Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—Yemen’s Iran-backed Shi’ite Houthi militias are retreating from the central oil-rich province of Ma’rib after being defeated by the Yemeni army and local Sunni tribesmen, the governor of the province Sultan Al-Arada said. “Operation Decisive Storm has played a large rol
As much as it has surprised the international community, Russia’s decision not to veto the UN Security Council resolution on Yemen has sent a glimmer of hope that it will deal with Arab issues more fairly in the future. The real diplomatic triumph for the Gulf in New York was in convincing Moscow no
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Young Saudi businessman Ibrahim Dashishah has embarked on his filmmaking career in world cinema with a determination to create movies “that have a humane character and carry reformative messages in the English language.” In less than a year, Dashishah has produced two f
Tripoli and Rabat, Reuters—Forces loyal to Libya’s internationally recognized government carried out airstrikes on Wednesday near the capital Tripoli, which is controlled by its rivals, officials said, as United Nations-brokered peace talks resumed in Morocco. UN Special Envoy Bernardino Leon
Bogota and Havana, Reuters—Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos ordered the resumption of bombing raids against FARC guerrillas on Wednesday after a rebel attack killed 10 soldiers, heating up a war that had seen a tentative cessation of hostilities. As part of peace talks with the Revoluti
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Yemen’s legitimate government will seek to restart the political process and launch a long-awaited dialogue on the country’s future in Riyadh within the next few weeks, Yemen Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin said. In comments to Asharq Al-Awsat, Yassin said that the
With every day that passes, Operation Decisive Storm proves just how necessary, and hence, justifiable it is. The conspirators inside Yemen have made huge investments over the past few years in funding sectarian infrastructures, organizations, logistics, as well as tribal and interest-based relation
United Nations, AP—The UN special envoy to Syria will begin consulting with key players to try to relaunch political negotiations aimed at ending the country’s civil war now in its fifth year, the United Nations said Tuesday. In late March, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ordered Staffan de Mist
Havana, AP—Cuban officials and ordinary citizens alike hailed the island’s removal from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying the move by President Barack Obama heals a decades-old insult to national pride and clears the way to swiftly restore diplomatic relations. “The Cuba
United Nations, Reuters—The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday imposed an arms embargo targeting the Iran-allied Houthi rebels who rule most of Yemen and blacklisted the son of the country’s former president and a Houthi leader after council veto-power Russia abstained. The Secur
This could well be the greatest diplomatic triumph for the Gulf and Arab countries at the United Nations. Who would have believed that mighty Russia, which until recently has been extremely sympathetic to the Houthis, would not be able to impede the UN Security Council resolution on Yemen? What kind
“We have suffered more than you, and you deserve what is happening to you!” This sentence pretty much sums up the general mood in more than one country in the Middle East when it comes to sectarian and ethnic conflicts, which have exploded in recent years and threaten these days to engulf everyone i
Riyadh and Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Saudi-led coalition targeting the Iran-backed Shi’ite Houthi movement in Yemen has fulfilled most of its military objectives, with coalition airstrikes along with ground resistance by Yemeni volunteer groups succeeding in forcing out the Houthi militias from mo
Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi took his time to appoint a vice president. Before the appointment on Sunday, legitimacy was found in just one person: the president. Yemen’s legitimacy has been under threat; with an unprecedented power vacuum, no parliament and no state apparatus able,
Baghdad, Reuters—Iraqi security forces launched a counter-attack on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the western province of Anbar on Monday, seeking to reverse an early setback in a new campaign to recapture the country’s Sunni heartland. Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi announced
Washington, AP—A federal judge sentenced one former Blackwater security guard to life in prison and three others to 30-year terms for their roles in a 2007 shooting that killed 14 Iraqi civilians and wounded 17 others. The carnage in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square caused an international uproar over
London and Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—A solution to the crisis at the Palestinian refugee camp in Yarmouk, on the outskirts of Damascus, now lies in the hands of the Syrian regime and not Palestinian groups, the Palestinian envoy to Syria told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday. Ahmed Majdalani, President Mahmo
Sanaa, AP—Yemen’s President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who fled the country in the face of a rebel advance last month, has tapped his former Prime Minister Khaled Bahah to be vice president in a move aimed at strengthening the embattled executive branch, an official close to Hadi said. The Shiite
Since March 2013 talks between Yemen’s different factions have been seesawing in tempestuous fashion, and the disparate outlooks and slogans of all these groups have resulted in a deadlock. Throughout this whole period the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has been present in one way or another, suppor
Cairo, Sana’a and Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—In the latest sign of his growing rift with the Iran-backed Shi’ite Houthi movement, ousted former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh is proposing a peace initiative to stop the fighting in the country, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday. Saleh, who w
