Archives for October, 2020

Car bombing kills more than a dozen in Syria's al-Bab

The town controlled by Turkish-backed Syrian rebel forces continues to experience violence.

Assad accuses Turkey of instigating Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

The hostilities have killed hundreds of people since late September.

A rocket launches from a S-400 missile system at the Ashuluk military base in Southern Russia on September 22, 2020 during the "Caucasus-2020" military drills gathering China, Iran, Pakistan and Myanmar troops, along with ex-Soviet Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus. - Up to 250 tanks and around 450 infantry combat vehicles and armoured personnel carriers will take part in the September 21 to 26 land and naval exercises that will involve 80,000 people including support staff. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP) (

Intel: Turkey to test Russian S-400 air defense system amid tensions in NATO

NATO's secretary-general urged Turkey on Monday to seek alternatives to the Russian system, but Turkey plans to test-fire the S-400 this month.

TOPSHOT - This picture shows the courtroom and soundproof glass dock (bottom) during the trial of 700 defendants including Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, widely known as Shawkan, in the capital Cairo, on September 8, 2018. - Shawkan, who earlier this year received UNESCO's World Freedom Prize, was on September 8 handed a five-year jail sentence in a trial including over 700 other defendants over charges of killing police and vandalising property during the clashes, some of which were also handed

Reporter's arrest, abrupt release chills journalists in Egypt

A journalist who had gone to Luxor to cover the recent unrest there was arrested on charges that included the spreading of fake news and belonging to a terrorist group.

(L-R) Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan pose as they visit the Holocaust memorial prior to their historic meeting in Berlin, on October 6, 2020. (Photo by MICHELE TANTUSSI / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MICHELE TANTUSSI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli, Emirati diplomats meet in Germany

The meeting was the countries' first since signing a normalization agreement last month.

United Arab Emirates

A picture taken on February 5, 2019, shows a general view of the damaged buildings in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar. - For decades in the mountainous region of Sinjar in Iraq's diverse north, the lives of many revolved around their lands, but now many Sunni Arab farmers are estranged from their fields out of fear of reprisal attacks. The region, which borders Syria is home to an array of communities -- Shiite and Sunni Arabs, Kurds, and Yazidis -- which formed a patchwork that was ripped apart when the

Turkey targets Yazidi militia in Iraq over PKK links

The Sinjar Resistance Units have been targeted by Turkish forces in Iraq for its connection with the Kurdistan Workers Party.

An Iranian youth, wearing a protective mask due to the COVID-19 pandemic, checks the currency exchange rates in Tehran on June 22, 2020. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP) (Photo by ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images)

Iranian currency dips to historic low amid sanctions, pandemic, foreign policy decisions

Iran has seen the rial’s value fall by almost half this year as the currency now stands at a record low against the US dollar, triggered by ongoing sanctions, coronavirus restrictions and, according to some experts, Iran's foreign policy adventures since the 1979 revolution.

Facebook rebuffs Turkey’s controversial social media law

Facebook told Turkish civil society members it would not comply with Ankara’s new social media law over concerns it would limit free speech rights, setting the stage for possible fines and access blocks on the platform as other social media companies consider their options.

US Daniel Levinson (L) shows a picture of his father, ex-FBI agent Robert Levinson, holding his grandson Ryan during a press conference with his mother Christine at the Swiss embassy in Tehran, 22 December 2007. The wife of the former agent missing in Iran since March said today she has received "no answers" about his fate at the end of her trip to the Islamic republic in search of her husband, who Washington says went missing on a visit to the Iranian island of Kish. The Tehran government reiterated earlie

US judge orders Iran pay $1.45 billion to family of ex-FBI agent presumed dead

Iran has been ordered to pay Robert Levinson's family $1.35 billion in punitive damages and $107 million in compensatory damages.

Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad Al-Sabah (R) salutes the crowd after being sworn in as Kuwait's new Emir at the National Assembly in Kuwait City, as Parilament Speaker Marzouq al-Ghanem looks on, on September 30, 2020. - Kuwait today swore in its new emir, Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, after the death of his half-brother, Sheikh Sabah, who died in the US at the age of 91. (Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyat / AFP) (Photo by YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)

New Kuwaiti emir keeps government in place until elections next month

Emir Sabah seeks unity ahead of Nov. 28 elections.

Iran criticizes Turkey’s role in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

A top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader has called on Turkey to help resolve the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia rather than "add fuel to the fire."

A view of the platform of the Leviathan natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea is pictured from the Israeli northern coastal city of Caesarea on December 19, 2019. - Israel has approved the export of gas from its offshore reserves to Egypt, a spokeswoman said on December 17, with a major reservoir expected to begin operations imminently.
The approval by Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz was part of a long process under which Israel will transform from an importer of natural gas from Egypt into an exporter

Chevron becomes operator of two Israeli natural gas fields

US gas and petrol giant Chevron is now the owner of Nobel Energy and the operator of Israel natural gas fields Tamar and Leviathan.

This picture taken on April 14, 2018 shows the wreckage of a building described as part of the Scientific Studies and Research Centre (SSRC) compound in the Barzeh district, north of Damascus, during a press tour organised by the Syrian information ministry.
The United States, Britain and France launched strikes against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime early on April 14 in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack after mulling military action for nearly a week. Syrian state news agency SANA r

Rights groups ask Germany to investigate Syria’s use of chemical weapons

The criminal complaint covers attacks on rebel territory in Eastern Ghouta in 2013 and Khan Sheikhoun in 2017.

'Black Flag' anti-Netanyahu movement turning Israel upside down

The Blue and White party is challenged by the anti-Netanyahu Black Flag movement, which is gaining tremendous momentum.

Palestinians ready to talk peace after US presidential election, says top Abbas adviser

Majdi Khaldi, senior diplomatic adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, says the Palestinians are ready for an international peace conference in early 2021, noting that a Biden administration would be "more committed to international law."

Israeli police are confronted by protesters during a demonstration amid a second lockdown in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem, on September 26, 2020, to protest the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. - Thousands of Israelis gathered in Jerusalem to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a day after the country tightened its lockdown aimed at slowing coronavirus spread. (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP) (Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Get

Is Israel heading toward civil war?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s growing incitement, the deepening economic crisis, the battle over demonstrations and ultra-Orthodox coronavirus infections are taking Israel several steps closer to a civil war.