BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi issued on Monday a decree heavily curbing the powers of mostly Iran-backed Shiite armed groups and forcing them to further integrate into the country's formal armed forces. The groups, which helped Iraqi and US-led international coalition forces defeat Daesh militants, have a lot of influence in Iraqi politics. Abdul…
JERUSALEM: Iran was behind the recent attacks on oil tankers and pipelines across the Gulf region, according to the chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. Yossi Cohen told an annual security conference in Israel on Monday: “I can tell you, with certainty, from the best sources of Israeli and western intelligence, that Iran is behind…
ATARIB, SYRIA: Away from the frontlines, volunteers are helping in the war against Syria’s Bashar Assad by cooking, filling sandbags, collecting old tires and digging trenches, aiming to help ward off his assault on northwestern Syria. It is part of the civilian effort to help defend the last major opposition stronghold from Assad and his Russian…
ATARIB, SYRIA: Away from the frontlines, volunteers are helping in the war against Syria’s Bashar Assad by cooking, filling sandbags, collecting old tires and digging trenches, aiming to help ward off his assault on northwestern Syria. It is part of the civilian effort to help defend the last major opposition stronghold from Assad and his Russian…
ATARIB, SYRIA: Away from the frontlines, volunteers are helping in the war against Syria’s Bashar Assad by cooking, filling sandbags, collecting old tires and digging trenches, aiming to help ward off his assault on northwestern Syria. It is part of the civilian effort to help defend the last major opposition stronghold from Assad and his Russian…
DUBAI: Iran will soon exceed an enriched uranium limit under its nuclear deal, after remaining signatories to the pact fell short of Tehran’s demands to be shielded from US sanctions, the semi-official Fars news agency cited an “informed source” as saying.“As the commission meeting in Vienna could not satisfy Iran’s just demands ... Iran is…
RAMALLAH: Palestinian intelligence agencies on Saturday arrested a West Bank businessman for taking part in this week’s US-led peace conference in Bahrain, boycotted by the Palestinian leadership, a security source said.The intelligence services detained Salah Abu Mayala, a businessman from the city of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the source told AFP on condition…
JERUSALEM: Palestinians in Issawiya, East Jerusalem have continued protests for the third day running after Israeli soldiers killed 20-year-old Mohammad Obeid on Thursday. Witnesses said that the soldiers killed Obeid even though their lives were not in danger. Israeli officials admitted that Obeid was shot by Israeli soldiers but claimed that they were at risk after…
‘We have not seen any political plan for peace, stand with Palestinians’: Bahrain FM LONDON: Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa said on Friday that Manama had not yet heard of any political plan for peace for the Palestinians, following the "Peace to Prosperity" held in Bahrain this week Speaking to Al Arabiya, he said that…
BEIRUT: Nearly 100 combatants were killed on Friday in clashes between fighters loyal to Syria’s government, rebels and militants in northwestern Syria, a war monitor said.Starting at dawn on Friday morning — and after bombing by the regime — fighting in northern Hama province killed 51 government loyalists and allied militiamen, and 45 among the…
‘We have not seen any political plan for peace, stand with Palestinians’: Bahrain FM LONDON: Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa said on Friday that Manama had not yet heard of any political plan for peace for the Palestinians, following the "Peace to Prosperity" held in Bahrain this week Speaking to Al Arabiya, he said that…
ANKARA: After Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost control of Istanbul in the rerun of the city’s mayoral election this week, there are two big questions to be answered: Where did President Recep Tayyip Erdogan go wrong with his strategy, and does the defeat represent the start of a permanent shift in the…
ANKARA: After Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost control of Istanbul in the rerun of the city’s mayoral election this week, there are two big questions to be answered: Where did President Recep Tayyip Erdogan go wrong with his strategy, and does the defeat represent the start of a permanent shift in the…
LONDON: The US defence chief on Thursday pressed NATO allies to join Washington's efforts to ensure the safety of ships in the Gulf after a spate of recent attacks. “We will work to ensure freedom of navigation in the Arabian Gulf,” US Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said on Thursday in Brussels. Esper said he urged allies…
LONDON: Iraqi President Barham Salih said Wednesday his country must not be dragged into another conflict in the Middle East, as tensions rise over its neighbor Iran.“We have had four decades of challenge and turmoil. We do not want to be embroiled in another war,” he said at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International…
BAGHDAD: Political factions in Iraq are waging a secret battle to gain control of thousands of key government and agency jobs in a bid to tighten their grip on power and exert as much political influence as possible, according to lawmakers and analysts.About 5,000 high-profile positions, including heads of independent government agencies, deputy ministers, heads…
BAGHDAD: Political factions in Iraq are waging a secret battle to gain control of thousands of key government and agency jobs in a bid to tighten their grip on power and exert as much political influence as possible, according to lawmakers and analysts.About 5,000 high-profile positions, including heads of independent government agencies, deputy ministers, heads…
MANAMA: White House adviser Jared Kushner on Tuesday urged the Palestinians to take the “Opportunity of the Century” to have $50 billion pumped into the stagnant economy of the West Bank and Gaza. “My direct message to the Palestinian people is that despite what those who have let you down in the past say, President Trump…
Iran abandoning more nuclear deal commitments, France calls move ‘serious mistake’ TEHRAN: Iran will "resolutely" abandon more commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers on July 7, Fars News Agency reported on Tuesday quoting a "note" from a top security official. Tehran had announced on May 8 that it was suspending two of…
American rabbi with close ties to Gulf sees economics as the foundation for peace MANAMA: American Rabbi Marc Schneier launched his interfaith efforts in 1989 in the hopes of strengthening understanding between African Americans and Jews. It was so successful, he said, that in 2008 he launched an initiative to strengthen interfaith understanding between Jews…
