U.S. envoy visits Beirut, mediating in Lebanon-Israel dispute
February 23rd, 20180 BEIRUT — A senior U.S. diplomat met Lebanese officials on Wednesday in Beirut as part of a U.S. shuttle diplomacy effort to resolve tensions between Israel and Lebanon over a border wall and energy drilling in disputed waters. Disputes over Israeli construction of the border wall, Lebanon's start of oil and gas exploration at sea...
Netanyahu’s confidant becomes state witness in corruption case
February 23rd, 20180 TEL AVIV — A confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to turn state's witness in one of several corruption investigations posing a serious threat to the conservative leader's political survival, local media said. Shlomo Filber's decision to testify for the state against his former boss is a dramatic turn for...
Fighting intensifies in eastern Ghouta as UN pleads for ceasefire
February 23rd, 20180 The United Nations Security Council will vote on Friday on a draft resolution demanding a 30-day truce in Syria to allow aid deliveries and medical evacuations, but it was not immediately clear if the text had won the support of Syrian ally Russia. The vote comes as warplanes pounded eastern Ghouta, the last rebel enclave near Syria's...
Pro-Syrian government forces enters Afrin to aid Kurds against Turkey
February 23rd, 20180 ANKARA/BEIRUT — Pro-Syrian government forces entered Syria's northwestern Afrin region on Tuesday to help a Kurdish militia there fend off a Turkish assault, raising the prospect of a wider escalation of the conflict. Soon after the convoy of militia fighters - waving Syrian flags and brandishing weapons - entered Afrin, Syrian...
Lebanon arrests former ISIS financial official, operative
February 21st, 20180 BEIRUT — Lebanese intelligence arrested a man on Wednesday they believe was a financial official for ISIS in Syria, a security source said. The Syrian, arrested in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, was responsible for collecting money for the militant group in Albu Kamal, a city in eastern Syria, before ISIS was expelled from...
Syria pro-government enters Afrin to aid Kurds against Turkey
February 20th, 20180 ANKARA/BEIRUT - Pro-Syrian government forces entered Syria’s northwestern Afrin region on Tuesday to help a Kurdish militia there fend off a Turkish assault, raising the prospect of a wider escalation of the conflict. Soon after the convoy of militia fighters - waving Syrian flags and brandishing weapons - entered Afrin, Syrian...
Donor meeting on Lebanon economy set for April 6 in Paris
February 20th, 20180 BEIRUT — A major donor meeting aimed at gathering support for Lebanon’s economy will take place on April 6 in Paris, a Lebanese government source said on Tuesday. The Cedre conference, also known as Paris IV, will be one of three international meetings due this year at which Lebanon will seek support for its economy and army, and...
Egyptian firm to buy $15 billion of Israeli natural gas
February 20th, 20180 TEL AVIV - An Egyptian company will buy $15 billion of Israeli natural gas in two 10-year agreements announced on Monday, a major deal that Israel hopes will strengthen diplomatic ties. The partners in Israel’s Tamar and Leviathan offshore gas fields said they would supply the private Egyptian firm Dolphinus Holdings with around 64...
U.N. Security Council mulls Saudi praise for Yemen aid pledge
February 16th, 20180 UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council is considering a British proposal to praise Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for pledging nearly $1 billion to ease Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, even as U.N. experts accuse a Saudi-led military coalition of using “the threat of starvation as an instrument of war” in...
‘Qoudud’ returns to war-torn Aleppo
February 16th, 20180 ALEPPO, Syria — Traditional musicians in Syria's Aleppo say their art is flourishing again 13 months after fighting in the city ended, as new students learn the techniques of "Qoudud" singing. At the National Choral Institute in Aleppo, singing coach Ahmed Kedah said he has between 30 and 50 pupils, including both school children...
U.N.: Bombs will litter Mosul for years
February 16th, 20180 GENEVA — The Iraqi city of Mosul will remain sprinkled with unexploded bombs for a decade, endangering a million or more civilians who want to return home following the end of three years of ISIS occupation, a U.N. demining expert said. Pehr Lodhammar, a senior program manager at the U.N. Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said the...
Lebanon rejects Tillerson’s border proposal, characterization of Hezbollah
February 16th, 20180 BEIRUT — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Lebanon on Thursday that Hezbollah's growing arsenal and involvement in regional conflicts threatened Lebanon's security. Speaking alongside Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in a Beirut news conference, Tillerson also said the United States was engaging with Lebanon and Israel...
Damascus warns Israel of ‘more surprises’ in Syria
February 16th, 20180 DAMASCUS — Israel will face "more surprises" should it again attack Syrian territory, Damascus said on Tuesday, after Syria's air defenses shot down an advanced Israeli warplane during the fiercest flare-up between the old foes in 36 years. The F-16 jet was hit over northern Israel on Saturday as it returned from a raid on a Syrian...
Tillerson says Hezbollah role is a threat to Lebanon
February 15th, 20180 BEIRUT — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday warned Lebanon over the Iran-backed Hezbollah group’s growing arsenal and said the movement’s involvement in regional conflicts threatened Lebanon’s security. Speaking alongside Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in a Beirut news conference, Tillerson also said the...
Damascus warns Israel of ‘more surprises’ in Syria
February 13th, 20180 DAMASCUS - Israel will face “more surprises” should it again attack Syrian territory, Damascus said on Tuesday, after Syria’s air defenses shot down an advanced Israeli warplane during the fiercest flare-up between the old foes in 36 years. The F-16 jet was hit over northern Israel on Saturday as it returned from a raid on a......
Israeli police recommend bribery charges against Netanyahu
February 13th, 20180 TEL AVIV - Israeli police on Tuesday recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for bribery, opening the way for what could be the biggest challenge yet to the right-wing leader’s political survival. Against the backdrop of Israeli flags in a televised speech at his residence, a somber Netanyahu called the allegations...
Denmark plans to ban face veil
February 13th, 20180 COPENHAGEN — Denmark’s government said last Tuesday it planned to fine people who covered their face in public, putting it in line to join France and others restricting the burqa and the niqab, worn by some Muslim women. The center-right government, which is backed by the nationalist Danish People’s Party, said it would bring in......
Ahed Tamimi’s trail begins in Israeli court
February 13th, 20180 JERUSALEM — The teenage girl who became a hero to Palestinians after she was filmed slapping and kicking an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank appeared in an Israeli military court on Tuesday for the start of her trial. Ahed Tamimi, 17, has drawn international attention following her arrest after the Dec. 15 confrontation...
Saudi Arabia building world’s tallest tower
February 9th, 20180 JEDDAH — Construction of the world's tallest skyscraper in Jeddah is going ahead, the head of the consortium behind the $1.5 billion project said, despite the detention of some businessmen backing the plan in Saudi Arabia's crackdown on corruption. His comments were a sign that the government is trying to prevent the purge from...
Washington: No U.S. contribution to Iraq in upcoming reconstruction conference
February 9th, 20180 WASHINGTON — The United States does not plan to contribute any money at a conference in Kuwait next week to fund Iraq's reconstruction drive after the war against ISIS militants, U.S. and Western officials said, a move critics say could deal a new blow to American standing internationally. "We are not planning to announce anything,"...
U.S. envoy visits Lebanon and Israel amid tensions over border wall, energy
February 9th, 20180 BEIRUT — A U.S. envoy has assured Lebanon that Israel does not seek an escalation between the countries following a surge in hostile rhetoric, Lebanese and Israeli officials said on Thursday. Lebanon and Israel have exchanged threats and condemnation over a border wall being built by Israel, a tender issued by Beirut for oil and gas......
Turkey, Russia and Iran to discuss Syria in Istanbul
February 9th, 20180 DAMASCUS/ANKARA — The leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran agreed on Thursday to meet in Istanbul to discuss the conflict in Syria, a Turkish presidential source said. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed the meeting in two phone calls on Thursday with the Russian and Iranian presidents, the source said. The date of the summit...
Air strikes kill 31, including children, in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta
February 7th, 20180 BEIRUT — Air strikes killed 31 civilians including 12 children in the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta region near Syria’s capital Damascus on Wednesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It said Syrian government air strikes and artillery hit the towns of Douma, Beit Sawa and Hammouriyeh in the insurgent-controlled......
‘Losing opportunities’, Lebanon campaigns for more women in parliament
February 7th, 20180 BEIRUT — In a country where women occupy only three percent of the parliament seats, Lebanon’s first women’s affairs minister - a man - is supporting a campaign to attract more female politicians. The government’s decision to appoint him as women’s minister in 2016 attracted some criticism. But Jean Oghassabian said the...
Yemen’s Islah party suspends membership of Nobel laureate Karman
February 6th, 20180 DUBAI — Yemeni Nobel Prize winner Tawakkol Karman was suspended from a party allied with President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after she accused the Saudi-led coalition that backs him in the country’s civil war of acting as occupiers. Karman won the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for her role in Arab Spring protests that ousted authoritarian......
