Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—Michel Aoun, one of the contenders for the Lebanese Presidency, offered to withdraw from the race on Saturday, in return for changes to Lebanon’s electoral system. Aoun, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, said he was willing to withdraw his “right to the Presidency as
Erbil, Asharq Al-Awsat—Local militias are forming to battle militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in and around Mosul, according to the region’s governor. In a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday, Nineveh provincial governor Atheel Al-Nujaifi said: “The formation of popular
Gaza/Jerusalem, Reuters—A humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip collapsed on Sunday after a barrage of rockets fired by Palestinian militants was met with fierce Israeli shelling, in a fresh setback to efforts to secure a permanent ceasefire. Israeli tanks and artillery army pounded targets along the
Genoa, Reuters—The wreck of the Costa Concordia arrived on Sunday off the northern Italian city of Genoa where it will be broken up for scrap, two-and-a-half years after the cruise liner ran aground and sank near the Tuscan island of Giglio, killing 32 people. After a four-day voyage from Giglio of
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Australia’s Muslim community is shocked by the number of Australians who have joined the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a well-known Sydney Muslim community leader said after an image of an Australian national posing with the severed heads of Syrian soldiers was post
As Ramadan draws to a close, anyone who watched the slew of Egyptian television dramas will have noticed the increasingly critical manner in which the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as other extremist groups, are being dealt with. This year’s Ramadan TV dramas have featured intense attacks on the
There can be no doubts about the intentions of US Secretary of State John Kerry. From his actions as head of the US State Department, it is clear that he is a well-intentioned man. Based on these good intentions, he is always roaming the world, scarcely spending anytime with his family. This is the
Yaounde, Reuters—Nigeria’s Islamist militant group Boko Haram has carried out two cross-border attacks into Cameroon since Friday, killing at least four soldiers and prompting the Cameroonian army to send reinforcements to the area, army sources said on Saturday. Under pressure from neighborin
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—As Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters continued their push against a key Syrian government military base in eastern Syria on Friday, government troops were seen crossing the eastern desert in a bid to counter-attack, a pro-rebel source told Asharq Al-Awsat. ISIS
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—The editor-in-chief of Sudan’s privately-owned Al-Tayar newspaper, Osman Mirghani, has denied calling for Khartoum to normalize relations with Israel in the wake of an armed attack on the newspaper’s headquarters, allegedly over his pro-Israeli comments. Mirghani, and another
Gaza and Jerusalem, Reuters—Palestinians in the Gaza Strip poured into the streets on Saturday to recover their dead and stock up on food supplies after a 12-hour humanitarian truce agreed by Israel and Hamas took hold. Women in Beit Hanoun wailed as medics pulled three dead relatives from a h
Brussels, Reuters—The European Union reached an outline agreement on Friday to impose the first economic sanctions on Russia over its behavior in Ukraine but scaled back their scope to exclude technology for the crucial gas sector. The EU also imposed travel bans and asset freezes on the chief
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—Radical Islamist groups in Egypt are claiming ties to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in a bid to secure funding and publicity, a senior Egyptian security official told Asharq Al-Awsat. The Egyptian security official, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of
Khartoum, Asharq Al-Awsat—An old saying goes: “Cairo writes, Beirut prints and Khartoum reads.” The Sudanese are well-known for their love of reading. Khartoum, a primary literature hub in the region, once boasted of its busy bookstores. Here, books were delivered from world-renowned publishing hous
The tragic situation unfolding in Gaza, and Israel’s criminal aggression against Palestinians there, is nothing new. This is just another painful chapter in the sad, repetitive and protracted story of Israeli aggression against Palestine. However, what is new is the way in which this is now being re
We may never understand the contexts that preceded the recent round of the war on Gaza, or the real reasons behind the timing of its eruption. The issue of the kidnapping and killing of the three Israeli teenagers in Hebron—arguably the incident that sparked the Israeli attack on Gaza—re
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—The South Sudan government has said that its regionally mediated negotiations with the opposition movement will resume at the end of July, after nearly a month-long break. In a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat, South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei said that the Intergo
Gaza/Jerusalem, Reuters—US Secretary of State John Kerry pressed regional proxies to nail down a Gaza ceasefire on Friday as the civilian death toll soared, threatening to spread Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed to the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. With Israel and Hamas-led Islamist fighters settin
Paris, Reuters—Poor weather was the most likely cause of the crash of an Air Algerie flight in the West African state of Mali that killed all 116 people on board, French officials said on Friday. Investigators at the scene of the crash in northern Mali concluded the airliner broke apart when i
Amman, Asharq Al-Awsat—Jordanian business owners are ready to meet shoppers’ expectations during the upcoming Eid Al-Fitr festival, when Muslims traditionally wear new clothes and exchange gifts, even though people seem worried by the financial demands of Eid and the new school year just around the
