Court charges Lebanon’s Geagea over Beirut violence, judicial source says
March 24th, 20220 BEIRUT — A Lebanese military court has charged Christian politician Samir Geagea over deadly clashes in Beirut last October, a judicial source and broadcaster Al Jadeed said on Thursday, a move that could stoke political tension two months before an election. An official in Geagea's Lebanese Forces (LF) party said the charge...
Lebanese judge charges central bank governor with illicit enrichment
March 21st, 20220 BEIRUT — A Lebanese judge charged central bank governor Riad Salameh with illicit enrichment on Monday, adding to the number of graft investigations he already faces. Judge Ghada Aoun told Reuters the case related to the purchase and rental of Paris apartments, including some to the central bank. Salameh denied the charge when...
Weathering the global storm: Why neutrality is not an option for Palestinians
March 21st, 20220 By Ramzy Baroud A new global geopolitical game is in formation and the Middle East, as is often the case, will be directly impacted by it in terms of possible new alliances and resulting power paradigms. While it is too early to fully appreciate the impact of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war on the region, it is obvious that some...
Famine in Yemen could increase fivefold without immediate action, U.N. warns
March 18th, 20220 By Andrea Germanos Multiple United Nations agencies on Monday sounded heightened alarm over the food crisis in Yemen, warning of a projected fivefold increase in famine conditions. Warnings from the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF came in response to the just-released Integrated Phase...
What are the sanctions on Russia trying to achieve?
March 16th, 20220 By Peter Beinart I’ve been thinking about the similarities between this moment and the moment after 9/11. In both cases, foreign attacks provoked fierce American outrage. After 9/11, that righteous indignation constricted public debate. I’m not even talking about the debate over invading Iraq. Think back to the debate over...
U.S. accused of hypocrisy for supporting sanctions against Russia, but not Israel
March 11th, 20220 By Chris McGreal The U.S. and some of its European allies are facing accusations of double standards for supporting sanctions and international war crimes investigations against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine while blocking them over Israeli military actions in the occupied Palestinian territories. But pro-Israel groups in the...
Israeli demolitions in occupied Palestine under Biden far surpass same period under Trump
March 11th, 20220 The latest data from the United Nations showed that Israel’s demolitions of Palestinian property since President Biden took office have far surpassed the amount seen under his predecessor, Donald Trump. Israel has displaced more than 1,300 Palestinians, a majority of whom are children, in the time Biden has been president. According...
Ukraine conflict could hit food supplies, worsening Yemen hunger crisis
March 4th, 20220 SANAA — Potential disruption to global wheat supplies after Russia's invasion of Ukraine is raising concerns that war-torn Yemen's hunger crisis and food price inflation could deepen, with some Yemenis rushing to buy flour. The World Food Program (WFP) said this week that the Ukraine crisis is likely to further increase fuel and food...
Russia invades Ukraine in biggest attack on another state in Europe since WW2; U.S. imposes sanctions on Moscow
February 25th, 20220 News of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Thursday shored up global anxieties over a conflict that has the potential to drag in regional powers and the U.S., marking the biggest attack by one state against another in Europe since World War Two. The invasion began Thursday morning with attacks by land, sea and air, with missiles...
Lebanon’s interior minister says it foiled three planned suicide attacks
February 23rd, 20220 BEIRUT — Lebanese security forces have foiled plans by militants linked to ISIS to carry out three suicide attacks in Beirut's southern suburbs, the interior minister said on Wednesday. The plans for the attacks involved rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire as well as suicide vests rigged with explosives that would have killed...
Africa must not abandon Palestine by granting Israel observer status
February 20th, 20220 The current split in the African Union (AU) over Israel’s Observer membership status is emblematic of a larger conflict that could potentially split the African continent’s largest political institutions. Africa is currently facing one of its most crucial decisions regarding Palestine and Israel. The repercussions of this decision...
How a Saudi woman’s iPhone revealed hacking around the world
February 18th, 20220 A single activist helped turn the tide against NSO Group, one of the world’s most sophisticated spyware companies now facing a cascade of legal action and scrutiny in Washington over damaging new allegations that its software was used to hack government officials and dissidents around the world. It all started with a software glitch...
What Turkey’s rapprochement to Israel means for the Palestinian State
February 14th, 20220 By Mina Mohammadi This March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan plans to meet with Israeli President Issac Herzog in Ankara for the first time in 13 years. While the meetings are set to discuss strategic gas imports to Israel, they also sit upon long standing moral tensions of Turkey’s support for the Palestinian...
Key U.S.-Canada bridge reopens as Ottawa protest persists
February 14th, 20220 WINDSOR — The busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing was open Monday after protesters demonstrating against COVID-19 measures blocked it for nearly a week, but a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa, persisted as city residents seethed over authorities’ inability to reclaim the streets. Demonstrations against virus restrictions and...
News from Yemen: Fighting eases in Marib, Biden speaks with Saudi king
February 8th, 20220 ADEN — The Saudi-led coalition deployed newly formed units near Yemen's Marib, where battles abated over the last week, according to military and government sources, as the warring sides hold their positions in the fight for energy-rich areas that has led to the war's biggest escalation in years. Last month the Houthi movement......
The Russians are coming: Are Beijing and Moscow at the cusp of a formal alliance?
February 6th, 20220 By Ramzy Baroud and Romana Rubeo It should matter little to the Chinese that American diplomats and a handful of their Western allies will not be attending the Beijing Winter Olympics in February. What truly matters is that the Russians are coming. The above is not an arbitrary statement. It is supported with facts. According to a...
Amnesty International accuses Israel of crimes against humanity, apartheid, in devastating new report
February 3rd, 20220 LONDON — An investigation by a renowned international human rights agency shows the state of Israel imposes a system of oppression and domination against Palestinians. The devastating report by Amnesty International, a thorough analysis of how Israel’s actions against Palestinians, stretching back to the state’s settler......
ISIS leader Quraishi kills himself during Syria raid, U.S. says
February 3rd, 20220 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The leader of ISIS died when he blew himself and family members up during a U.S. military raid in Syria, President Biden said on Thursday, dealing a blow to the jihadist group's efforts to reorganize as a guerrilla force after losing large swathes of territory. Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi had led ISIS...
Lebanon security forces bust 17 Israeli spy rings
February 3rd, 20220 Lebanese authorities said on Monday that the country's intelligence and security agencies dismantled 17 Israeli spy rings and made numerous arrests in connection with the network. The spy network was embedded in various aspects of Lebanese society and collected data on politicians and NGOS, specifically targeting Palestinian...
DOJ says Kansas woman led all-female ISIS battalion
February 1st, 20220 The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) has alleged an American woman, Allison Fluke-Ekren, 42, of organizing and leading an all-female military battalion on behalf of ISIS. The DOJ has charged Fluke-Ekren with providing and conspiring to provide material support to ISIS, which the U.S has designated a foreign terrorist...
U.S. doesn’t care for China’s Muslims: Boycotting the Olympics is about global competition
January 28th, 20220 The diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games may go down in history as the official start of the cold war between the U.S., a handful of its allies and China. The American strategy, however, of using boycotts to pressure Beijing in the name of “human rights”, may prove costly in the future. On December......
Lebanon’s Hariri suspends role in politics, will not run in parliamentary election
January 24th, 20220 BEIRUT - In a bombshell announcement, Lebanon's leading Sunni Muslim politician Saad al-Hariri said on Monday he was suspending his role in political life and would not run in a forthcoming parliamentary election. The news comes as the country is tackling a dire financial crisis that has seen the country depend into social and...
Saudi-led coalition’s hysterical attacks on Yemen exacerbates its humanitarian crisis
January 21st, 20220 Saudi-led coalition hysterical attacks have killed at least 20 people in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, as violence has escalated and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the country. Air strikes in the city, the deadliest since 2019, targeted Yemen's Houthi group, killed civilians and struck the home of a high-ranking Houthi military......
Israel draws condemnation for forced removal of Palestinian family, demolition of their home
January 19th, 20220 After a multi-day standoff, Israeli authorities illegally removed a Palestinian family from their home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem and demolished it. Resident Mahmoud Salhiyeh and members of his family took to the roof of the home to defend it on Monday and threatened to blow it up with gas canisters...
Palestinian American man, 80, found dead after being held in Israeli raid
January 13th, 20220 OCCUPIED West Bank — An 80-year-old Palestinian American man was found dead after being detained and handcuffed during an Israeli raid on an occupied West Bank village, Palestinian officials and relatives said on Wednesday. The U.S. State Department said that Omar Abdalmajeed As'ad was a U.S. citizen and that it had sought......
