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...
Sisi calls for big turnout in upcoming Egyptian presidential election
March 16th, 20180 CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Thursday his government had fulfilled its promises during his first term and called on Egyptians to vote in large numbers in an election where he is seeking a second term in office. The former army chief is widely expected to win by a huge margin in the March 26-28 vote, since...
Houthis and Saudi Arabia in secret talks to end war in Yemen
March 16th, 20180 RIYADH/SANAA — Saudi Arabia and its adversaries in Yemen's armed Houthi movement are holding secret talks to try to end a three-year-old war that has unleashed the world's worst humanitarian crisis, diplomats and Yemeni political sources said. A Saudi-led coalition is fighting to counter the influence of Riyadh's arch-foe Iran, an......
Interview with Sheikh Naim Qassem: We don’t expect Israel to launch war against Lebanon, but Hezbollah is ready for one
March 16th, 20180 BEIRUT — Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah does not expect its arch foe Israel to launch a war for now in Lebanon but is prepared for one, the deputy leader of the group told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. As the war in Syria enters its eighth year, Sheikh Naim Qassem also said there was no end in sight to the conflict which would...
Saudi crown prince: Saudi Arabia will develop nuclear bomb if Iran does
March 16th, 20180 RIYADH — Saudi Arabia will develop nuclear weapons if its arch-rival Iran does so, the kingdom's crown prince said in remarks released on Thursday, raising the prospect of a nuclear arms race in a region already riven with conflict. "Saudi Arabia does not want to acquire any nuclear bomb, but without a doubt if Iran developed a......
Hariri: Lebanon plans to boost army presence on southern border
March 16th, 20180 ROME — Lebanon plans to increase its military presence along its southern border with Israel, Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said on Thursday at a meeting in Rome, where he is seeking financial support for the armed forces. Some 40 countries participated in the meeting, along with United Nations Secretary General Antonio...
Stephen Hawking, who unlocked the secrets of space and time, dies at 76
March 14th, 20180 LONDON ― Stephen Hawking, who sought to explain the origins of the universe, the mysteries of black holes and the nature of time itself, died on Wednesday aged 76. Hawking’s formidable mind probed the very limits of human understanding both in the vastness of space and in the bizarre sub-molecular world of quantum theory,...
Russia says U.S. plans to strike Damascus, pledges military retaliation
March 13th, 20180 MOSCOW - Russia said on Tuesday it had information that the United States planned to bomb the government quarter in Damascus on an invented pretext, and said it would respond militarily if it felt Russian lives were threatened by such an attack. Rebels in the enclave of eastern Ghouta were planning to fake a chemical weapons attack...
White House hosts meeting on Gaza crisis without Palestinians participation
March 13th, 20180 WASHINGTON - The White House on Tuesday hosted 19 nations, including Israel and Arab Gulf states, to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but the Palestinian Authority boycotted the meeting, angered by the Trump administration’s policies on Jerusalem. President Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy in December, when he decided to......
Iran won’t negotiate with West over regional presence, missile program
March 9th, 20180 TEHRAN/PARIS — Iran will not negotiate with the West over its presence in the Middle East, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Thursday, a few days after France's visiting foreign minister sought to raise Tehran's role in regional conflicts. Jean-Yves Le Drian flew to Tehran on Monday with a brief to reaffirm European...
Iraq’s militias formally inducted into security forces
March 9th, 20180 BAGHDAD — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi issued a decree on Thursday formalizing the inclusion of mostly Shi'a paramilitary groups in the country's security forces. According to the decree, members of the militias, an assortment of militia groups known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), will be granted many......
UNIFIL says ‘no appetite’ for war as Lebanon, Israel talk about border dispute
March 9th, 20180 NAQOURA, LEBANON — Lebanon and Israel have been holding talks nearly every day over a border dispute that has raised tensions between the two enemy states, according to the U.N. peacekeeping force on the frontier that is mediating their discussions. "There is a full engagement from all the sides and there have been meetings almost...
Netanyahu warns U.S. lawmakers about Saudi nuclear power deal
March 9th, 20180 WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. and Saudi negotiators have yet to reach a deal to allow American companies to build nuclear power reactors in the kingdom, but the idea is already getting pushback from Israeli Prime Minister and Trump ally Benjamin Netanyahu. On Tuesday, Netanyahu, during a closed door meeting with the Senate Foreign......
