TRIPOLI: Precariously perched 50 meters up an electricity pylon providing power to Libya’s capital, Mohamad Dahman attempts to fix damage caused by fighting — but hastily descends when a rocket explodes nearby.“We’re used to working under bombing,” he says.“Our repair teams have been at high risk since 2011,” the year a NATO-backed uprising toppled dictator…
CAIRO: A prominent Egyptian militant wanted for scores of terror attacks in his country was handed over by Libyan forces loyal to a commander pushing to take the capital of Tripoli and flown back to Egypt on Wednesday.Egyptian TV networks aired footage of a blindfolded Hisham El-Ashmawi, a former army officer turned militant, landing in…
BEIRUT: Government air strikes on extremist-controlled northwestern Syria on Wednesday killed at least 10 civilians, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported.Seven of them were killed in the village of Sarja, which lies in Idlib province, most of which is controlled by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, a group dominated by former members of Al-Qaeda’s…
DUBAI: Arab Coalition started an operation targeting Houthi militants in Al-Dhale province, the organization announced. “the operation is in accordance with international and humanitarian law, we have taken all precautions to protect the civilians,” the Coalition said. The Coalition asked the civilians to refrain from the targeted areas. “The operation in Al-Dhale aims to reduce the…
IRBIL: Regional lawmakers elected Nechirvan Barzani as president of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a spokesman for the regional parliament told Reuters on Tuesday.Barzani, who had been serving as regional prime minister, won 68 votes from the 84 lawmakers present. The regional legislature has 111 seats in total.He is the nephew of the previous…
KHARTOUM: Sudan’s protest leaders have launched a two-day general strike to press the ruling military to hand over power to a civilian-led authority.Wajdi Saleh, a negotiator for the protesters, says they resorted to holding the strike after negotiations with the military council became deadlocked over the makeup and leadership of a sovereign council that would…
ISTANBUL: Turkey’s military launched an operation with commandos, backed by artillery and air strikes, against Kurdish militants in a mountainous area of northern Iraq, the defense ministry said on Tuesday. The military action began with artillery and air strikes on Monday afternoon and the operation by commando brigades began at 8 p.m. to “neutralize terrorists…
BAGHDAD: Iraq offered to mediate in the crisis between its two key allies, the United States and Iran, amid escalating Middle East tensions and as Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers steadily unravels.Iraqi foreign minister, Mohammed Al-Hakim, made the offer Sunday during a joint news conference in Baghdad with visiting Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.“We…
CAIRO: Qatar has been invited by Saudi Arabia to attend two emergency Arab summits being convened in the Saudi city of Makkah on May 30, Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Sunday, after previously saying it had not been. Last week Qatar said it had not been invited to the two summits Saudi Arabia is planning…
CAIRO: Qatar has been invited by Saudi Arabia to attend two emergency Arab summits being convened in the Saudi city of Makkah on May 30, Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Sunday, after previously saying it had not been. Last week Qatar said it had not been invited to the two summits Saudi Arabia is planning…
CAIRO: Egypt has unfrozen the assets of its Mubarak-era interior minister, who was acquitted on all corruption-related charges earlier this month, a judicial source confirmed Sunday. The Illicit Gains Authority decided last Thursday to lift freezes on Habib Al-Adly’s assets and those of aides who were key players in the graft that dominated Egypt under…
PARIS: Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, who is leading a military offensive against the UN-recognized government in Tripoli, said in an interview published Sunday he will continue fighting until militias in the city laid down their arms.Haftar had justified the offensive last month by saying he was fighting against “private militias and extremist groups” who he…
BAGHDAD: Iranian will defend itself against any military or economic aggression, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday, calling on European states to do more to preserve a nuclear agreement his country signed. Speaking in a news conference in Baghdad with his Iraqi counterpart Mohammed Al-Hakim, Zarif said his country wanted to build balanced…
CHIBAYISH, Iraq: Thirty years after Saddam Hussein starved them of water, Iraq’s southern marshes are blossoming once more thanks to a wave of ecotourists picnicking and paddling down their replenished river bends.A one-room home made of elaborately woven palm reeds floats on the river surface. Near it, a soft plume of smoke curls up from…
CAIRO: In 1971, Egyptian daily newspaper Akhbar Al-Youm published a story by journalist Abdel Wahab Mursi about Cairo’s “Jewish Alley,” and how it had changed during successive migrations by Jews from Egypt.Mursi pointed out that the name is misleading and that this “alley” was in fact an entire neighborhood which, at the time of his…
LONDON: Lebanese professor Mustapha Jazar has made it his life’s work to help connect students to the jobs they deserve.While Lebanon has long produced highly educated students, this promising pipeline is badly affected by a lack of matching job opportunities.Jazar set up the Lebanese Association for Scientific Research (LASeR) 10 years ago to “try to…
JERUSALEM: Israel is bracing for renewed wildfires amid a major heat wave that shows no signs of abating.Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes on Thursday as fires raged, fueled by high temperatures and dry conditions.The EU ambassador, Emanuele Giaufret, said Israel had asked for international help to combat the fires, and aid was…
CAIRO: Libya's navy confirmed on Friday that it rescued three boats carrying a total of 290 Europe-bound migrants off the country's Mediterranean coast, a day after a German aid group released video showing a sinking raft packed with dozens of migrants, with some people scattered in the sea.Libyan coast guards first reported finding a sinking…
SANAA: Yemen’s internationally recognized president sent a letter to the UN chief, criticizing his envoy to the country over allegedly siding with Iran-aligned Houthi militia, the president’s office said Friday.In the letter addressed to Antonio Guterres, Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi accused Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy to Yemen, of undermining chances for…
GENEVA: The standoff between Iran and the United States is a “clash of wills,” a senior commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday, suggesting any enemy “adventurism” would meet a crushing response, Fars news agency reported.Tensions have spiked between the two countries after Washington sent more military forces to the Middle East in…
