ISTANBUL – The United Nations’ refugee agency will seek additional resources for Turkey, the world’s largest host of refugees, and push for more resettlement, its head said on Saturday, as the civil war in Syria is set to enter its sixth year. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugee
PARIS – Members of the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS will meet in Paris next week to reinforce efforts against the group, France’s defence minister said on Thursday, adding that the militants were clearly retreating in Iraq. France was the first country to join U.S.-led air strikes in
VIENNA – International sanctions on Iran will be lifted on Saturday when the United Nations nuclear agency declares Tehran has complied with an agreement to scale back its nuclear programme, Iran’s foreign minister said. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif arrived in Vienna, headquarters of the
ADEN, – A drone strike killed three suspected al Qaeda militants in an overnight attack in central Yemen, a local official said on Saturday, as a U.S. campaign goes on amid a wider civil war in the country. The apparent U.S. drone attack targeted a car travelling on Friday night in the Ruqot a
Although most of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s prattle is not worth thinking about, this time he has hit the nail on the head. Commenting on Iran taking 10 US marines into custody, he asked whether Iran would dare to do the same if the naval crafts were Russian. It is very clear t
VIENNA/DUBAI- – Iran freed four Americans including a Washington Post reporter on Saturday in a prisoner swap, as diplomats gathered to announce the lifting of international sanctions and bring the country of 80 million people back to the global economic stage. The International Atomic Energy
BEIRUT – The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said ISIS fighters killed at least 35 Syrian soldiers and pro-government forces in an attack on several areas in the city of Deir al-Zor on Saturday. “The fighters have infiltrated the northwestern side of the city and carrie
ERBIL, Iraq – A much anticipated campaign to recapture Iraq’s northern city of Mosul from ISIS is unlikely to happen this year, the Kurdistan region’s deputy prime minister said, dampening hopes the militants could be driven from the country in 2016. Despite recent gains on the bat
Washington- 1979: On the year of the Iranian revolution, and after Ayatollah Khamenei returned to Iran, Iranians broke into the US embassy in Tehran, capturing 90 people. Later on they released women, African Americans, and indigenous Americans, while keeping 50 other diplomats captive for 444 days.
DAKAR- At least 27 people of 18 different nationalities have been killed in an attack on a hotel, Friday night, in the capital Ouagadougou by al-Qaida-linked militants, security officials have confirmed. The number is slightly higher than a death toll of 23 given earlier by the West African nation&#
The City of London’s mayor Lord Jeffrey Mountevans described British- Saudi relations as historical and strong and said that Britain’s alliance with Saudi Arabia is “important”. Lord Mountevans is heading a big economic delegation on a tour of the Gulf that starts next week during which he wil
Arab League sources revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat yesterday that the committee set up by Arab foreign ministers at their recent meeting in Cairo is studying the statements made by the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Mohammad Ali Jafari who admitted that Iran has trained around 200,000 fi
San Francisco, London- Twitter now is being sued by the widow of an American killed in Jordan who accuses the social media company of giving a voice to terrorists. Tamara Fields, a Florida woman whose husband Lloyd died in a November 9 attack on the police training center in Amman, said Twitter know
UN envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh, admitted that the last round of Yemeni negotiations “Geneva 2.0” was taken on with haste, and resulted in some errors. He confirmed his will to avoid those mistakes during the next round, whose date is yet not set. “We do not want to rush into the upcoming roun
The Shiite Marja’ (religious reference), Ayatollah Ali Sistani, denounced recent bombing of Sunni mosques in the Diyala governorate (65 Km East Baghdad), which is an area diverse in ethnicities and sects of Shiite factions and militants. Moreover, Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalai, official representati
The Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told Asharq Al-Awsat that Iran’s threats do not scare Riyadh and that Saudi Arabia will act to protect its interests and the interests of its allies in ways that it deems appropriate. His statement came as an answer to a question about Iranian officials’ rem
BEIRUT/GENEVA – The U.N. children’s fund UNICEF on Friday confirmed cases of severe malnutrition among children in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, where local relief workers reported to Reuters 32 deaths of starvation in the past month. A mobile clinic and medical team of the Syrian
LONDON – Germany has launched a smartphone app to help hundreds of thousands of migrants get to grips with the country they hope to make their new home, Reuters reported. The app called Ankommen, which means “Arrive” in German, offers guidance on the asylum process, a basic languag
BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping will make an unusual visit next week to Saudi Arabia and Iran, in what could be a bid by Beijing to act as an “honest broker” as it seeks a greater regional diplomatic role. While relying on the region for oil supplies, China has tended to lea
According to a saying attributed to the Russian mystic Alexei Khomiakov, reality is like a rooster that wakes you up with its crowing when you are in the depth of a sweet dream. Khomiakov was a leader of the Slavophiles who dreamt of uniting all “Slav nations” under Russian leadership to realize Rus
