U.S. urges post-election Lebanon to uphold regional policy
May 8th, 20180 BEIRUT ― The United States urged Lebanon to uphold a policy of staying out of regional wars and a U.N. Security Council resolution that sought Hezbollah’s disarmament, after the Iran-backed group and its allies won more than half the seats in Sunday’s election. The United States views Hezbollah as a terrorist group and is...
Hezbollah allies gain seats in Lebanon parliamentary elections
May 7th, 20180 BEIRUT - Hezbollah and its political allies won just over half the seats in Lebanon’s parliamentary elections, unofficial results showed, boosting an Iranian-backed movement fiercely opposed to Israel and underlining Tehran’s growing regional clout. Hezbollah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, called it a “political and moral...
Trump via Twitter: I will announce my decision on Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday
May 7th, 20180 WASHINGTON - President Trump said he would announce a decision on the future of the Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday as European countries piled pressure on Washington to remain in the 2015 agreement. Trump has threatened to withdraw from the deal, which provided Iran with relief from economic sanctions in exchange for limiting its...
U.S. Embassy road signs go up in Jerusalem
May 7th, 20180 JERUSALEM ― U.S. Embassy road signs went up in Jerusalem on Monday ahead of next week’s opening of the mission in accordance with President Donald Trump’s recognition of the city as Israel’s capital. Trump says he is making good on U.S. legislation and presidential pledges dating back decades. Other world powers have not...
Mahmoud Abbas re-elected as chairman of PLO executive committee
May 4th, 20180 RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was re-elected as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee on Friday, as the veteran leader sought to renew his legitimacy while installing loyalists who he hopes will eventually continue his mission. The expected reappointment...
Yemen risks new cholera outbreak as rainy season begins
May 4th, 20180 SANAA — Yemen's rainy season will likely trigger another wave of cholera, putting millions at risk in the war-torn country, which is still reeling from one of the world's worst outbreaks of the killer disease, scientists warned on Thursday. Experts also called for a public health campaign during Ramadan, which begins mid-May, after...
Syria: Militants agree to withdraw from enclaves near Homs and Damascus
May 4th, 20180 BEIRUT — Syrian militants accepted a deal on Wednesday to quit their enclave near Homs city, a militant official said, as the Syrian army crushes the last two besieged insurgent pockets in the country. The agreement, which Russia brokered, would restore state rule, with fighters handing over their heavy weapons, the Syrian official...
Al-Ahram: Egypt says sending Arab troops to Syria a possibility
May 4th, 20180 CAIRO - Sending Arab troops to Syria is a possibility that is being discussed by officials from various countries, Egypt’s foreign minister was quoted as saying in a state newspaper on Friday. “In regards to the situation in Syria, Shoukry said that the idea of replacing forces with another that may be Arab is a possibility,”...
U.S. returns thousands of smuggled ancient artifacts to Iraq
May 2nd, 20180 WASHINGTON - About 3,800 artifacts, including Sumerian cuneiform tablets dating to 2100 B.C., that were illegally smuggled to retailer Hobby Lobby Stores Inc were returned to Iraqi officials in Washington on Wednesday, according to Reuters. U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement officials signed over the artifacts to Iraqi Ambassador...
Syria: Militants agree to withdraw from enclaves near Homs and Damascus
May 2nd, 20180 BEIRUT - Syrian militants accepted a deal on Wednesday to quit their enclave near Homs city, a militant official said, as the Syrian army crushes the last two besieged insurgent pockets in the country. The agreement, which Russia brokered, would restore state rule, with fighters handing over their heavy weapons, the Syrian official in...
Pushing to bury Iran deal, Israel insists nobody wants war with Tehran
May 1st, 20180 TEL AVIV — Israel said on Tuesday it does not seek war with Iran, a day after presenting purported evidence of past Iranian nuclear arms work, but suggested President Trump backed its latest attempt to kill a deal aimed at curbing Iran’s atomic ambitions. A senior Israeli official said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had...
Syria donors fall short without U.S. aid, warn of cruel end-game
April 26th, 20180 BRUSSELS ― International donors raised $4.4 billion in emergency aid for Syria and its neighbors this year on Wednesday, but the total fell well short of the U.N. target for 2018 after the United States failed to submit a pledge. Humanitarian agencies also pleaded for peace before the Syrian military and its Russian and Iranian...
Toronto Police: Van driver kills nine, injures 16 plowing his rental vehicle into a crowd
April 23rd, 20180 TORONTO - A driver plowed his white Ryder rental van into a crowd, killing nine people and injuring 16 along a roughly mile-long stretch of busy Toronto sidewalk during lunch hour on a sunny Monday afternoon, police said. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) identified the suspect as Alek Minassian, 25, without identifying its...
Bride among 20 killed, 50 wounded in Saudi-led airstrike that hit wedding in Yemen
April 23rd, 20180 SANAA - At least 20 people including the bride were killed when an air strike by the Saudi-led coalition hit a wedding party in northern Yemen, health officials have said. The dead were mostly women and children gathered in a tent set up for the wedding in the Bani Qayis district, according to Khaled al-Nadhri, the leading health...
OPCW inspectors have samples from alleged Douma’s chemical attack site
April 22nd, 20180 DAMASCUS- A team of inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) visited a site in Douma, Syria on Saturday to collect samples as it tries to determine whether such weapons were used there on April 7, the agency said. In a statement, the OPCW said it would now evaluate and consider whether the team......
Hundreds of refugees return to Syria from Lebanon
April 18th, 20180 SHEBAA, Lebanon — Several hundred Syrians who have lived for years as refugees in Lebanon left for their home country on Wednesday in a rare case of a mass return of those who left the country since the Syrian civil war began in 2011. Nearly 500 people, including children and the elderly, left the Shebaa area in southeast Lebanon in...
Syrian air defenses shoot down missiles in Homs
April 16th, 20180 AMMAN - Syrian anti-aircraft defenses shot down missiles that hit the Syrian air base of Shayrat in Homs province late Monday night, Syrian state television said. State television showed pictures of a missile that was shot in the air above the air base only days after a U.S., British and French attack on Syrian targets in retaliation......
France announces 50 million euro humanitarian aid for Syria
April 16th, 20180 PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday France will contribute 50 million euros ($61.9 million) toward urgent humanitarian aid for Syria following a meeting with a group of non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Paris. “This evening I brought together NGOs working on the ground in Syria. Faced with the...
Four Arab states stick by Qatar demands despite U.S. pressure to end rift
April 13th, 20180 CAIRO – Four Arab states who cut relations with Qatar over its close ties with Iran and Turkey are sticking to an ultimatum they issued the Gulf state last year, Egypt’s MENA news agency said on Thursday, despite U.S. pressure for a swift end to the dispute. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates sent Doha a...
Progress in Iran deal talks, but Trump stance uncertain
April 13th, 20180 WASHINGTON/PARIS – European officials are making headway toward an agreement to address U.S. concerns about the Iran nuclear deal, a European diplomat said on Thursday, but a second diplomat said it was unclear if President Trump would embrace their work. Senior diplomats from the three European nations that are party to the deal...
Fashionably late: Saudi Arabia hosts its first-ever fashion week
April 13th, 20180 RIYADH – Fashionable women, dark-haired Saudis and blonde Eastern Europeans alike, fill the gold-trimmed halls of Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel, marking the start of Saudi Arabia’s first-ever fashion week. Models and makeup artists preparing for the inaugural Saudi episode of Arab Fashion Week said they were surprised the event......
Israeli forces kill more Palestinians as Gaza border tension simmers
April 13th, 20180 GAZA – An Israeli air strike on Thursday killed a Hamas gunman and wounded another and troops later shot dead a man close to the border, Palestinian medical officials said, as tensions across the Gaza Strip border simmered. Israel said the air strike was launched in response to a bomb attack on a military vehicle on the Gaza border...
Spain signs $2.2 billion deal to sell warships to Saudi Arabia
April 13th, 20180 MADRID — On Thursday, Spain signed a framework deal to sell Saudi Arabia warships worth around $2.2 billion, a Spanish Defense Ministry source said. Under the agreement, Spanish state-owned shipbuilder Navantia will sell five small warships, Spain's army will train Saudi military personnel and contractors will build a naval......
Trump says decisions coming “very soon or not so soon at all” on Syria action
April 12th, 20180 WASHINGTON/LONDON - President Trump and his national security aides on Thursday discussed U.S. options on Syria, where he has threatened missile strikes in response to a suspected poison gas attack, as a Russian envoy voiced fears of wider conflict between Washington and Moscow. Fears of confrontation between Russia, Syria’s big...
Missiles ‘will be coming’ to Syria, Trump warns Russia
April 11th, 20180 WASHINGTON/BEIRUT — President Trump warned Russia on Wednesday of imminent military action in Syria over a suspected poison gas attack, declaring that missiles “will be coming” and lambasting Moscow for standing by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Trump was reacting to a warning from Russia on Tuesday that any U.S. missiles......
