Archives for March, 2024

Saudi Telecom announced in September it had paid 2.1 billion euros ($2.3 billion) for a 9.9 percent share in Telefonica, causing concern in Madrid.

Spain takes stake in Telefonica after Saudi deal concerns

Agence France-Presse

JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Analysis

As Israel's Gallant seeks arms in Washington, Netanyahu picks fight with Biden

The Israeli premier's decision to cancel a major diplomatic visit to Washington will add to the distance between his country and the United States, but that may be precisely his plan.

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Ahmed al-Hakim by the tomb of his brother, whose death triggered rare protests in Syria's Idlib province

Syrians missing, dying from torture in jihadist-run prisons

Agence France-Presse

King Abdullah Sports City stadium in the port city of Jeddah is one of two existing stadiums that are part of Saudi Arabia's World Cup planning

Ten years from home World Cup, Saudi sizes up 'huge challenge'

Agence France-Presse

The US said airdrops were 'one of the many ways that we are helping to provide desperately needed aid to Palestinians in Gaza'

US rejects Hamas plea to halt Gaza airdrops as fighting rages on

Agence France-Presse

Mutliple foreign nations have resorted to airdropping aid into Gaza, with the humanitarian situation increasingly dire

Struggling for a can of food: starving Gazans scramble for aid drops

Agence France-Presse

Iranian weapons smuggled into the West Bank captured by Israeli forces, in a handout image published March 25, 2024.

What we know about alleged Iran weapons plot in West Bank

Israel said that Iran’s IRGC was working to smuggle explosives into the Palestinian territory.

Customers at the Central Bank of Iraq, which says many foreign trade transactions now go through its electronic platform

Iraq Central Bank says regulated dollar transactions rising

Agence France-Presse

Smiling through: Musicians play during the subdued Purim parade through Jerusalem

Smiling through tears: Hostage families lead Jerusalem Purim parade

Agence France-Presse

Israeli Justice Minister Gideon Saar attends a campaign event for the new center-right National Unity Party on Oct. 11, 2022.

Gideon Saar ditches Israeli cabinet over Netanyahu’s Gaza strategy

New Hope party leader Gideon Saar resigned from the government after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to include him in the small war cabinet.

TATYANA MAKEYEVA/AFP via Getty Images

Turkey detains 40 ISIS suspects amid reports Moscow terror suspect came from Istanbul

Turkey has recently rounded up 40 suspected Islamic State militants just as reports emerge that one of the suspected perpetrators of last week's Moscow concert attack had traveled to Russia from Turkey.

Security forces deploy near Aden International Airport in Yemen's southern city on April 14, 2023 during a prisoner exchange between the internationally recognised-government and the Sanaa-based Huthi rebels.

Al-Qaeda attack in Yemen kills 2 members of southern forces

The attack is the first by al-Qaeda in Yemen since its leader on the Arabian Peninsula died.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (R) talks with Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant (L) as part of their meeting in Tel Aviv on Jan. 9, 2024, during his week-long trip aimed at calming tensions across the Middle East, amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

Israel’s Gallant kicks off US visit with weapons, Rafah on agenda

Washington still seeks to avert an Israeli operation in Rafah, even as Netanyahu cancels a delegation of top advisers over the US abstention on a UN Security Council vote.

The UN Security Council meets on a motion for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal vote at UN headquarters in New York, on March 22, 2024

UN Security Council for first time demands Gaza ceasefire as US abstains

Agence France-Presse

Lebanon's Central Bank governor Riad Salameh gives an interview with AFP at his office in the capital, Beirut, on Dec. 20, 2021.

Switzerland reports violation by Lebanon’s Audi bank in Riad Salameh probe

The action by FINMA concerns connections around disgraced former Lebanese Central Bank governor Riad Salameh.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem on Sept. 27, 2023.

Breaking | Last Updated: March 27, 2024, 1:33 pm

Netanyahu cancels Washington delegation visit after US abstains from UN cease-fire vote

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Strategic Minister Ron Dermer and national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi will not travel to Washington after the United States refrained from vetoing a UN resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.