The Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir stated yesterday that the “Riyadh Declaration” that will emerge from the Fourth Summit of Arab and South American Countries “will be historic and comprehensive, and will cover many positive matters in terms of attitudes”, thus denying the existence of any va
Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, the Saudi Deputy Minister of Petroleum stressed today at the 6th Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable in Doha, Qatar, that sharp fluctuations in prices is very harmful for producers, consumers and workers alike in the petroleum industry. He added that his country is commi
The verbal campaign undertaken by the authorities and the media in Egypt against the western governments, in response to the precautionary measures taken by them such as stopping tourist flights and bringing back their citizens from Sharm el-Sheikh will not change their decisions and will weaken the
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudi Arabia’s fiscal position remains strong, according to global credit ratings agency Moody’s, which on Monday said it would not change the Kingdom’s credit rating. Moody’s said Saudi Arabia’s existing assets would be able to provide a cushion against a rising budget defic
Tehran and London, Asharq Al-Awsat—A rising death toll within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria is leading to a mutiny among some senior commanders, who have refused to obey orders to fight in the war-torn country, according to a source close to the Revolutionary Guard. The source, w
Istanbul, Reuters/AP—Turkish police detained dozens of people including senior police officers and bureaucrats allegedly linked to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan foe Fethullah Gülen on Tuesday, widening a campaign against the exiled Muslim cleric after Sunday’s election. The prosecutor’s
Juba, Reuters—A Russian-built cargo plane with passengers on board crashed on Wednesday after taking off from the airport in South Sudan’s capital, killing dozens of people, witnesses said. An official said three people on board survived. The precise death toll was not immediately clear after
No one knows in what state the Arab world and wider Middle East will be in after the region is finally able to traverse the ongoing political storm which it has endured since 2011. Despite the destruction that has been wrought and the shredding of the social fabric in Arab countries since then, this
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Saudi economy is capable of withstanding any shocks caused by the current oil price slump, the World Bank’s Country Director for Gulf Countries Nadir Mohammed said on Monday. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Mohammed said the Saudi economy was diversified enough to withstand
St. Petersburg and Cairo, AP/Asharq Al-Awsat—Mystery and confusion surrounded the final moments of a Russian jetliner that plummeted suddenly from high altitude to the Egyptian desert, killing all 224 people aboard. The airline on Monday ruled out pilot error or a technical fault, but Russian aviati
Astana and Moscow, Reuters—US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday Russia needs to help find a political solution in Syria and not simply support Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. “It really depends a lot on the choices that Russia makes about whether it is there to find the political
London and Moscow, Asharq Al-Awsat—United Nations Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura met with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mouallem on Sunday in Damascus in order to discuss the outcomes of international talks in Vienna last week aiming to find a solution to the crisis in Syria, a senior UN diplo
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and similar groups possess more than 30,000 fighters in Syria. The Iranians say they are managing 100,000 fighters of different nationalities, while the Russians have sent around 3,000 troops. Washington has finally decided to send its own forces .
Ankara, Reuters—A jubilant President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday cast the return of Turkey’s Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) to single-party rule as a vote for stability that the world must respect, but opponents fear it heralds growing authoritarianism and deeper polari
Right now no one could know where the Russian intervention in Syria might end. Entering a war is often easy and getting out always difficult. However, if history provides any indication, the kind of intervention we now witness in Syria has seldom achieved its stated objectives. If the mood music fro
Argentinian voters went the other day to polls to elect a new president who will take over from President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Opinion polls have been showing Daniel Scioli the Peronist Left candidate comfortably leading his main conservative opponent Mauricio Macri. Less than two weeks b
Beirut, Reuters—Any peace plan for Syria allowing President Bashar Al-Assad to stand in early elections after a transition period would be “mad” because he is the root of the problem and holding a nationwide poll is impossible, a Syrian opposition figure said. The commander of a rebel gr
The past weeks have seen frenzied competition among the British press to see who can take better aim at Saudi Arabia. The anti-Saudi media campaign has, by turns, concentrated on the notion that the Kingdom supports terrorism, and called for amnesty for a young Saudi man condemned to death on terror
Riyadh and Taiz, Asharq Al-Awsat—Arab coalition warplanes targeted a farm housing Houthi rebels in northern Yemen on Monday rather than a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders, the spokesman told Asharq Al-Awsat. Speaking via telephone, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Asiri said coalition jets launched a raid on
The joint operation by US and Kurdish Peshmerga forces to free 20 Iraqis captured by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Iraq has created much controversy, given that it is the first ground operation carried out by the Americans in Iraq since the decision to withdraw all US forces from the
