Syria condemns U.S. top general’s “illegal” visit to American army base
March 10th, 20230 Syria’s foreign ministry has condemned a surprise visit by the United States’ top military officer to an army base in the Kurdish-held northeast, dubbing it “illegal,” state media reported. In his snap visit last Saturday, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley met U.S. troops stationed in areas of war-torn Syria...
Iran and Saudi Arabia agree to resume ties after years of hostility
March 10th, 20230 Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed on Friday to resume ties after years of hostility which had threatened stability and security in the Gulf and helped fuel conflicts in the Middle East from Yemen to Syria. The deal was announced after four days of previously undisclosed talks in Beijing between top security officials from the two rival...
Israeli minister’s call to “erase” Palestinian village an incitement to violence, U.S. says
March 4th, 20230 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's call for a Palestinian village to be "erased" amounted to incitement to violence and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must publicly disavow it, the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday. An ultranationalist in Netanyahu's right-wing coalition, Smotrich made the comments...
New Israeli law allows stripping residency of Palestinians convicted of “terrorism”
February 27th, 20230 Israel passed a law on Wednesday that would allow authorities to strip people who have been jailed of citizenship or residency if they receive Palestinian funds for actions deemed as "terrorism", as rising Palestinian resistance has stoked fears of escalation. Israel calls stipends for Palestinians resisting Israeli occupation and their...
Father and son charged for kidnapping, attempting to force daughter/sister to marry in Yemen
February 27th, 20230 BUFFALO, N.Y. - U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced on Feb. 16 that Khaled Abughanem, 50, and Waleed Abughanem, 32, both of Lackawanna, NY, were arrested and charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to kidnap persons in a foreign country. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles...
True champions of humanity in Türkiye and Syria: We thank you
February 22nd, 20230 On February 7, a funeral was held in the northern Syrian town of Jinderis. It was one of numerous such funerals to be held on that day across Syria and Türkiye, following a devastating earthquake that killed and injured thousands. Each one of these funerals represented two seemingly opposite notions: Collective grief and collective...
U.N. Security Council denounces Israel in statement to avoid U.S. veto on resolution
February 22nd, 20230 UNITED NATIONS – On Monday, the U.N. Security Council issued a formal statement denouncing Israel's plan to expand settlements on occupied Palestinian territory, the first action the United States has allowed the body to take against its ally Israel in six years. Washington's support for the presidential statement — action the...
Lebanon’s central bank chief says he will not renew his term
February 21st, 20230 Lebanon's embattled central bank chief Riad Salameh said on Sunday he would leave his post once his latest term ends in July even if he is asked to stay longer. "No one has asked me to continue , but even if they do, I think this is enough," he said in a televised interview with Egypt's AlQahera News on Sunday. Salameh, who became the...
Biden withdraws candidate’s nomination to human rights post for criticizing Israel
February 17th, 20230 The Biden administration has withdrawn the nomination of a leading law professor to an international human rights post, for describing Israel as an “apartheid state” and accusing the top Democrat in Congress of being “bought” by pro-Israel groups. James Cavallaro, of Wesleyan and Yale universities, said he was told by the...
Local communities rush to provide relief to the victims of the Turkey-Syria earthquake
February 17th, 20230 International efforts to provide relief to the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria are accompanied by many local initiatives and donation campaigns in the Detroit region to help the victims of the disaster that claimed the lives of tens of thousands and wounded and displaced hundreds of thousands of families in the eastern...
Nasrallah warns U.S.: If you push Lebanon into chaos, we will retaliate against your “protégé” Israel
February 17th, 20231 BEIRUT – Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is threatening the Israeli Karish gas field with warnings that if there is “procrastination” with gas extraction from Lebanese waters for Lebanon, operations will be stopped at the Israeli Karish field. “If there is an intentional procrastination regarding the issue...
In Syria a child is saved, but loses his family
February 11th, 20231 Rescuers working by torchlight pulled 3-year-old Tariq Haidar from the rubble some 42 hours after a devastating earthquake destroyed his family home in the Syrian town of Jandaris. His family couldn't be saved. Orphaned by the earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey in the dead of night on Monday, Haidar was brought to a hospital where...
Hope fades for survivors as Turkey-Syria earthquake toll passes 20,000
February 10th, 20230 Cold, hunger and despair gripped hundreds of thousands of people left homeless after the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria three days ago as the death toll passed 20,000 on Thursday. The rescue of a 2-year-old boy after 79 hours trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, and several other people raised...
Syria stands alone in healing its wounds from devastating earthquake
February 10th, 20230 The dawn of February 6, 2023 will be recorded as a typical tragedy that befell the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean, or to be precise, part of their peoples. The fear and panic, despite their magnitude, can’t be compared to the horror and devastation of being buried under the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings. It is an...
In Syria’s quake-hit Aleppo, survivors try to reach the missing
February 10th, 20230 ALEPPO, Syria – After Monday's earthquake brought down his family's building in Syria's battle-scarred second city of Aleppo, Youssef managed to reach one of his trapped relatives by phone, hearing voices despite a bad line. Since then the 25-year-old has been standing in near-freezing weather by the rubble, unable to get through......
China offers emergency aid of $4.4 mln to earthquake-hit Syria
February 8th, 20230 BEIJING - China will offer emergency humanitarian aid of 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) to earthquake-hit Syria, its foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, told a regular news briefing on Wednesday. The death toll of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria has jumped to more than 8,700. read more Mao said $2 million of the...
Israel, Sudan announce deal to normalize relations
February 6th, 20230 KHARTOUM – Israel and Sudan have finalized a deal to normalize relations, with a signing ceremony expected following a transfer of power from the military to a civilian government in Khartoum, the Israeli foreign ministry said on Thursday. Sudan's foreign ministry earlier said the deal was agreed during a visit by Israeli Foreign......
Israeli occupation forces invaded refugee camp, killed five Palestinians and held their bodies
February 6th, 20230 Israeli occupation forces invaded the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp near the West Bank city of Jericho early Monday morning, killing at least five Palestinians during the invasion. The bodies of the victims are being withheld by occupation forces. Malik Awni Lafi, 22, Thaer Owidat, 28, Rafaat Wael Owidat, 21, Adham Majdi Owidat, 22, and...
Analysis: Israel and Palestinians risk deeper conflict in a distracted world
February 4th, 20230 After bloodshed in Jerusalem and the West Bank and a month since Israel's most right-wing government took office, Israel and the Palestinians risk sliding into a cycle of wider confrontation with pressure on both sides for retaliation, analysts say. A Palestinian gunman shot dead seven people near a synagogue in Jerusalem's outskirts on...
New York woman charged with financing terrorist groups in Syria through cryptocurrency
February 4th, 20230 A New York City woman has been charged with using cryptocurrency to provide financial support to terrorist groups in Syria, a rare prosecution involving virtual currency to fund terrorism. The 11-count indictment charged Victoria Jacobs, 43, who was known as Bakhrom Talipov, with providing support for an act of terrorism, money...
Lebanese central bank devalues official exchange rate: 15,000 liras for one dollar
February 4th, 20230 BEIRUT – Lebanon devalued its official exchange rate for the first time in 25 years on Wednesday, weakening it by 90 percent, but still leaving the local currency well below its market value. The lira has crashed since a financial meltdown in 2019 after decades of corruption, profligate spending and mismanagement by the ruling elite......
Dearborn man convicted of aiding ISIS in Syria
February 3rd, 20230 DETROIT — A Dearborn man who was captured on a Syrian battlefield in 2018 has been convicted on charges of providing support to ISIS and attending one of the group's training camps, prosecutors said. A federal jury convicted Ibraheem Izzy Musaibli, 32, on Monday of charges of providing and attempting to provide material support to...
leaked British documents reveal former President George W. Bush ordered the CIA to find a replacement for Arafat
February 3rd, 20230 The BBC is reporting that British documents have been leaked confirming former U.S. President George W Bush ordered the CIA to find a replacement for former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Bush’s order followed the escalation of the Second Intifada in 2001. The CIA effort came after negotiations failed between then-Israeli Prime......
Iran blames Israel for Isfahan drone attack, vows revenge
February 3rd, 20230 Iran blamed Israel for a drone attack on a military factory near the central city of Isfahan, the semi-official ISNA news agency said on Thursday, vowing revenge for what appeared to be the latest episode in a long-running covert war. The attack came amid tension between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear activity and its supply of...
Palestine is my cause: Arabs reaffirm support for Palestinians, rejection of the occupation
February 2nd, 20230 By Ramzy Baroud The latest Arab Opinion Index 2022 is yet more proof that Arab societies are diverse in every possible way, from their assessment of their economic situation and living conditions to their take on immigration, state institutions and democracy. With one single exception: Palestine. Seventy-six percent of all......
