Lebanon energy minister blames fuel shortage on Syria smuggling
April 16th, 20210 BEIRUT - Lebanon's caretaker energy minister on Thursday blamed the country's fuel crisis on profiteers who smuggle gasoline into neighboring Syria. At a Cabinet meeting to discuss the issue, Raymond Ghajar said the gap in gasoline prices between the two countries meant smugglers could make huge profits. "The price of 20 liters of...
Israel rejects ICC investigation: What are the possible future scenarios?
April 14th, 20210 The Israeli government’s position regarding an impending investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of alleged war crimes committed in occupied Palestine has been finally declared by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “It will be made clear that Israel is a country with rule of law that knows how to...
Egypt impounds ship that got stuck in Suez Canal, wants $900 million in compensation
April 14th, 20210 EGYPT — An Egyptian court has ordered the Japanese owner of the massive "Ever Given" cargo ship that got stuck in the Suez Canal last month to pay $900 million in compensation for the impact on economic transit it caused. The ship is now impounded and its cargo seized by Egyptian authorities. The authorities say the...
Ship owned by Israeli firm attacked off UAE coast, media reports
April 13th, 20210 DUBAI — A commercial vessel owned by an Israeli firm was attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in Gulf waters, pro-Iran media and an Israeli television channel said on Tuesday. Israel’s top-rated Channel 12 quoted unnamed Israeli officials as blaming arch-foe Iran for the assault, which it described as a missile...
Israel pledges to work with U.S. on Iran
April 11th, 20210 JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister pledged on Sunday to cooperate with the U.S. on Iran, voicing hope that Israeli security would be safeguarded under any renewed Iranian nuclear deal that Washington reaches. “Israel views the United States as a full partner across all operational theatres, not the least Iran,” Benny Gantz...
U.S. restores assistance for Palestinians, to provide $235 million in aid
April 8th, 20210 WASHINGTON, D.C./WEST BANK — On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced it would provide $235 million in U.S. aid to the Palestinians, restarting funding for the United Nations agency supporting refugees and restoring other assistance cut off by former President Trump. The package, including humanitarian, economic and...
From his solitary confinement, Marwan Barghouti holds the key to Fatah’s Future
April 8th, 20210 If imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti becomes the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), the status quo will change substantially. For Israel, as well as for the current PA president, Mahmoud Abbas, such a scenario is more dangerous than another strong Hamas showing in the upcoming Palestinian parliamentary...
Royal rift, economic hardship shake Jordan’s stability
April 8th, 20210 AMMAN — Unprecedented public criticism of Jordan’s monarchy by a senior royal who has been placed under house arrest has shaken the country’s image as an island of stability in the Middle East. On April 3, Jordan’s military told King Abdullah’s half brother, Prince Hamza bin Hussein, 41, to halt actions targeting...
Netanyahu’s favours were ‘currency’, prosecutor says as corruption trial starts
April 5th, 20210 JERUSALEM - An Israeli prosecutor told a court on Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had helped a business couple to clinch deals worth hundred of millions of shekels in exchange for favourable coverage of him on a news website they controlled. Speaking at the opening of Netanyahu’s corruption trial, state prosecutor Liat...
Kafkaesque politics: The missing lessons from Israel’s latest elections
April 3rd, 20210 A “major setback” was the recurring term in many news headlines reporting on the outcome of Israel’s general elections of March 23. While this depiction specifically referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to secure a decisive victory in the country’s fourth elections in two years, this is only part of...
Iran, world powers to discuss U.S. return to nuclear deal, compliance
April 3rd, 20210 PARIS – Officials from Iran, China, Russia, France, Germany and Britain met virtually on Friday to discuss a possible return of the United States to the 2015 nuclear deal, the European Union said in a statement on Thursday. The Biden administration has been seeking to engage Iran in talks about both sides resuming compliance with the...
Yemen receives first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines
April 2nd, 20210 Yemen received a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines this week, after the country’s internationally recognized government declared a national health emergency. Though the actual figures are believed to be much higher, Yemen’s emergency coronavirus committee has recorded more than 4,100 coronavirus infections and 864 deaths so far. The...
Lebanese president Aoun fears chaos as crisis bites
April 2nd, 20210 BEIRUT — Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun said on Wednesday the country could face chaos before it can recover from a financial meltdown. Crushed under a mountain of debt and decades of graft, Lebanon has plunged into its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. Aoun, a former army commander, and Saad al-Hariri, a three-time...
Stuck ship partially freed in the Suez Canal
March 29th, 20210 EGYPT — Ever Given, the 224,000-ton container ship that has captured the world's attention in recent days as it remained stuck in the Suez Canal for nearly a week, has been partially dislodged, though more work is required before it is fully afloat. The Suez Canal in Egypt is one of the world's busiest trade-ways. It is estimated...
Lebanon’s largest Christian bloc warns against sidelining president
March 27th, 20210 BEIRUT — Lebanon’s largest Christian bloc, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), warned prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri on Saturday against sidelining President Michel Aoun and other parliamentary blocs in talks over forming a cabinet. Hariri and Aoun have been at loggerheads over the cabinet for months, dashing hopes of a......
U.S. special envoy for Yemen travels to Middle East, Houthis agree to continued talks
March 26th, 20210 WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Special Envoy Tim Lenderking was scheduled to travel to the Middle East on Thursday, to press a plan for a ceasefire in Yemen, talks on settling its civil war and an end to the humanitarian catastrophe that it has caused, the U.S. State Department announced. Lenderking’s trip was expected to include...
Netanyahu’s future uncertain amid Israeli election stalemate
March 24th, 20210 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s prospects for another term looked uncertain on Wednesday after partial results from a national election projected no clear path to victory. Not even his stewardship of Israel’s world-beating COVID-19 vaccination rollout — a central pillar of his campaign — proved enough for......
Khamenei says U.S. promises have no credibility for Iran
March 21st, 20210 TEHRAN — Iran does not trust U.S. promises on lifting sanctions and will only return to its commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal once Washington fully removes the measures, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday. The administration of President Biden is exploring ways to restore the 2015 nuclear deal that...
Biden’s China policy likely to be doomed from the start
March 21st, 20210 A much anticipated American foreign policy move under the Biden administration on how to counter China’s unhindered economic growth and political ambitions came in the form of a virtual summit on March 12, linking, aside from the United States, India, Australia and Japan. Although the so-called “Quad” revealed nothing new in...
Palestinian killed by Israeli troops during clashes – witness
March 19th, 20210 BEIT DAJAN - Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian on Friday as demonstrators protesting against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank hurled rocks at soldiers, a Reuters witness said. The man was shot in the head during a protest near the villlage of Beit Dajan, near Nablus, and was taken to a hospital where he later died,...
Born into conflict, 10-year old Syrian child is family’s breadwinner
March 15th, 20210 ALEPPO — Mohammed Abu Rdan has known nothing but conflict throughout his short life. Born in rural Aleppo in 2011 when peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s government began, his childhood is anything but typical. The protests quickly turned into a multi-sided conflict that has sucked in world powers,......
Roadblocks cleared in Lebanon after week of protests
March 12th, 20210 BEIRUT — Growing resentment and outrage among the Lebanese led to eight days of protests this week, with protesters using burnt tires to block roadways across the country in anger over the nation's economic meltdown and political deadlock amid a pandemic lockdown. The Lebanese army said on Wednesday it had started clearing...
“Is this who we are?”: Gitmo is America’s enduring shame
March 10th, 20210 “That’s certainly our goal and our intention.” This was the non-committal answer given by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki when, on February 12, she was asked by a reporter whether the new Joe Biden administration intends to shut down the notorious Guantánamo Bay Prison by the end of the president’s first term in......
Syria’s President Assad and his wife test positive for COVID-19
March 8th, 20210 SYRIA — Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma, have tested positive for COVID-19 after showing minor symptoms, his office said on Monday. The Syrian leader and his spouse, who announced her recovery from breast cancer in 2019, were in good health and would keep working in isolation at home, the statement...
Biden is on the verge of making the same dangerous mistakes as his predecessors
March 7th, 20210 By Frank Giustra and Andrew Bacevich If the escalating tensions between the United States and China aren't causing you concern yet, you've not been paying attention. Any conflict between the two superpowers would result in unimaginable devastation — if not physical, at least economic. And don't forget: Both China and the United......
