Beirut and London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Hezbollah has been obstructing recent efforts to secure the release of 16 Lebanese hostages abducted by the Al-Nusra Front extremist group last August, an informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat. The source said a number of Arab and regional countries have been negoti
Riyadh, Washington DC and Aden, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Yemeni armed forces are now in control of a border crossing between Yemen and Saudi Arabia that was captured on Tuesday from the Houthi movement by volunteer forces loyal to the country’s President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a senior Yemeni military o
It is no secret that most of Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic stances towards the Middle East have been in tune with those of France. This is not to mention that Paris may be currently politically closer to Riyadh than any other European capital. A French official was quoted by Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday a
Mogadishu, Reuters—A car bomb targeting military instructors from the United Arab Emirates exploded in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Wednesday, injuring no UAE citizens but killing at least three Somali soldiers, security officials said. The officials said the UAE ambassador was traveling in th
Paris and Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Prince Mohammed Bin Salman arrived in France for an official visit on Wednesday. Both countries have announced they will sign billions of dollars’ worth of deals in several fields on the back of the visit. Following his
There have been insistent demands for the renewal of religious discourse in several Muslim countries, including Egypt, which is known as “the Mother of the World” and home to the Al-Azhar university, its highest religious authority. Ever since the toppling of Egypt’s former Muslim Brotherhood-led go
Jeddah, Asharq Al-Awsat—Volunteer forces loyal to Yemen’s President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi have completed a prisoner swap with the Houthi movement which launched a coup against Hadi earlier this year, an informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday. Ali Al-Ahmadi, the spokesman for the volunteers
Beirut, Reuters—Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters appear to be shoring up their defenses around their Syrian stronghold Raqqa city after losing ground to Kurdish-led forces this week, a spokesman for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia said on Wednesday. A Kurdish-led a
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, will target the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) online recruiters in a new campaign beginning July 1, the agency has said. A Europol spokesperson told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday the agency would be monitoring between 45,000
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—War in Syria has “devastated” the country’s economy, which has contracted by more than 50 percent since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, according to London-based think-tank Chatham House. In a research paper, Syria’s Economy: Picking up the Pieces,
Lebanese politician Wiam Wahab’s recent warning regarding the possibility of the Druze seeking refuge in Israel to escape the takfirist threat did not provoke the ire of the anti-Israel resistance ranks, whether on the media or the political level. Wahab, who has appeared on several TV channels yell
Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—Violent clashes erupted in southwestern Yemen on Monday between Houthi insurgents and forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh in what rebel sources said was the result of a dispute over oil supplies. Other sources said the fighting started after the allies blame
Geneva, Reuters—UN investigators said on Monday that Israel and Hamas, as well as other Palestinian militant groups, committed grave abuses of international humanitarian law during the 2014 Gaza conflict that may amount to war crimes. They called on all sides to cooperate with the International Crim
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Houthi delegation which attended last week’s peace conference in Geneva has now headed to Muscat, according to Yemen’s human rights minister. The delegation, which also included members of the General People’s Congress (GPC) party headed by ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—To those who see world events through the prism of conspiracies, Judith Miller, a soft-spoken New York brunette, is the Queen of Conspiracies. It was she who sold the idea of toppling Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi despot, to the American public by acting as loudspeaker for a club
Political, social, and economic problems neither solve themselves nor dissolve and disappear with time. They require honesty with oneself and others as well as practical and courageous commitment to change unacceptable facts on the ground. Think of how President Barack Obama is handling US policies
Kabul, Reuters—A Taliban suicide bomber and six gunmen attacked the Afghan parliament on Monday as lawmakers met to consider a new defense minister, and another district in the volatile north fell to the militants as they intensified a summer offensive. The brazen assault on the symbolic center of p
Istanbul, Asharq Al-Awsat—The head of Turkey’s second-largest opposition party will agree to form a coalition with the Justice and Development Party (AKP) if President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan agrees to reopen a graft probe in which his son is implicated. Devlet Bahçeli, the head of the Nationalist Move
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Houthi delegation which attended the UN-sponsored Geneva peace consultations on Yemen made little contribution to the talks, with most efforts coming from the country’s internationally recognized government, Yemen’s Foreign Minister Yassin Riyadh told Asharq Al-Awsat on S
Last week I attended a closed seminar organized by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in the US capital. It mainly focused the crises in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. The looming nuclear deal between Washington and Tehran dominated the discussion, since it represents an important political turn
