Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—Powerful Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr has vowed to protect all Shi’ite holy shrines in the country following threats purportedly made by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. In an audio recording released by ISIS following i
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Riyadh conference on Yemen concluded on Tuesday with calls for the establishment of safe zones in the war-torn country to allow the legitimate government to resume its duties and the formation of a joint Arab force to help secure major cities from the Houthi rebel m
Seoul, Reuters—Photographs showing a North Korean missile launched from a submarine were manipulated by state propagandists and the country may be years away from developing such technology, analysts and a top US military official said on Tuesday. North Korea, sanctioned by the United States a
If the sentence passed by Lebanon’s Military Court against former Lebanese MP and cabinet minister Michel Samaha is to stand, he will be set free within just seven months. This is all he will serve of the official four and a half year “prison sentence” that was initially issued against him. For thos
Baghdad, Reuters—Iraqi security forces on Tuesday deployed tanks and artillery around Ramadi to confront Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters who have captured the city in a major defeat for the Baghdad government and its Western backers. After Ramadi fell on Sunday, Shi’ite m
I write this article after months of forced absence. I have yet to return home and am still in the process of recovery. So should I wait for longer or write? In truth, the journalist in me triumphed in the end, and since I have spent a considerable period of time in this enforced absence, […]
Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Houthi movement has informed the new UN envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, that it wants Iran to be included in any peace talks to be sponsored by the international organization, Asharq Al-Awsat has learned. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity
Bujumbura, Reuters—More than 100 protesters chanted slogans against Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza and his bid for a third term in office on Tuesday in defiance of government threats of a crackdown on demonstrations. “We will not stop until he gives up the third term,” the p
On Friday the New York Federal Court sentenced Khalid Al-Fawwaz, a suspect in the deadly 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, to life in prison. It took 16 years after the crime was committed to issue the sentence against Fawwaz, who for a while was the subject of a legal and [&h
Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—After two days of fighting, the city of Ramadi, the provincial capital of Iraq’s largest governorate, Anbar, has been captured by fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) amid a “complete withdrawal” of Iraqi government forces from the city. Sheik
Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, AP—For hundreds of migrants stranded at sea in sinking boats, the first helping hand came not from governments but from fishermen who towed them to safety. The desperation of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh has not compelled neighboring countries to take them in, but h
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—One year after Gen. Khalifa Haftar announced an operation to liberate Benghazi from the clutches of extremist groups, the city remains in chaos, with Haftar’s Libyan National Army failing to make inroads into the city which sparked the country’s revolution against longtime dic
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Legitimate Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi opened a conference on Yemen in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday, urging for a return to the Gulf-backed initiative on the country’s post-Arab Spring future. Hadi told those gathered at the three-day conference it was
Both sides in Egypt chose to escalate the conflict. Muslim Brotherhood leaders who fled and settled abroad made a conscious decision to defy the regime, justifying the killings in Sinai and threatening the current Egyptian regime. As for the prosecutor, he chose to submit a petition against the impr
Bujumbura, Burundi, AP—Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza has made his first appearance in the capital since the attempted coup against his government last week. Nkurunziza appeared before journalists at his presidential palace in Bujumbura Sunday morning. He made a brief statement saying that he i
Damascus, AP—A Syrian official said Sunday that the situation is “fully under control” in Palmyra despite breaches by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants who pushed into the historic town a day earlier. Syrian opposition activists also confirmed that militants withdrew from
Camp David, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir described Thursday’s US-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit, which saw US pledges of “ironclad” support for Gulf regional security, as “historic and unprecedented.” In comments to Asharq Al-Awsat following the conclusion of th
Cairo, AP—An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced ousted president Mohamed Mursi to death over his part in a mass prison break that took place during the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. As is customary in passing capital punishment, Judge Shaaban El-Shami referred his death sentence on Mur
Koh Lipe, Thailand, Reuters—Malaysian vessels on Saturday intercepted a boat crammed with migrants after the Thai navy towed it away from Thailand, the latest of a number of vessels pushed back to sea by governments who have ignored a UN call for an immediate rescue. Thousands of people are adrift i
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova met with Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb on Wednesday in Cairo, in a bid to counter the threat extremist groups pose to global heritage sites in the Middle East. After meeting with Tayeb at Al-Azhar, Bokova launched a conference, also
