Trump agrees to keep U.S. troops in Syria a ‘little longer,’ but wants out
April 4th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump agreed in a National Security Council meeting this week to keep U.S. troops in Syria a little longer to defeat Islamic State but wants them out relatively soon, a senior administration official said on Wednesday. Trump did not approve a specific withdrawal timetable at Tuesday’s meeting, the...
Saudi crown prince: Israelis have right to their own land
April 3rd, 20180 RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said in a published interview that Israelis are entitled to live peacefully on their own land, another public sign of an apparent thawing in ties between the two countries. Asked if he believes the Jewish people have a right to a nation state in at least part of what they consider their...
Egypt’s Sisi wins 97 percent in election with no real opposition
April 2nd, 20180 CAIRO – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been re-elected with 97 percent of votes, the same proportion that the former military commander secured four years ago for his first term but with a lower turnout, official results showed on Monday. Turnout was 41 percent, despite efforts to get as many Egyptians as possible to...
National security veterans urge Trump not to scrap Iran nuclear deal
March 30th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — A bipartisan group of more than 100 U.S. national security experts — including nearly 50 retired military officers and more than 30 former ambassadors — is urging President Trump to remain in the Iran nuclear deal as sources say it is becoming increasingly likely he will withdraw. The statement titled "Keep...
Egypt’s Sisi heads for landslide election win with low turnout
March 30th, 20180 CAIRO — President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi cruised toward a landslide election victory against no real opposition but early results showed a lower turnout than the vote that brought him to power in 2014, despite efforts to get more Egyptians to the polls. The vote this week had long been set to hand Sisi a second term after a crackdown...
U.N. Security Council condemns Houthi missile attacks on Saudi Arabia
March 30th, 20180 UNITED NATIONS — On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council condemned a barrage of missile attacks against Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Houthi group and expressed grave concern at reports of violations of an U.N. arms embargo on Houthi leaders. In a statement, the 15-member Security Council expressed alarm at a Houthi threat to...
European powers face resistance to Iran sanctions to save nuclear deal
March 30th, 20180 BRUSSELS/PARIS — France, Britain and Germany are struggling to persuade their E.U. partners to back new sanctions on Iran to preserve its nuclear deal, diplomats said, with Italy doubting whether the measures can stop the United States from pulling out in May. At a closed-door meeting of E.U. ambassadors in Brussels on Wednesday,...
Russia orders out 60 U.S. diplomats over spy poisoning affair
March 30th, 20180 MOSCOW — Russia expelled 60 U.S. diplomats on Thursday and announced it would eject scores from other countries that have joined London and Washington in censuring Moscow over the poisoning of a spy. The U.S. ambassador was also ordered to shut the consulate in St. Petersburg, in Russia's retaliation for the biggest expulsion of...
Russia: The Syrian offensive in eastern Ghouta is almost over
March 30th, 20180 BEIRUT — The massive Russian-backed Syrian military offensive in the suburbs east of Damascus is almost over, with rebels holed up in just a single town after abandoning the rest of the eastern Ghouta enclave, Moscow declared on Thursday. Russia and the rebel faction controlling Douma, the last Ghouta town still in insurgent hands,...
Lebanese cleric’s piano playing strikes wrong note for some
March 30th, 20180 BEIRUT — A Muslim cleric has been expelled from his seminary in Lebanon after a video of his piano playing, posted online, drew criticism from conservatives who felt it was undignified behavior for a man of the cloth, he said. Shi'a Muslim Sayed Hussein al-Husseini, 38, a keen pianist and amateur poet, posted the footage to...
Saudi Arabia must face U.S. lawsuits over Sept. 11 attacks
March 29th, 20180 NEW YORK — A federal judge on Wednesday rejected Saudi Arabia’s bid to dismiss lawsuits claiming that it helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and should pay billions of dollars in damages to victims. U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan said the plaintiffs’ allegations “narrowly articulate a reasonable basis”...
Destroyed by ISIS, ancient winged bull rises again in London
March 28th, 20180 LONDON — An ancient Assyrian winged bull sculpture destroyed by ISIS fighters in 2015 and subsequently recast in recycled Middle Eastern food packaging went on display in London’s Trafalgar Square on Wednesday. The work by American artist Michael Rakowitz is the latest of 11 to be commissioned to occupy the square’s fourth...
Activists rename Dutch streets to honor Ahed Tamimi
March 27th, 20180 Activists in the Netherlands changed main street names in 13 Dutch cities on 23 March, placing placards that read “Ahed Tamimi street.” MovementX and DocP, two Dutch organizations that advocate for Palestinian rights, posted the street signs in Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Groningen, Leeuwarden, Grijpskerk, Assen, Leiden,...
Barrage of missiles on Saudi Arabia ramps up Yemen war
March 26th, 20180 RIYADH/SANAA — The Houthi movement that controls northern Yemen vowed on Monday to fire more missiles into Saudi Arabia unless it stops bombing the country, after one of its missiles caused casualties in the Saudi capital for the first time. The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis accused them of using Iranian-made missiles....
Syrian rebels blame each other for their defeat in eastern Ghouta
March 26th, 20180 BEIRUT - Syrian rebel factions are blaming each other for opening the way to their defeat near Damascus, underlining splits that plagued the armed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad since its earliest days. The rivalry between the factions of eastern Ghouta - Failaq al-Rahman and Jaish al-Islam - had led to the effective......
Macron pressured to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia, UAE
March 23rd, 20180 PARIS — Two rights groups have given the French government two months to halt weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates or face legal action, adding to pressure on President Emmanuel Macron to scale back support of a Riyadh-led offensive in Yemen. The action comes as some European states, notably Germany, have...
Germany condemns Turkish military offensive in Syria
March 23rd, 20181 BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday Turkey's military offensive in Syria's northern town of Afrin was unacceptable and she criticized Russia for "just watching" the continuing attacks by Syrian forces on eastern Ghouta. Speaking in the lower house of parliament, Merkel said the government also condemned the......
Khamenei: Iran played significant role in defeating ISIS in region
March 23rd, 20180 BEIRUT — Iran played a significant role in defeating ISIS in the Middle East and has brought stability to most of the region, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday. Iran has been locked in a regional power struggle with Saudi Arabia that has spilled into the wars in Syria and Yemen, where they have backed opposing...
Trump’s red-carpet reception for Saudi crown prince: Give us your money!
March 23rd, 20180 WASHINGTON — President Trump gave a warm welcome to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday and credited U.S. defense sales to the Saudis with boosting American jobs, even as Riyadh's involvement in Yemen's civil war faced criticism. In the Oval Office, Trump and the crown prince praised the strength of U.S.-Saudi...
Syria rebels depart eastern Ghouta town on government buses in first surrender
March 23rd, 20180 BEIRUT/DAMASCUS — Syrian rebels withdrew in busloads from a town in eastern Ghouta on Thursday and handed it over to the Syrian army, the first such surrender since one of the fiercest campaigns of the seven-year war began more than a month ago. The Ahrar al-Sham group's decision to accept the army's terms and abandon the town of...
Saudi Arabia opens its airspace for flights to Israel, ending 70-year-old ban
March 22nd, 20180 TEL AVIV - Saudi Arabia opened its airspace for the first time to a commercial flight to Israel with the inauguration on Thursday of an Air India route between New Delhi and Tel Aviv. Air India 139 landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport after a flight of over 7-1/2 hours, marking a diplomatic shift for Riyadh that Israel says was......
Mattis tells Saudi Crown Prince: Urgent need to find end to Yemen’s war
March 22nd, 20180 WASHINGTON - Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday there was an urgent need to find a political solution to Yemen’s war, as he voiced hope for a U.N. special envoy’s peace efforts and firmly backed Riyadh. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in neighboring Yemen in 2015 against Houthis...
Hezbollah leader says Lebanon public finances threaten disaster
March 21st, 20180 BEIRUT — The leader of Lebanon’s powerful Hezbollah group, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said on Wednesday that the deeply indebted country faced disaster if it continued on the same financial path. Iran-backed Hezbollah is part of Lebanon’s coalition government and wields extensive influence in Lebanese politics. Nasrallah was......
Iran, Yemen in focus as Trump and Saudi prince meet at White House
March 20th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. ― President Trump and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will discuss tensions with Iran and a Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen which has come under criticism in Congress when they meet on Tuesday. Their talks at the White House are part of the first visit by the prince to the United States since...French judge issues arrest warrant for daughter of Saudi king
PARIS — A French judge has issued an international arrest warrant for the daughter of Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz in relation to an attack by her bodyguard against a worker in her Parisian flat, a source close to the investigation said. Princess Hassa bint Salman is the sister of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and is......
