Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Houthi insurgent movement is preparing to launch airstrikes on Yemen’s main oil hub in a bid to further extend its control over the country, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday. “This is most likely an attempt to subdue both these provinces under the control of the put
Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, Reuters—A missile-firing drone killed six people in Afghanistan on Monday including a veteran militant believed to have defected to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from the Taliban, Afghan officials said. The senior militant, former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mullah Abd
Cairo, AP—Egypt’s cabinet has indefinitely suspended the national soccer league after at least 22 fans were killed in a stampede and clashes with police outside a Cairo stadium, three years after Egypt witnessed one of the deadliest soccer riots in the sport’s history. The cabinet announ
It has become abundantly clear in recent days that Egypt is being targeted, and on a number of different levels. What is also clear is that since the passing of Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz and the assumption to the throne of his successor, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdu
Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—The countdown to the liberation of Tikrit from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is already under way, the Iraqi military official who heads the operation told Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday, though he did not specify a particular date for the start of the mission. Lt.
Dubai and Munich, Reuters—Iran’s supreme leader said on Sunday he could accept a compromise in nuclear talks and gave his strongest defense yet of President Hassan Rouhani’s decision to negotiate with the West, a policy opposed by powerful hardliners at home. As his foreign minister met
Athens, Reuters—New Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will lay out his radical left-wing government’s policies in a speech later on Sunday, firmly rejecting any more austerity forced on his debt-strapped country by its euro zone partners. In his first major speech to parliament as premier, T
The latest crime committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)—and I do not expect it to be the last—barely adds anything new to the criminal record of this kind of terrorism, which brings together the worst manifestations of the crimes committed by the Crusaders under the pret
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—Libya faces bankruptcy if low global oil prices, falling Libyan production, and the unstable situation in the country continue, Western powers warned on Saturday. In a joint statement, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany and Italy s
The Syrian crisis is even more protracted and dangerous for Jordan than the burning to death of Jordanian pilot Moaz Al-Kasasbeh would suggest. This hideous crime was designed to stir Arab and international uproar in general, and provoke the Jordanians in particular. The crime reflects the intention
Sana’a and Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Recent moves by the Shi’ite Houthi movement to dissolve parliament and form a new government in Yemen are “unconstitutional,” according to alleged Houthi ally former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh, whom many in Yemen believe has aided the group’s gradual takeo
Munich, AP—The leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine aim to hold a summit in Minsk this week as they try to stem fighting in eastern Ukraine, officials in Germany and France said Sunday. The plan for a meeting Wednesday in the Belarusian capital emerged from a phone call between German Chan
Baghdad, AP—Baghdad’s decade-old nightly curfew ended after midnight Sunday, hours after bombs exploded in and around the Iraqi capital, killing at least 40 people in a stark warning of the dangers still ahead in this country under attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group. Th
Istanbul, Asharq Al-Awsat—The president of the Syrian National Coalition Khalid Khoja said that opposition forces are not fighting Bashar Al-Assad and his regime, but its main backer Tehran, dismissing the Syrian president as the “executive manager” of Iranian interests in Syria. I
Baghdad, AP—Ahead of Baghdad ending a decade-old nightly curfew, bombs exploded across the Iraqi capital Saturday, killing at least 37 people in a stark warning of the dangers still ahead in this country torn by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group. The deadliest bombing happened in the
Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across Yemen’s cities on Saturday to protest against the Houthi takeover of the government. Houthi security forces were also out in force across the capital Sana’a after an explosion outside the presidential pal
Munich, AP—German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday it is uncertain whether a flurry of diplomacy aimed at resolving the crisis in Ukraine will succeed, and warned that there are no guarantees that any deal would stick. Merkel, speaking after two days of hastily arranged meetings in Kiev and Mo
Chicago, Reuters—The parents of an American humanitarian worker held hostage by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) since August 2013 said on Friday they are hopeful she is still alive, after the group said she was killed in a bombing by Jordanian fighter jets. Carl and Marsha Mueller, the pa
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—The newly announced Fee Hob Misr (Out of love of Egypt) electoral list has turned all election calculations on their head in the North African republic ahead of parliamentary elections set to begin on March 21, say local commentators. The new Misr electoral list is set t
Sana’a, AP—Yemen’s powerful Shi’ite rebels announced on Friday that they have taken over the country and dissolved parliament, a dramatic move that finalizes their months-long power grab. The development also plunges the impoverished country deeper into turmoil and threatens
