Israeli order restricting her movements in the West Bank. The Israeli military said it arrested Khalida Jarrar, a senior political leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in the West Bank city of......
Bahraini activist arrested over tweets
Nabeel RajabMANAMA — Bahrain police arrested prominent democracy activist Nabeel Rajab on Thursday for comments he made on his Twitter account seen as "harmful" to civil peace, the kingdom's interior ministry said. Rajab took a leading role in mass demonstrations in Bahrain in 2011, which asked for reforms in the Gulf Arab state,...Yemen’s Houthis seize central Aden district, presidential site
A man stands by the wreckage of a van hit by an air strike in Yemen's southern port city of Aden, March 31.ADEN — Yemeni Houthi fighters and their allies seized a central Aden district on Thursday, striking a heavy blow against the Saudi-led coalition that has waged a week of air strikes to try to stem advances by the Iran-allied......
Iraqi government recaptures Tikrit from “Islamic State”
The Iraqi government claimed victory over "Islamic State" insurgents in Tikrit on Wednesday after a month-long battle for the city supported by Shi'a militiamen and U.S.-led air strikes, saying that only small pockets of resistance remained. State television showed Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, accompanied by leaders of the army and...Aid groups: money pledged for syria in Kuwait disappointing
KUWAIT — Aid groups tackling the humanitarian catastrophe in Syria said they were disappointed that only $3.8 billion of a requested $8.4 billion had been pledged at a U.N. summit in Kuwait. Nearly 80 governments and dozens of aid agencies attended Tuesday's meeting, at which the United States promised $507 million, Kuwait $500...Gunmen kill 15 soldiers, two civilians in Egypt’s Sinai
CAIRO — Gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked several military checkpoints in Egypt's Sinai on Thursday, killing 15 soldiers and two civilians, security sources said, defying one of the toughest security crackdowns in the country's history. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but militants who...Lebanon captures militant who beheaded soldier
Bilal Mikati (L), Omar Mikati.BEIRUT — Lebanon's army said on Tuesday that it had captured two militants, one of whom beheaded a Lebanese soldier who was held by hardline Islamist gunmen along with around two dozen servicemen still in captivity. A statement from the army said that Omar Mikati and Bilal Mikati were captured on Tuesday......
“Islamic State” militants take on Libya’s rival government forces
TRIPOLI — Militants claiming allegiance to "Islamic State" fought forces loyal to Libya's two rival governments in the central city of Sirte and further east in Benghazi, state media and military officials said on Wednesday. In Sirte, ISIS militants killed five members of a force loyal to the government that controls Tripoli, a...Bardo museum symbolic reopening precedes march against terror
Children perform during the ceremonial reopening of the Bardo museum in Tunis, March 24.TUNIS — Tunisia's Bardo museum held a ceremonial reopening on Tuesday, a week after gunmen claiming alliance with "Islamic State" killed 20 foreign tourists in an attack aimed at wrecking the country's vital tourism industry. Several thousand......
Yemeni President Hadi leaves country as Saudi Arabia steps up air strikes
March 27th, 20150 People gather at the site of an air strike at a residential area near Sanaa Airport, March 26.SANAA — Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi left his refuge in Aden for Saudi Arabia on Thursday as Houthi rebels battled with his forces on the outskirts of the southern port city. Throughout the day, warplanes from Saudi Arabia and...Assad urges united front with Iraq against terrorism
DAMASCUS — On Tuesday during talks with Iraq's foreign minister in Damascus, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called for a united front with Baghdad in tackling terrorism as the two countries battle "Islamic State" militants on their territory. The government in Baghdad, along with Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, has been an......