Israeli prime minister visits Egypt in first official trip in a decade
September 13th, 20210 CAIRO — Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday for talks on Israeli-Palestinian relations and bilateral issues, Egypt's presidency said, in the first official trip by an Israeli head of government to Egypt in a decade. Bennett, the head of a far-right party who took office...
Lebanon agrees new government to tackle economic collapse
September 10th, 20210 BEIRUT - Lebanese leaders agreed a new government led by Sunni Muslim tycoon Najib Mikati on Friday after a year of feuding over cabinet seats that has exacerbated a devastating economic collapse, opening the way to a resumption of talks with the IMF. The breakthrough followed a flurry of contacts with France, which has led efforts to...
Inflationary pressures force Lebanese to make tough choices
September 9th, 20210 BEIRUT — Ibrahim Jaber was laid off when the fast food restaurant where he worked as a chef in Beirut shut down. Unable to find another job, he had to take his daughter out of school to put food on the table at home. He is one of many Lebanese who have found themselves facing staggering inflation just as their employers, also hit...
All-female Afghan robotics team evacuated to Qatar, receives scholarships to continue education
September 8th, 20210 DOHA — Amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, an all-female Afghan robotics team were evacuated to Qatar and will continue their education uninterrupted. The girls’ education will be supported through scholarships from the Qatar Foundation (QF) and Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD). The team will study at the Qatar...
On propaganda and failed narratives: New understanding of Afghanistan is a must
September 6th, 20210 For 20 years, two dominant narratives have shaped our view of the illegal U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, and neither one of these narratives would readily accept the use of such terms as “illegal”, “invasion” and “occupation.” The framing of the U.S. “military intervention” in Afghanistan, starting on...
Ending U.S. support for Israeli racism
September 4th, 20210 Israel and its Zionist supporters do not hesitate to peddle propaganda claiming that it is “the Middle East’s sole democracy.” According to them, Israel is a unique sanctuary of democracy, freedom and pluralism that protects its citizens’ rights. But this is an outright lie. Democracy in Israel only applies to Jewish Israelis,...
Lebanese state’s permission not sought for Iranian fuel, minister says
September 1st, 20210 BEIRUT — The Lebanese government has received no request for fuel to be imported from Iran, the caretaker energy minister said on Wednesday, appearing to confirm that the Shi'a group Hezbollah has bypassed the state with a move to import Iranian fuel. Hezbollah, a heavily armed group founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 1982,...
Yemen gets first batch of J&J COVID-19 vaccines
August 30th, 20210 ADEN — Yemen received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) on Sunday, roughly 151,000 doses, the health ministry said. The desperately poor country, where the health infrastructure has been devastated by six years of war, received 360,000 doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine in March through...
War-hawking talking heads: Why do we keep hearing from the bums who got us into this mess in the first place?
August 27th, 20210 — This article by Abdul El-Sayed originally appeared in the newsletter The Incision. It has been edited for style. Subscribe to The Incision here: incision.substack.com Back in June, well before any of us knew the sordid 20-year American adventure in Afghanistan would come to a crashing end just a few months later, I was asked to...
Emirates allows travelers to Beirut from U.S. and some other countries to bring extra luggage through September
August 26th, 20210 DUBAI – Starting Thursday, Aug. 26 through Sept. 30, Emirates airline's economy class passengers traveling to Beirut from the U.S. and some other countries via Dubai will be eligible to carry an additional piece of luggage totaling 50 lbs. The additional baggage allowance will help customers pack extra items to support family and...
Dozens killed in deadly blasts at Kabul airport as U.S. seals gates, leaving thousands of Afghans
August 26th, 20210 Suicide bombings claimed by ISIS killed dozens at the crowded Kabul airport gates on Thursday, causing havoc and chaos during the final days of the Western airlift of its allies. Kabul health officials were quoted as saying 60 civilians were killed, including children. Earlier reports said at least 52 were wounded, while witnesses...
Israel’s new leader to present Iran plan in delayed White House visit
August 25th, 20210 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Overshadowed by events in Afghanistan, the first White House meeting between President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was postponed until Friday. The Israeli leader is expected to push Biden to harden his approach to Iran, with few prospects their talks will lead to renewed movement on peace talks...
The quiet rebellion: Why U.S. Jews turning against Israel is good for Palestinians
August 20th, 20210 A unique but critical conversation on Israel and Palestine is taking place outside the traditional discourse of Israeli colonialism and the Palestinian quest for liberation. It is an awkward and difficult — but overdue — discussion concerning American Jews’ relation to Israel and their commitment to its Zionist ideology. For...
Taliban urges Afghan unity as protests spread to Kabul
August 20th, 20210 The Taliban called on Afghanistan's imams to urge unity when they hold their first Friday prayers since the Islamist group seized control of the country, as protests against the takeover spread to more cities on Thursday, including the capital Kabul. Several people were killed when Taliban militants fired on a crowd in the eastern...
“U.S.-Lebanon Friendship” congressional caucus calls for action on deteriorating situation
August 19th, 20210 A group of lawmakers wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power, calling on U.S. support towards Lebanon’s deteriorating economic and political situation. U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn), Charlie Crist (D-FL), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and Darin LaHood (R-IL), co-chairs of the......
Afghanistan: Contours of a catastrophe
August 17th, 20210 — This article by Abdul El-Sayed originally appeared in the newsletter The Incision. It has been edited for style. Subscribe to The Incision here: incision.substack.com On Sunday, our wayward 20-year war effort in Afghanistan suffered its final death blow. The Taliban rode the U.S.-manufactured Humvees captured from Afghan...
Rush on Kabul airport as Afghans flee Taliban takeover
August 16th, 20210 KABUL — Afghans rushed onto the tarmac of the capital’s airport on Monday as thousands tried to flee the country after the Taliban seized power with stunning speed. Some clung to the side of a U.S. military transport plane before takeoff, in a widely shared video that captured the sense of desperation as America’s 20-year war......
CIA director Burns holds talks in Israel, with focus on Iran
August 12th, 20210 JERUSALEM — U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns held talks in Israel on Wednesday with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, with Iran high on their agenda, an Israeli statement said. Regional tensions have risen over an attack on July 29 on an Israeli-managed tanker off the coast of Oman that Israel, the U.S. and...
U.S. foreign policy adrift: Why Washington is no longer calling the shots
August 11th, 20210 Jonah Goldberg and Michael Ledeen have much in common. They are both writers and also cheerleaders for military interventions and, often, for frivolous wars. Writing in the conservative rag, The National Review, months before the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Goldberg paraphrased a statement which he attributed to Ledeen with reference...
Lebanon’s Aoun shields patriarch after he urged halt to rockets
August 10th, 20210 BEIRUT — On Tuesday, President Michel Aoun condemned criticism of Lebanon's Christian Maronite patriarch after he expressed opposition to the Iran-backed Shi'a group Hezbollah, warning that insults must be avoided to safeguard national unity. Following a cross-border salvo between Israel and Hezbollah, Patriarch Bechara Boutros...
Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel trade cross-border fire amid Iran tensions
August 6th, 20210 The Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets towards Israeli forces on Friday, drawing fire from Israel into south Lebanon, in a third day of cross-border salvoes amid wider regional tensions with Iran. Suggesting its attack was calibrated to avoid further escalation, Hezbollah said it had targeted open ground......
Israeli defense minister threatens Iran with military action, airstrikes launched into Lebanon
August 5th, 20210 Israel’s defense minister warned Thursday that his country is prepared to strike Iran, issuing the threat against the Islamic Republic after a fatal drone strike on a oil tanker at sea that his nation blamed on Tehran. The comments by Benny Gantz come as Israel lobbies countries for action at the U.N. over last week’s attack on...
HRW report: Some officials saw risk of Beirut blast, did not act
August 3rd, 20210 BEIRUT — A report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Tuesday concluded there was strong evidence to suggest some Lebanese officials knew about and tacitly accepted the lethal risks posed by ammonium nitrate stored at Beirut port before the fatal blast there on Aug. 4 last year. HRW called for a U.N. investigation into the......
FBI probe shows amount of chemicals in Beirut blast was a fraction of original shipment
August 1st, 20210 BEIRUT — The amount of ammonium nitrate that blew up at Beirut port last year was one fifth of the shipment unloaded there in 2013, the FBI concluded after the blast, adding to suspicions that much of the cargo had gone missing. As the first anniversary approaches on Aug. 4, major questions remain unanswered, including how a huge...
Human Rights Watch says Israel committed “war crimes” in Gaza
July 27th, 20210 A report by the independent human rights agency Human Rights Watch (HRW) says its investigations show that Israeli air strikes had targeted areas where there was no evident military presence and that its action amount to war crimes under international law. Israel insisted throughout its latest multi-week bombardment of Gaza, on which......
