Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—At least 50 people were killed and 55 wounded on Wednesday after militants targeted army checkpoints in Egypt’s restive North Sinai region, security and health officials said. The attacks, which were coordinated to hit several checkpoints across the region simultaneously on We
Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—Houthi rebels on Tuesday released about 1,200 inmates, including Al-Qaeda suspects, from a prison in an area they control in central Yemen following an attack by forces loyal to President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, officials said. The rebels, who control large parts of Yemen, op
Last Friday was indeed a painful and sad day in the month of Ramadan, yet it is no more sufficient to merely express sorrow and abhorrence and call for national unity. As targeting mosques and murdering innocent people continue, all talk may be both useless and meaningless. Some may link the Al-Sadi
Kuwait City, Asharq Al-Awsat—Kuwait is investigating whether the perpetrator of last week’s deadly attack on a Shi’ite mosque had links to the “Peninsula Lions,” an Al-Qaeda-linked group that staged a series of attacks in the oil-rich country in 2005. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—Egypt held on Tuesday a state funeral for its top judicial official who was killed in a bomb blast in Cairo on Monday. Hisham Barakat, Egypt’s Chief Prosecutor, died on Monday of wounds sustained after a bomb in a parked car was remotely detonated as his motorcade passed by, s
Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Houthi movement currently in control of large parts of Yemen is seeking to form a “national partnership” government composed of different Yemeni political factions. A statement by the group on Sunday said it was currently looking into forming “a government based on nation
Rabat and Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—Libya’s rival parliaments on Sunday met for the first time for talks on a UN-sponsored proposal which would see them sharing power in the war-torn country. Libya currently has two parliaments, the General National Congress (GNC) in Tripoli and the internationally rec
Kuwait City and Dammam, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Saudi man who carried out a suicide bombing at a Shi’ite mosque in Kuwait on Friday had no previous terror convictions, Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry said on Sunday. Saudi law enforcement agencies had not previously encountered the man, identified by Ku
Vienna, AP—A senior US official on Sunday acknowledged that the Iran nuclear talks will go past their June 30 target date, as Iran’s foreign minister prepared to head home for consultations before returning to push for a breakthrough. Iranian media said Mohammad Javad Zarif’s trip was pl
Aden, Sana’a and Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Houthi movement currently in control of large parts of Yemen have withdrawn some of their militias from the southern port city of Aden to other parts of the country in order to counter resistance from volunteer groups loyal to Yemen’s internationally reco
Kuwait City and Tunis, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudi Arabia has condemned the “cowardly and criminal” terror attacks which took place on Friday in Kuwait, Tunisia, and France, and called for strong international cooperation to combat terrorism around the world. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman
Since its start, not much was expected from the UN-sponsored peace conference on Yemen which was held in Geneva at the behest of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The talks focused exclusively on negotiations between the Yemeni forces fighting for power while representatives of concerned countries were
Paris and Vienna, Reuters—European Union foreign policy chief Frederica Mogherini said on Sunday it was not impossible to get a deal between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program but said tough days lay ahead as a self-imposed June 30 deadline nears. France’s Foreign Minister Laurent
Beirut, Reuters—Syrian Kurdish fighters said they had fully secured the town of Kobani near the Turkish border on Saturday and killed more than 60 Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, two days after the hardline group launched an incursion with suicide bombers. Further east, ISIS presse
Sana’a and Aden Asharq Al-Awsat—Yemen’s government-in-exile and human rights activists have launched an international campaign aimed at highlighting violations and crimes committed by Houthi rebels who control large parts of the country, government sources say. According to the official who preferre
Amid the turmoil in the region and the growing sectarian Sunni–Shi’ite clashes whose signs are becoming evident in several countries, as well as tensions among tribes, it seems pretty obvious that citizenship, in its broad sense, should act as a lifeline in the face of sedition. The most important s
Sousse, AP—A young man pulled a Kalashnikov from a beach umbrella and sprayed gunfire at European sunbathers at a Tunisian resort, killing at least 39 people—one of three deadly attacks Friday from Europe to North Africa to the Middle East that followed a call to violence by the Islamic State of Ira
Mount Qandil (Iraqi Kurdistan), Asharq Al-Awsat—Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is responsible for “terminating” peace process between Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a senior party official told Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat from his base in Mount Qa
Is Iran’s “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei worried that the forthcoming elections for Majlis (Parliament) and the Assembly of Experts might cause a split within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)? The question is not academic. Over the past year, various IRGC active or retired commanders have
Riyadh and Al-Hudaydah, Asharq Al-Awsat—Yemen’s exiled Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin said there was no need for another round of talks with the Houthi movement in Geneva, maintaining that his government will start looking for ways to implement a UN Security Council resolution stipulating the rebels
