Latest Middle East News
RSS-
Egypt’s Morsi dispatches army to Sinai after suspected Islamists snatch soldiers
CAIRO - Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi ordered army reinforcements to the restive Sinai on Monday amid rising tensions there over the kidnapping of seven soldiers by suspected Islamist militants. In a break from past practices, Morsi said he would not negotiate with kidnappers, which some interpreted as an effort by the beleaguered president to appear tough in the face of his falling ...
-
Al-Thani Arab Spring makes peace more pressing
thrown his state's riches behind Arab uprisings, said on Monday that the emergence of 'people power' had put Arabs in direct confrontation with Israel and made a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict more pressing."We heard in the past that reform (in the Arab world) must wait until a peaceful settlement with Israel is achieved, but everybody should realize that such ...
-
Activists Hezbollah suffers big losses in Syria
AMMAN/BEIRUT - About 30 Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and 20 Syrian soldiers and militiamen loyal to President Bashar Assad have been killed in the fiercest fighting this year in the rebel stronghold of Qusair, Syrian activists said on Monday.Sunday's reported death toll was the highest for Hezbollah in a single day's conflict in Syria, highlighting the increasing intervention by ...
More Middle East News
RSS-
Bahrain Attends WHO Meeting
Geneva-May-20(BNA)Bahrain delegation led by Health Minister Sadiq bin Abdulkarim Al-Shehabi today attended the 66th annual meeting of the World Health Organisation in Geneva, Switzerland. Bahrain Representative to the United Nations in Geneva Dr. Yusuf Bucheeri and other officials from the health ministry also attended the plenary WHO session. The delegation also attended the meetings of ...
-
US concerned over defamation charges against Egyptian journalists
El-Watan newspaper, and Alaa El-Ghatrify, its managing editor, state newspaper Al-Ahram reported. Over the last few months several journalists, talk show hosts and comedians in Egypt have been charged with defamation, and activists accuse the government of using the courts to crack down on dissent. El-Watan is fiercely critical of Mursi and ...
-
William Hague All Options Open Over Syria
"No option" is off the table if the Syrian regime does not negotiate seriously at planned peace talks, Foreign Secretary William Hague has said. Speaking in the Commons, Mr Hague said there was a "serious risk" that the regime of President Bashar al Assad would not co-operate properly. An international effort, led by the US and Russia, is under way to organise peace ...
-
Palestine-Israel peace pressing Qatar
He made no mention, however, of the Arab League's acceptance last month that Israelis and Palestinians may have to swap land in any peace deal, to allow Jewish settlements in occupied territory to become part of ...
-
Hezbollah pulled more deeply into Syria civil war
BEIRUT (AP) -- Hezbollah was pulled more deeply into Syria's civil war as 28 guerrillas from the Lebanese Shiite militant group were killed and dozens more wounded while fighting rebels, Syria activists said ...
-
World Brief | Middle East Gunman Kills Four in Bank in Southern Israel
An unemployed former security guard shot and killed four people in a bank in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Monday hours after the bank had refused his request for financial assistance, the police said. The gunman committed suicide after holing up in the bathroom of the bank with a female hostage for about an hour. The hostage escaped unharmed. The gunman, who lived nearby, had ...
-
This is Syrias great chance for change | Jonathan Steele
National Co-ordination Body for Democratic Change promoted the Geneva idea and will attend keenly. The Syrian National Coalition, which is backed by western governments as well as Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, is still reluctant to turn up without a commitment that Assad's departure is assured. To their credit, British and other western diplomats are urging them not to boycott and thereby ...
-
Obama voices concern to Lebanon on Hezbollah role in Syria
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama told his Lebanese counterpart on Monday he was concerned about Lebanese Hezbollah militants fighting in Syria to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the White House ...
-
5 Dead in Bank Robbery in Israel Man Commits Suicide as Police Raid Building
Three women and two men were left dead after a botched bank robbery in Israel's southern city of Beersheba. The robbery occurred around noontime at Bank Hapoalim, according to reports. An additional three people were also injured.Investigators are still unclear about the number of robbers involved in the crime. One of the bank robbers, who had taken a female hostage, turned the gun on ...
-
Israel contests France TV over Palestinian boys death
29/03/2013 19:15 CET Israel says there is new evidence that a French television report whose harrowing images helped inspire the second Palestinian uprising was unfounded. The report in 2000 showed a father and son in Gaza caught up in Israeli-Palestinian crossfire. The 12-year-old was later pronounced dead – hit, said France 2, by Israeli troops. Nearly 13 years later, the Israeli ...
-
Seychelles tourism pledges support to Qatar Airways
Minister Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister of Tourism and Culture, met Mr. Akbar Al-Bakar, the CEO of Qatar Airways, at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM) Qatar Airways stand when he was in Dubai for the 2013 ATM tourism trade fair. Since his appointment to the Office of Minister in Seychelles, this was the first opportunity for Minister Alain St.Ange and the CEO of Qatar Airways to discuss ...
-
US deeply concerned by prosecution of political speech in Egypt urges government to act
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is calling on the Egyptian government to rein in prosecutions of political expression amid what it called a "growing trend" of efforts to punish and deter people from speaking their mind. Ahead of a planned meeting this week between Secretary of State John Kerry and Egypt's president, the State Department said Monday that it was "deeply ...
-
Saudi Arabia reports latest death from new virus total now 16 in kingdom
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia says it has recorded another death from a new respiratory virus related to SARS, bringing the total number of deaths in the kingdom to 16. Saudi Arabia remains the centre for the virus as investigators from the World Health Organization seek more clues about its origins and how it is spread. More than 20 people have died from the virus worldwide. The Saudi ...
-
A look at the deadliest attacks in Iraq since the 2011 US troop pullout
BAGHDAD - Here is a look at the deadliest attacks in Iraq since the withdrawal of U.S. troops on Dec. 18, 2011: -- May 20, 2013: A wave of attacks, some at markets and rush hour crowds, hour killed at least 86 people in Shiite and Sunni areas. -- May 18, 2013: Shootings and bombings kill at least 16 people including an anti-terrorism police captain and his family. -- May 17, 2013: Bombs rip ...
-
Syriac patriarch blames West for mess in Syria
Email article The patriarch of Syria's Catholics has said Western nations are responsible for the carnage in Syria, where the morale of Christians is "very, very low". Syriac Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan said the present situation in Syria is the result of Western nations carrying out a geopolitical strategy "to split Syria and other countries" in the ...
-
Too Soon to Tell The Case for Hope Continued
Ten years ago, my part of the world was full of valiant opposition to the new wars being launched far away and at home -- and of despair. And like despairing people everywhere, whether in a personal depression or a political tailspin, these activists believed the future would look more or less like the present. If there was nothing else they were confident about, at least they were confident ...
-
How Baghdad Fuels Iraqs Sectarian Fire
The Iraqi government has hurled the country to the brink of a new civil war. In under a month, Baghdad launched a vicious assault on a Sunni protest camp, resulting in 44 deaths; executed 21 alleged Sunni terrorists in one day, and suspended the licenses of 10 satellite channels, 9 of them deemed pro-Sunni. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s message to his country’s extremely ...
-
The Dark Side of Irans Drug Policy
How Iran Won the War on Drugs ," Amir Afkhami argues that the Iranian government has been successful in addressing the country’s drug problem by treating dependency and reducing the harm drugs cause, rather than by cracking down on supply. Afkhami further suggests that Iran is a model for the region, and that nearby countries such as Afghanistan have much to learn from its ...
-
Obama Foreign Policy Inaction Proves Costly in Benghazi and Syria
One hundred and fifty four years after Dickens published "A Tale of Two Cities," we again face both the absurdity and the honor of the humans involved. The two cities in this tale are Benghazi and Damascus. As the world and American press engage in mental gymnastics over minimalist arguments, the firestorm far above these issues rages violently. These pygmy issues are myriad: Did the ...
-
Iran Russia Hezbollah Top Backers in Syrian Regimes Success
The protracted fighting in Syria is not happening within a bubble, amid reports of clandestine support for the Bashar al Assad regime from Hezbollah, Iran and Russia, and an ongoing effort to establish an international peace ...
-
Dozens of Hizbollah members killed in Syria activists say
BEIRUT // Fierce street fighting in Qusayr has killed at least 28 members of Lebanon's militant Hizbollah group, activists said yesterday, as Syrian government forces pushed to retake the strategic, opposition-held town near the Lebanese border. More than 70 Hizbollah fighters had been wounded in the fighting around the town, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. If ...
-
Reinforcements sent to Egypts Sinai
EGYPT sent police reinforcements to the Sinai after an attack on a police camp in the wake of the kidnapping of security personnel, officials say. In Cairo, all options were on the table to secure the release of the three policemen and four soldiers held last week in the lawless peninsula, the presidency said. Eighty Central Security (riot police) units and 26 armoured personnel carriers were ...
Israel Focus
-
Biggest construction project in Israeli history
The Port of Ashdod is the gateway to the economy of Israel, it has played a central role in the development of the state and will play a central role in future development, hence the reason for an ambitious $500 million expansion project currently underway in two stages (in the picture, green represents stage 1 and brown stage 2).
The Port of Ashdod is currently undergoing the largest construction project ever undertaken in the history of Israel. In 1999, Israel news media reported that the government wanted to double the cargo capacity of Ashdod, an ambitious construction project was therefore envisioned, involving the building of new piers, new docks, warehouses and cargo handling equipment. It was to take place in two stages, with the total project costing around $500 million. Read more
News from around our Network
