By the time this article goes to press, oil prices will have suffered huge losses, approaching fifty per cent of their value of just five months ago. The decline in the price of a vital commodity on which some state budgets depend almost completely doubtless brings back memories of previous oil pric
At the same time that the US government is saying that training the moderate Syrian opposition will be a long-term process, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has announced the end of lessons in the schools of Manbij—a Syrian town in Aleppo governorate—until all teachers have com
Tunis, Asharq Al-Awsat—Tunisia’s former prime minister and secretary-general of the Islamist Ennahda Movement, Hamadi Jebali, told Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday that he has “definitively withdrawn” from the Islamist party, denying claims of a clash with the party’s current leaders. Jebali announced hi
Istanbul, Reuters—Turkish police raided media outlets close to a US-based Muslim cleric on Sunday and detained 24 people including top executives and ex-police chiefs in operations against what President Tayyip Erdogan calls a terrorist network conspiring to topple him. The raids on Zaman daily and
Tripoli and Tunis, Reuters—Fighting between armed factions allied to Libya’s competing governments broke out on Sunday near the country’s main border crossing to Tunisia, Libyan and Tunisian officials said. The OPEC oil producer is caught in a conflict between two governments and parliam
Sana’a, Asharq Al-Awsat—Five suspected members of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group were killed near the Yemeni-Saudi border on Saturday in a gun battle with Yemeni troops. The shootout began when one suspect opened fire after a Yemeni soldier attempted to search the bus the suspects were travelling on i
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—A Libyan cabinet minister slammed British policy in the North African country on Saturday, accusing the UK’s ambassador of lobbying the Tobruk parliament to reconcile with the Muslim Brotherhood. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a minister of premier Abdullah Al-Thani’s cab
Beirut, Reuters—A young man from Syria’s battle-ravaged city of Aleppo won the annual “Arab Idol” singing contest late on Saturday, then prayed to God to end calamities in his country. Hazim Sharif steered clear of specific political references in interviews and Facebook messages a
Lima, Reuters—About 190 nations agreed on Sunday the building blocks of a new-style global deal due in 2015 to combat climate change amid warnings that far tougher action will be needed to limit increases in global temperatures. Under the deal reached in Lima, governments will submit national plans
Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat—Kurdish Peshmerga forces are “coordinating” with the remaining Shi’ite national mobilization forces in Jaloula after liberating the Kurdish-dominated town from Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters last month. In comments to Asharq Al-Awsat, the Peshmerga comma
The measures that some Western embassies in Egypt took this week—closing their doors and warning their citizens of potential terrorist attacks—remind us once again of the extent of the threats facing the Egyptian state, and the gravity of the events taking place not only in Egypt but the region in g
Damascus, Asharq Al-Awsat—At the upmarket Cham Palace Hotel in the center of Syria’s capital it was announced that Damascus had been selected to host the fourth edition of the Arab Theater Festival. That was in December, 2010, the festival was due to be held two years later in December, 2012. Things
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudi Arabia is playing a strategic game by refusing to back a cut in OPEC oil production, lowering international oil prices, according to Gulf-based economists. The price of oil continued to fall this week after the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast weaker dem
Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters have recaptured several villages near Anbar governorate, local officials and tribal figures told Asharq Al-Awsat. Despite recently suffering setbacks in western Iraq, the Islamist group has benefited from a lack of coordination
Baghdad, AP—Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants shot down an Iraqi military helicopter, officials said Saturday, killing the two pilots on board and raising fresh concerns about the extremists’ ability to attack aircraft amid ongoing US-led coalition airstrikes. The attack happene
Washington, Asharq Al-Awsat—US President Barack Obama praised Saudi Arabia’s efforts in fighting terrorism and extremist ideology during a meeting with the Kingdom’s Minister of Interior Prince Mohammed Bin Naif Bin Abdulaziz on Friday. Saudi Arabia’s interior minister met Obama and US Vice-Presiden
Lima, Reuters—United Nations climate talks, which ran on into an extra day on Saturday, are heading for a watered-down deal on limiting global warming, leaving many of the toughest issues for next year’s Paris summit. Peruvian Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, hosting the talks, told d
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the country’s leading Sunni religious institute, has issued a statement formally rejecting the labeling of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters as apostates. Takfirism, the practice of one Muslim declaring another to be an apostate, is contro
In April 2014, when the Russian President Vladimir Putin was at the peak of his tsarist splendor after his invasion and subsequent annexation of Crimea, he spoke about his ability to control Europe’s gas and energy supplies. He was like a hurricane, blowing away any objections by the West and the US
It seems the height of contradiction to be a Saudi, Kuwaiti, or Egyptian parent and worry that your children who are studying or working in the United States or Europe may turn into extremists who aspire to join organizations like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Nonetheless,
