Reuters – The U.S. Navy is leading a 30-nation maritime exercise across Middle Eastern waters which it says will help protect international trade routes against possible threats, including from Islamic State and al Qaeda. The exercise, which is partly being held in the Arabian Gulf, comes as tensions run high between Gulf Arab countries and Iran over its role in the region, including its support for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria’s civil war, for the […]
Tag: Middle East
Iran votes in vital elections after nuclear deal
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iranians vote Friday in elections billed by the moderate president as vital to curbing conservative dominance in parliament and speeding up domestic reforms after a nuclear deal with world powers. A pro-government coalition called “The List of Hope” is representing President Hassan Rouhani’s ambitions in the polls. Almost 55 million people are eligible to cast ballots that will ultimately elect 290 lawmakers. They will also vote in a second election to select the […]
Obama warns Russia ‘world will be watching’ Syria ceasefire
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Barack Obama put the onus for upholding a ceasefire in Syria firmly on the regime and its Russian ally Thursday, warning Moscow and Damascus that the “world will be watching.” Hours before the Saturday cessation of hostilities comes into force, Obama huddled with his top national security advisors to plot the way forward and discuss the campaign against the Islamic State group. “Everybody knows what needs to happen,” Obama […]
Putin is fanning Syrian civil war, Britain’s Hammond says
Russian President Vladimir Putin is undermining international efforts to end the Syrian civil war by bombing opponents of Islamic State in an attempt to bolster Bashar al-Assad, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Monday (February 1) during a visit to the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, about 10 km (six miles) south of the border with Syria. In a clear sign of frustration with the Kremlin, Hammond scolded Putin for paying lip service to […]
Air strikes in Homs; rebels fight back in Sheikh Maskin
Amateur videos posted to social media websites purported to show air strikes on rebel positions in Homs province of Syria on Wednesday (January 27), as well as intense fighting for control of the strategic town of Sheikh Maskin. Fighting raged as plans to hold the first negotiations to end the civil war in Syria for two years were in doubt. The main Syrian opposition group said on Wednesday that they would not show up for […]
Islamic State ‘enjoyed Turkish money for oil’ – Israeli minister
Israel’s defence minister Moshe Yaalon said on Tuesday (January 26) that Islamic State militants had been funded with ‘Turkish money’, an assertion that could hinder attempts to mend fences between the two countries after years of estrangement. Yaalon said that the Turkish government wasn’t pulling their weight in the fight against “terrorism”. “Now it’s up to Turkey, the Turkish government, the Turkish leadership, to decide whether they want to be part of any kind of […]
Car bomb in Yemeni port city kills four, injures others
Four people were killed and several others injured on Sunday (January 17) when a suicide car bomb exploded outside the home of the director of security for the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, eyewitnesses and medics said. The four men killed were guards for Brigadier General Shalal Ali Shayyeh, who survived a car bomb attack on his convoy on January 4 amid an escalating wave of assassinations against security forces in the city. People […]
World reacts to lifting of Iran sanctions
Since the European Union and the United States on Saturday announced the lifting of their nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, members of the international community have been voicing their opinions about the historic event. The White House hailed the historic deal, saying it is the best solution available to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon without taking military action. “Now that Iran’s actions have been verified, it can begin to receive relief from certain nuclear […]
Australia knocks back Washington over more help against Islamic State
Australia on Thursday (January 14) said that it had denied a request from the United States for a greater military commitment against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq made in the wake of the November attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. Australia, a staunch ally of the United States and its battle against Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria, has been one of the largest contributors to the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the […]
People in Istanbul worry deadly blast could damage economy
Turks on Wednesday (January 13) were worried by the economic repercussions of a suicide bomb attack that killed at least 10 people, most of them German tourists, in Istanbul’s historic heart on Tuesday (January 13). All of those killed in Sultanahmet square, near the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia – major tourist sites in the centre of one of the world’s most visited cities – were foreigners, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, blaming the […]
Syria’s U.N. ambassador Ja’afari discusses starving, besieged areas of Syria
Syrian United Nations Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari discussed the besieged towns of Syria on Monday (January 11) after reports emerged that tens of thousands of civilians have been trapped for months without supplies and are starving to death. Trucks carrying food and medical supplies reached Madaya near the Lebanese border and began to distribute aid as part of an agreement between warring sides, the United Nations and the Red Cross said on Monday. A U.N. spokesman […]
Merkel says Europe is vulnerable in refugee crisis
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday (January 11) that Europe was “vulnerable” in the refugee crisis because it was not yet in control of the situation to the extent that it would like to be. “Now all of a sudden we are facing the challenge that refugees are coming to Europe and we are vulnerable, as we see, because we do not yet have the order, the control, that we would like to have,” […]





