Miltants abduct Lebanese soldier from home
BEIRUT — Militants Wednesday kidnapped a Lebanese Army soldier as he went to visit his family in Wadi Hmeid on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Ersal, security sources said.According to eye witnesses, gunmen in two pickup trucks snatched First Adjutant Kamal Mohammad Hujeiri, taking him by surprise, and fled to Ersal's...Libya’s parliament rejects PM’s new cabinet
Libya's Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni speaks to reporters in Abu Dhabi Sept. 10.TRIPOLI — Libya's elected parliament has rejected the new cabinet of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni, dealing a fresh blow to the acting premier whose government was forced to flee the capital Tripoli last month after it was taken over by...Bahrain slams Qatar for offering citizenship to its citizens
MANAMA — A Bahraini minister sharply criticized Qatar Wednesday for offering citizenship to Sunni nationals of the small Gulf kingdom, warning of "action" if it does not end the practice.Bahrain, like Qatar, has a Sunni Muslim regime, but its population is majority Shiite, and the loss of Sunnis would exacerbate that demographic...UN brokers Israeli-Palestinian deal on Gaza reconstruction
GAZA — The United Nations has brokered an Israeli-Palestinian deal on imports of construction materials to Gaza to ensure they will not be diverted by Hamas militants, an envoy said Tuesday.The agreement on monitoring the supply of materials "must get up and running without delay," said Robert Serry, the UN envoy for the Middle...Russia, Egypt seal $3.5 billion preliminary arms deal
CAIRO — Russia and Egypt have reached a preliminary deal for Cairo to buy arms worth $3.5 billion from Moscow, Interfax news agency quoted the head of a Russian state arms agency as saying on Wednesday.Speaking during an arms trade exhibition in South Africa, the head of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, Alexander...Iraqi army launches offensive on militants in three cities
BAGHDAD — Iraqi forces launched an intense military operation against "Islamic State" insurgents in three cities in central Iraq on Wednesday, fighting to regain control of lost ground, security sources said.The offensives in Ramadi, Falluja and Haditha in the western province of Anbar started before dawn, security sources in the three...
New faces vie for school board seats in crowded election
September 12th, 20140 DEARBORN — Three seats on Dearborn's seven-trustee Board of Education will be contested in the Nov. 4 election. With no incumbents on the ballot, 11 new faces are vying for a place on the board.The candidates include college teachers, activists, parents and one former trustee. The race in Dearborn is overcrowded, compared to nearby...
Analysts: Libya’s fate difficult to predict
September 12th, 20140 An Islamist fighter from the Fajr Libya (Libyan Dawn) coalition flashes the V sign for victory at the entrance of Tripoli international airport on August 24.As Libya slides deeper into political and military chaos, uncertainty reigns and analysts say it’s difficult to anticipate how things will unfold.Some say Libya needs regional or...
10 Arab states sign communique supporting U.S. intervention against “Islamic State”
September 12th, 20140 RIYADH — The United States signed up Arab allies on Thursday to a "coordinated military campaign" against "Islamic State" fighters, a major step in building regional support for President Obama's plan to strike both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi frontier.After talks in Saudi Arabia's summer capital Jeddah, Secretary of State John Kerry...Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of war crimes
A trail of blood is seen in the courtyard of a UN School in the northern Beit Hanun district of the Gaza Strip on July 24.GAZA — Human Rights Watch accused Israel of committing war crimes by attacking three U.N.-run schools in the Gaza Strip in fighting in July and August, killing Palestinian civilians who had sheltered there.The New...Lebanon to set up two Syrian refugee camps
BEIRUT — Lebanon has decided to set up two camps for Syrian refugees for the first time along its border with war-torn Syria, Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas said on Thursday, Sept. 11.The move comes despite longstanding reservations among many in Lebanon over establishing camps, for fear they will encourage Syrians to stay...U.N. peacekeepers freed in Golan Heights; 28 rebel leaders killed in Idlib
Fijian U.N. peacekeepers released by al-Qaeda-linked group Nusra Front in Syria on Thursday, gesture from inside a vehicle as they arrive in Israeli-held territory on the Golan heights, Sept. 11.DAMASCUS — Dozens of Fijian U.N. peacekeepers, released by al Qaeda-linked group Nusra Front in Syria, arrived in Israeli-held territory on...Yemen reaches deal with Houthi group
A protester sprays water at a Houthi anti-government protest during hot weather.SANAA — Yemen's president has offered to appoint a new prime minister within 48 hours, under a fresh accord with Houthi Shi'a rebels in return for ending their protests, a source close to the presidency said Thursday, Sept. 11.There was no immediate...Dozens join hunger strike for release of Egypt political prisoners
Activist Alaa Abdel Fattah (R) arrives with his wife and child to the public prosecutor's office in Cairo, March 26, 2013.CAIRO — Dozens of Egyptians have begun a hunger strike to demand the release of activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, a symbol of the 2011 uprising, and others they say are being unfairly detained in an effort to crush...Iraqi parliament approves new government headed by Haider al-Abadi
BAGHDAD — Iraq's parliament approved a new government headed by Haider al-Abadi as prime minister on Monday night, in a bid to rescue Iraq from collapse, with sectarianism and Arab-Kurdish tensions on the rise.Abadi, a Shi'a Islamist, included members of Iraq's Shi'ite majority and its Kurdish and Sunni minorities in his cabinet as he......
Cuba sends six tons of medical supplies to Gaza
GAZA — Cuba has sent six tons of drugs and medical supplies to Gaza, devastated by Israel's seven-week military campaign that killed more than 2,100 people, official media reported Thursday.The government-run Cubadebate website said the humanitarian shipment was delivered by officials at Cuba's embassy in Cairo to the Palestinian...Israel seizes 1,000 acres of West Bank land
An Israeli settlement in the Etzion bloc, in the West Bank.WEST BANK — The United States has urged Israel to reverse its decision to seize nearly 1,000 acres of land in the occupied West Bank, a move anti-settlement activists dubbed the largest land grab in 30 years.Israel announced the massive land appropriation on Sunday, Aug. 31,......
Syrian army ups campaign to retake Damascus suburb
DAMASCUS — Syrian forces carried out their fiercest assault on the rebel stronghold of Jobar in Damascus since the start of the three-year war, conducting at least 27 air strikes on Tuesday, according to activists and rights groups.The government is trying to retake Jobar after the capture of several rebel-held areas around the...Tunisian deputy survives assassination attempt
TUNIS — A deputy in Tunisia's transitional parliament survived an assassination attempt in the city of Kasserine, near the Algerian border, where security forces have been hunting Islamist militants for months.Mohamed Ali Nasri told reporters in hospital that about five gunmen attacked his house late on Monday, Sept. 1. He threw...Houthi protests continue in Sanaa despite government conssession
SANAA — Yemen's Houthi Shi'a activists are continuing to protest in the capital Sanaa, a day after the country's president reached out to them by dismissing the government and rolling back a disputed fuel price hike. On Wednesday, Sept. 3, Houthi supporters brandished arms and batons while using tires and cement blocks to divert...Egyptians militants kill 11 soldiers in Sinai attack
CAIRO — An attack on a convoy killed 11 members of the Egyptian security forces in the Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, Sept. 3, security and medical sources said.Two were killed by a roadside bomb and the others were shot as they tried to flee, the security sources said. An Egyptian jihadist group behind some of the deadliest......
Lebanese cabinet rules out negotiating with militants after soldier beheaded
September 5th, 20140 BEIRUT — The Lebanese cabinet gave the army the permission to use force at its own discretion to free hostages held by "Islamic State" and Nusra Front militants in east Lebanon, rejecting the kidnappers demands to exchange the captives from the Lebanese armed forces with Islamist prisoners. The cabinet meeting on Thursday, Sept....Gaza reconstruction to cost $7.8 billion
GAZA — Rebuilding Gaza will cost $7.8 billion, the Palestinian Authority said on Thursday, Sept. 4, in the most comprehensive assessment yet of damage from the seven-week Israeli assault during which whole neighborhoods and vital infrastructure were flattened.The cost of rebuilding 17,000 Gazan homes razed by Israeli bombings would......
Israel sentences former MP to jail for visiting Syria
Israel sentenced a former member of parliament to 18 months in prison on Thursday, Sept. 4, for traveling to Syria and making contact with a "foreign agent," the justice ministry said.Said Naffa travelled in 2007 to Syria, with which Israel is technically still at war, as part of a delegation of 300 Druze religious leaders, the charge...Saudi court jails 24 for “terrorism”
RIYADH — A Saudi court on Wednesday, Sept. 3, sentenced 22 Saudi citizens, an American and a Yemeni to jail terms of between two and 27 years on terrorism charges, according to the official news agency SPA.The court said charges ranged from "the establishment of a terrorist cell planning to targeting oil pipelines", having......