Gaza and Jerusalem, Reuters—Israeli naval commandos clashed with Hamas militants in a raid on the coast of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, in what appeared to be the first ground assault of a six-day Israeli offensive on the territory aimed at stopping Palestinian rocket fire. With aerial support from fig
Kabul, Reuters—US State Secretary John Kerry convinced Afghanistan’s feuding presidential candidates on Saturday to agree to a total recount of last month’s presidential election, which has threatened to split the country along ethnic lines. After two days of intense talks between Kerry,
Rio De Janeiro, Reuters—Dreadful defending cost Brazil dear yet again on Saturday as the World Cup hosts slumped to a 3–0 loss to the Netherlands in a playoff for third place, underlining just how far the ‘Seleção’ have fallen down world football’s pecking order. Four days after a humili
Yemen’s President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi has accused Iran of being behind the turmoil in Yemen more than once. He blamed Iran for the Houthis’ recent seizure of the city of Omran, the gateway to the capital, Sana’a. I have no doubt that Iran is active in Yemen, including funding and arming rebels, b
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—As Tunis prepares to host a security meeting of foreign ministers from the six countries neighboring Libya, Asharq Al-Awsat spoke to the Arab League’s special envoy to Libya, Nasser Al-Kidwa, about the ongoing political turmoil and security crisis in the country. Kidwa, a form
Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat—It is commonly known that social networking sites, and particularly Twitter, are being used to entice misguided youth to leave their homes and take up arms alongside terrorist organizations in Syria and Iraq. Still, terrorist organizations use a variety of recruitment tactics
Kabul, Reuters—US Secretary of State John Kerry scrambled to produce a deal by the end of Saturday to end Afghanistan’s election crisis, meeting for the second day with the country’s two presidential candidates and incumbent President Hamid Karzai. The deadlock over the June 14 election
Gaza and Jerusalem, Reuters—Israel pounded Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Saturday for a fifth day, killing nine people including two disabled women according to medics, and showed no sign of pausing despite international pressure to negotiate a ceasefire. Asked if Israel might move from
Shanghai, Reuters—China and the United States must avoid a “new cold war” in their international relations, China’s top newspaper said on Saturday, in the wake of high level talks in Beijing between senior leaders of the world’s two largest economies. China and the United Sta
Abu Dhabi, Asharq Al-Awsat—Hamas should renounce its ties with the Muslim Brotherhood to encourage Egypt to be more proactive in negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas militants, an exiled Gaza strongman and former Fatah leader told Asharq Al-Awsat. Mohamed Dahlan, a controversial Palestin
Baghdad, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has denied accusations that Peshmerga forces seizing two major oil fields in Kirkuk province is part of an attempt to put pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki after Iraqi Kurdish politicians announced they were pulling out o
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Since taking on his position as the United Kingdom’s ambassador to Iraq in 2012, Simon Collis has witnessed increasing challenges to the political and security situation in Iraq. He is in consultation with Iraqi politicians on a daily basis as political rivals struggle to for
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is preparing to seize one of the few remaining major oil production centers in Syria not under its control, according to Syrian opposition officials. “ISIS is already in control of more than 60 percent of Syria’s oil, with a total pr
Juba, Reuters—The European Union said on Friday it was imposing sanctions on Peter Gadet, a South Sudanese rebel leader who commanded an ethnic militia that massacred more than 200 civilians in April. The EU announced travel bans and asset freezes on two South Sudanese military leaders on Thursday b
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat—The main opposition Syrian National Coalition is facing a new political divide over the results of the recent election of new president Hadi Al-Bahra. Following a three-day meeting in Istanbul, Bahra was elected on Wednesday as Coalition president and Nasr Al-Hariri as secret
Berlin, Reuters—Germany’s decision to ask the CIA station chief in Berlin to leave the country was an adequate, inevitable response following fresh allegations of US spying on Berlin, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Friday. “Our decision to ask the current represe
Jerusalem, AP—Gaza rocket fire struck a gas station and set it ablaze Friday in southern Israel, seriously wounding one person as rocket fire also came from Lebanon for the first time in the four-day offensive. The attack on the gas station in Ashdod looked to be the most serious attack in Israel in
Kabul, Reuters—US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday Afghanistan’s transition to a self-reliant state hung in the balance after a contested presidential election and urged Afghan officials to focus on auditing the vote count to underpin its legitimacy. Kerry arrived in the Afgh
Abu Dhabi, Reuters—A planned merger of the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has been shelved for the foreseeable future as terms for the politically sensitive move could not be agreed, sources told Reuters on Thursday. Having been mooted for a number of years,
They must be either mad or ignorant, those who think that what has happened in Mosul and Tikrit can be repeated in Samarra and Baghdad. They have been told from the outset that these two cities will be difficult to take over for both military and security reasons. Any leniency on the part of the [&h
