Many Western capitals have strengthened their security measures in anticipation of terrorist acts coinciding with New Year’s Eve celebrations. The municipality of Brussels announced yesterday the abolition of all the celebrations and fireworks displays planned on New Year’s Eve due to threats of att
Yemen’s ambassador to the United Nations, Khalid al-Yamani, announced in exclusive statements to Asharq Al-Awsat that the current month’s US presidency of the Security Council was practicing all forms of pressure on the Houthi rebels in order to lift the siege on Taiz city in Yemen, knowing th
Around 1,000 political and civil activists expressed support, in an open letter to the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, for the Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, Shahindokht Moulaverdi, who was attacked by “Yalsarat weekly” extremist magazine. The activists requested that the president
After the step taken by the Saudi Arabia to raise fuel subsidies in line with an economic reform plan in light of the decline in oil revenues, Oman also announced that it would hike fuel prices, charges for public services and corporate taxes for the same reason. “The Council of Ministers approved o
The Syrian regime’s forces stopped Ahmad al-Asrawi and Munir al-Bitar, members of the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCCDC), as they were about to cross the Syria-Lebanon border en route to Saudi Arabia to join fellow members of the opposition’s supreme committee for ne
I do not think that the pricing decisions announced by the Saudi government is a case of belt tightening as some have said. They say that these decisions are temporary and a response to the terrible decline in oil prices that aim to reimburse huge losses suffered by the Saudi government. However, ac
2016 is drawing closer, and celebrations across the world are being prepared. Despite the unkind events of terrorism that haunted its precedent year, people are still preparing enthusiastically for the midnight strike that will announce a whole new year. A lot of hopes and wishes are based on a new
40 members of the Bahraini parliament agreed on a petition filed by 5 of their colleagues to the chairman for the recognition of Ahwaz as an occupied Arab country, a Bahraini MP said. The source stated that the petition calls on considering Ahwaz as one of the Arab countries located east of the Arab
Major General Nasser al-Tahri, Deputy Commander- in- chief, revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that, over the past few days, the Military of Yemen acquired information confirming the cooperation of several Iranian experts with Houthi rebels to gear up Scud missiles. They are apparently also toiling on deve
Scholars of jurisprudence, interpretation and Hadith at Al-Azhar University in Egypt provided an Islamic guide to face the terrorist organization, ISIS, intellectually. The scholars specified outlines for this guide including the direct intervention of Arab and Islamic governments to allow the schol
ISIS did not leave one meter in the city without explosives that are sown in the streets, homes and shops, and have to be detonated from afar or else, they will blow whoever comes close. After seven months from being taken over by ISIS militants, the first look on the city of Ramadi shows that [&hel
The most important event these days in Saudi Arabia, the most important country economically in the Middle East, is the announcement of the general budget for the new financial year. Saudis receive news of the new budget whilst knowing that the economic situation of oil, the most important commodity
Informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that exclusive lists of terrorist organisations fighting in Syria that are supposed to be released in mid- January after international coordination of intelligence include Shi’ite factions and figures; some of whom are prominent leaders in the Iraqi Al-Hashd Al-
One reason for the remarkable record of the New England Patriots is the team’s single-minded focus on the next game. Managing world affairs requires the same concentration on future challenges, for past accomplishments provide no guarantee of continued success. They can, however, lend confidence tha
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz held official talks with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Yamamah Palace in Riyadh yesterday during which they reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries and discussed ways of strengthening them. They also d
King Salman bin Abdulaziz directs the Economic and Development Council: By launching a comprehensive reform program of a 840 billion SAR worth of expenses and a 513 SAR worth return in revenue, all in a plan of regulating both water and power consumption. On Monday, Saudi Arabia announced its nation
More hopes are being raised that the situation in Syria is developing and leading to tranquility and an end of a war which escalated from local, peaceful uprising to a civil war and finally to a war with international and regional dimensions. There is a fear that what is happening on land might lead
The Iraqi Joint Operations leadership announced the liberation of the city of Ramadi that was occupied by ISIS. A triumphant Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared that in the coming year his forces would defeat Isis, after its first major victory since collapsing in the face of the fighters
NATO sources confirmed on Monday its decision to take measures to help its Turkish ally by securing its airspace. The measures comprised of deploying the early warning AWACS aircraft system to Turkey and reinforcing the country’s airspace monitoring, as well as intensifying its naval presence in the
More than 450 militants and civilians from three Syrian towns were evacuated in accordance with an agreement between the regime and militant opposition factions in an unprecedented exchange. The operation was completed after the “Al-Zabadani- Kafria- Al-Faw’ah” agreement (which is named after the to
