Tripoli-Libyan Toubou tribal Leader, Issa Abdul Majid warned that his country is subjected to be divided into four or five statelets, including Toubou statelet, which is supported by some western and regional parties, and Amazigh statelet west Tripoli, which is supported by Iran. In his statements f
The financial crisis faced by Hamas is now affecting its military arm the Al-Qassam Brigades for the first time. The brigades have not been affected until now and informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that it has been nearly two months since the salaries of the brigades’ soldiers have been reduced a
The United States has confirmed that top ISIS commander and feared ethnic Chechen jihadi fighter Omar al-Shishani has died of wounds suffered in a U.S. airstrike in Syria, a senior Iraqi intelligence official and the head of a Syrian activist group said Tuesday. Al-Shishani, whose real name was Tark
The Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday ordered his army to begin withdrawing Russian forces from Syria and said that Russia’s military intervention has achieved its objectives to a large extent. The Russian president held a meeting with the Russian ministers of defence and foreign affa
One police officer and three militants were killed in clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish insurgents in southeast Turkey’s largest city of Diyarbakir on Tuesday, security sources said, as local authorities imposed a curfew. Fighting has renewed after 37 people were killed in an
Washington- A US judge ordered Iran to pay over $10 billion in damages to families of victims who died on September 11, 2001. The default judgement was issued by US District Judge George Daniels in New York on Wednesday. Under the ruling, Tehran was ordered to pay $7.5 billion to 9/11 victims’ famil
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un announced that his country would soon conduct tests of nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the North’s KCNA news agency reported. He said the tests would include blowing up a nuclear warhead and firing “several kin
The Palestinian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Basem Al-Agha revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Saudi government is allowing Palestinian holders of non- machine-readable passports to perform the rituals of Hajj and Umrah (the major and minor pilgrimages) this year and added that the exception has been
A U.N. mediator resumed peace talks between the government and the opposition on Monday warning that there was no “Plan B” other than returning to war if the first of three rounds of talks which aim to agree a “clear roadmap” for Syria fail to move ahead. “As far as I k
The Atlantic magazine published a long story about the US President Barack Obama and his view of foreign policy under the title “The Obama Doctrine”. As a result, Arab newspapers said that Obama is attacking Saudi Arabia and hates Arabs. It is wrong to portray Obama’s view as a stance against
Kuwait-The World Bank (WB) supports reform steps that have been taken by Kuwait and view them as utter significance for attaining development objectives, said the WB Office Director in Kuwait, Dr Feras Raad. In an interview with KUNA, Dr Feras Raad said that the package of measures, declared by Fina
Iraq’s state-run North Oil Company has halted pumping crude produced at fields it runs in the Kirkuk area through a pipeline to Turkey, three sources said on Monday. The pipeline carries crude to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, where the Kurds have been selling it independently on the intern
Europe and Russia launched a spacecraft in a joint mission in the hunt for life on Mars blasted off on Monday for the start of a seven-month unmanned space journey to the Red Planet. The heavy-lift Russian rocket, part of the ExoMars program, blasted off from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan on
Rabat- Protesters on Sunday packed the streets of Rabat after political parties, unions and non-governmental groups called for a national demonstration. Authorities claimed there were up to three million people taking part. The march departed from Bab Chala, one of the most emblematic areas of the M
The foreign ministers of five western and EU countries adopted the opposition’s approach and warned Bashar Al-Assad’s regime against trying to hinder upcoming negotiations. They did this during their meeting in Paris yesterday where they discussed the Syrian crisis on the eve of the resumption
Riyadh- ISIS adopted ideological radicalization, and notions of female to attract men for recruitment. Women on the other hand- also playing vital roles in the ISIS grand scheme- have been lured in by slogans praising the woman’s restoration to its Islamic traditional given role. Women, in other wor
No, Mr. Obama. We are not “free riders.” We shared with you our intelligence that prevented deadly terrorist attacks on America. We initiated the meetings that led to the coalition that is fighting ISIS , and we train and fund the Syrian freedom fighters, who fight the biggest terrorist, Bashar Assa
Paris- Two months after putting the Iranian nuclear deal- signed in Vienna July 2015- into effect, Iranian ballistic missile trials resumed causing controversy among the international community. Western sources said that the provisional period for monitoring Tehran’s actions towards regional cases o
Tripoli- Official Libyan sources, located in Tripoli, told Asharq Al-Awsat that close affiliates to the leaders of the Toubou people, like advisor Issa Abdelmajid, are looking into the tribe settling independently south of Libya, establishing their own borderline state with the Republic of Chad. Sou
The United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has arrived in the region to prepare for a new round of Yemeni peace talks. He began by holding talks in Kuwait yesterday with the Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah regarding the situation in Yemen and the propo
