All Stories Archive

It took more than one week to decorate the house of the Palestinian hunger striker, Mujahid Hamid, who was due to be released from the Israeli occupation jail on 19 January, 2022 after completing four months under administrative detention in Al Naqab Prison. "We were gravely shocked when we...

Western powers and Turkey accused Syria, on Monday, of imposing "starvation" and siege warfare in opposition-held areas, as Syrian officials said foreign forces were illegally occupying parts of the country suffering from US-led sanctions, Reuters reports. Britain and the United States were among those at a UN Human Rights...

Yemen's Houthi movement, aligned with Iran, launched a missile attack at the United Arab Emirates on Monday that targeted a base hosting the US military, but was thwarted by US-built Patriot interceptors, US and Emirati officials said, and reported by Reuters. The attack, which sent US troops into bunkers,...

Some Turkish manufacturing companies have halted production temporarily after Iran cut gas flows last week for up to 10 days due to a technical problem, Reuters reports. Companies affected include car parts maker Ege Endustri, cardboard manufacturer Kartonsan and defence and automotive parts maker, Katmerciler. Turkey is almost fully...

A Libyan parliament committee said, on Monday, the chamber should choose a new interim prime minister, a move that could set major factions against each other in the wake of a failed election, Reuters reports. The committee, set up to chart a political path forward after a national election...

Lebanon's leading Sunni Muslim politician, Saad Al-Hariri said, on Monday, he would not run in a forthcoming parliamentary election and was suspending his role in political life, urging his political party to do the same, Reuters reports. Hariri has served three times as Prime Minister, but his political fortunes...

Two missile attacks in a week on the United Arab Emirates have left some residents feeling on edge about security, for the first time, in the Gulf state's capital, Abu Dhabi, home to high rise towers, world-class museums and a Formula One race track, Reuters reports. The UAE, a...

Tunisian President Kais Saied's chief of staff and closest adviser said, on Monday, she had resigned due to "fundamental differences in opinion" over the country's interests, Reuters reports. Nadia Akacha has been Saied's closest aide since he rose to office in a 2019 landslide and his moves last July...

One protester was killed on Monday by security forces in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, Anadolu News Agency reports. An unidentified protester was fatally shot in the chest, said the Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors in a statement. Fresh protests erupted in Sudan on Monday to demand full civilian rule...

A ship spotter in Istanbul says Russia's possible war in Ukraine would be reflected in fewer ships going south through the Bosphorus, Al Jazeera reports. "Every day, I follow any military ships going to Ukraine, to see who is sending what message," geopolitical analyst and ship spotter, Yoruk Isik...

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, is leading his country's anti-Palestinian propaganda, this time engaging in pre-emptive hasbara in anticipation of a Palestinian response to the ongoing evictions in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. "Would you consider it a terror attack if a rock like...

A delegation of senior Taliban officials and representatives has travelled to Norway to hold talks in an effort to free $10 billion of Afghanistan's frozen assets. The delegation, led by acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, arrived in Norway's capital, Oslo, yesterday to begin the three days of talks...

When the Ministry of Finance announces that the results of the first five months of the current fiscal year (2021-22) point to a growth in the total budget deficit by 35 per cent compared with the pre-budget assessments, it is only natural that the government will default on payments...

READ: Bennett offers 'security, intelligence' support to UAE...

Thirty-two groups and bodies in Tunisia have expressed "real concerns about freedoms" following President Kas Saied's announcement that a referendum will be held to consider "constitutional reforms". On 13 December, Saied said a referendum will be held on 25 July to consider "constitutional reforms" prepared by a special committee taking into account the...

Heavy snowfall hit Turkey's largest city, Istanbul on Monday, shutting shopping malls, disrupting traffic, and closing a mega-airport, Anadolu News Agency reports. After landing in the city early in the morning, heavy snowfall caused traffic jams in the city's working-class districts of Zeytinburnu, Bahcelievler, Sariyer and Kagithane on the...

Turkey's banking regulator has advised commercial banks not to distribute dividends from profits in 2021, when a currency collapse eroded banks' cash reserves, Bloomberg News Agency quoted informed sources as saying. According to the report, the sources said the regulator had passed its recommendation to the banks through the...

Complaining of foreign influence and a fragmented public, a prominent former Lebanese premier, on Monday, announced that he had "suspended" work in Lebanon's politics, Anadolu News Agency reports. At a televised press conference, three-time Premier, Saad Hariri, said he will not run in the upcoming parliamentary elections and will...

Russian and Syrian military jets conducted joint patrols throughout the airspace over Syria's borders today, with more flights and patrols set to take place on a regular basis. According to the Interfax News Agency which cited Russia's Defence Ministry, the aircraft used in the patrols included fighter and fighter-bomber...

Saudis have taken to social media to condemn the displacement of residents after many were evicted as authorities demolished entire neighbourhoods across the city of Jeddah. More than 30 neighbourhoods are thought to have been levelled. According to Al-Mayadeen, the move forms part of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's Vision...

Palestinians held in administrative detention in Israeli prisons have reached their 24th day of their boycott of Israel's military courts in the occupied West Bank, reported Wafa news agency. In an escalatory step agreed by Palestinian political parties, all 500 administrative detainees in Israeli prisons began the new year by refusing to show up...

Tunisia's Superior Council of the Judiciary is under attack with attempts being made to force it to follow the will of President Kais Saied, the Republican Party said yesterday. "The Superior Council of the Judiciary is under vicious attack, and an attempt to subjugate it to the will of...

We are about to commemorate the eleventh anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. If the coup which brought Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to power was not staged in 2013, I believe that the Syrian revolution would have succeeded; who knows what the fate of the killer Bashar Al-Assad would then have...

Six Palestinians were injured after Israeli occupation forces raided the Qalandiya refugee camp today in the occupied West Bank, according to local residents, Anadolu News Agency reports. Israeli forces raided the camp, north of Jerusalem, and searched a number of Palestinian shops there, triggering Palestinians to protest, during which Israeli soldiers...

What is the Middle East? Why is it the "middle"? And to whom is it "east"? We should take into consideration that what is "east" to certain geographical location is "west" to another. Thus, Turkey, Iran and Russia are east of Europe, but they are west of Japan. What...

British Muslims have been categorised as being one of the most discriminated communities across the UK, according to a new report on Islamophobia published on Monday and reported by Anadolu News Agency. The analysis by the University of Birmingham and data analysis firm, YouGov, discovered that the British public...

The Ethiopian authorities demanded that both Egypt and Sudan change their rhetoric regarding the Renaissance Dam and to raise the tone of peace-building. This came in a statement by Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed. He affirmed that his country has ambitions to build a modern economy based on agriculture...

Israeli lobby group, NGO Monitor, has intensified its campaign against the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Palestine. With a new appointment for the position expected to be made in the coming months, the Israeli group sent a letter to UN Human Rights Council President Nazhat Shameem...

Iran has ruled out an interim agreement in the ongoing talks in Vienna to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, saying the proposal has never been on its agenda, Anadolu News Agency reports. At a weekly presser in Tehran on Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said Tehran only...

READ: British Gas pension money used for buying Israeli spyware NSO Group...

The Palestinian National Council (PNC) is the highest institution of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). The Council has wide-ranging powers, but exercises only a few of them, because the executive body and its presidency have usurped the powers of the Council and made it a weak body. Therefore, few...

An Israeli firm is developing body cameras with facial recognition technology for Israeli forces. Built by Yozmot, a strategic planning firm owned by former Israeli army chief, Colonel Dany Tirza, the technology will enable forces to scan crowds and detect suspects in real-time, even if their faces are obscured,...

An Israeli investigation in to the shocking death of 80-year-old Palestinian American, Omar Asad, suggests that no occupation soldier will be prosecuted despite confirmation by investigators and eyewitnesses that he was blindfolded, gagged, handcuffed and left on the ground before passing out. Details of the investigation were revealed in...

Palestinians in Gaza staged a rally on Saturday in solidarity with Yemen against the ongoing war in the country conducted by the Saudi-led coalition. The coalition has stepped up its air strikes following last week's drone and missile strike in Abu Dhabi which was claimed by the Houthi-allied Yemeni...

The international coalition fighting Daesh has said that the attempt to free the militant group's members from Al-Hasakah Prison in Syria does not pose a major threat to Iraq and the region, Anadolu has reported. "Daesh's desperate attacks in the past days have made it ultimately weaker," the US-led...

Many in the Arab world were baffled when Sudan joined three other Arab states and normalised relations with Israel in 2020. For decades, Sudan has maintained a staunch anti-Israel position and relentlessly supported the Palestinian cause. On 29 August 1967, Sudan hosted the Arab League summit in the wake of the Six...

Sudanese human rights lawyers from the Ministry of Justice organised a sit-in on Sunday outside the ministry building in Khartoum to protest against the killing of protesters by the security services, Anadolu has reported. The lawyers were joined by activists at the protest, where banners were held condemning the...

READ: Israel prevents urgent medical equipment entering Gaza...

Egyptians are crowding into banks after rumours spread that the central bank will float the Egyptian pound again. In 2016 Egypt floated its currency in a move the central bank said was part of a list of reforms to strengthen the economy in exchange for a $12 billion IMF loan....

Egypt's foreign minister said yesterday that his country is always ready to resume negotiations on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, if the government in Addis Ababa has the political will to reach an agreement. "Egypt was not the reason for interrupting the Renaissance Dam negotiations," Sameh Shoukry told a...

The Arab High Follow-Up Committee representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, has called for a protest in front of the Cabinet Office in West Jerusalem against the seizure of Arab-owned land in the Negev desert by the Jewish National Fund. Other protest activities, said the committee, will include sit-ins and...

Pakistani police have asked Iranian authorities to help arrest three Pakistani citizens suspected of killing a Saudi diplomat in Karachi in 2011. The suspects are thought to be hiding in Iran. Hassan Al-Qahtani, an employee of the Saudi consulate in Karachi, was killed in 2011 when gunmen opened fire...

Iran's special representative in Kabul, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, announced on Sunday that Tehran has given permission for fuel trucks to go to neighbouring Afghanistan. "In order to meet the needs of the Afghan people in winter and at the request of the Afghan authorities, a permit has been issued...

An Egyptian MP has filed a complaint about Netflix's first Arabic-language feature film on the grounds that it "offends the mores of Egyptian society." Mostafa Bakry has called for a boycott of the streaming giant because of its depiction of one of the characters who is in a same...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered a formal inquiry into Conservative lawmaker and former minister Nusrat Ghani's allegations that she was dismissed as minister because of her Islamic faith. "The prime minister has asked the Cabinet Office to conduct an inquiry into the allegations made by Nusrat Ghani...

READ: Snowfall brings down tents in northern Syria, leaving refugees out in the cold...

Middle East Monitor's (MEMO) Palestine Book Awards are back for the 11th year and we invite you to submit your best entries. Winning books will be chosen from a number of categories, including Academic, Translation, Creative, Memoir, Social History. MEMO will be hosting an awards ceremony to honour the...

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has between 70 and 80 per cent support in the West Bank, a former Israeli chief of the general staff has warned. Retired General Gadi Eisenkot made his comment when asked about the possibility of a new outbreak of violence between Israel and...

Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva has called for supporting Palestinians' right to establish a state, Quds Press reported yesterday. Da Silva reiterated his view that the UN should be restructured so that progress can be made regarding major issues such as "the creation of a Palestinian state." The leftist leader...

A former Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defence Forces, Gadi Eisenkot, has warned that the country's internal divisions pose a greater threat than its foreign foes, Walla has reported. Eisenkot issued a similar warning a year ago. "I think that the rifts in Israeli society, and...