READ: Netanyahu was unusually excited about a video call with an Arab nobody...

A member of Hamas’ political bureau Khalil Al-Hayya said Thursday that relations with Saudi Arabia are “estranged,” denying enmity with Riyadh. “Perhaps is a rupture of relations that the brothers of Saudi Arabia have imposed,” Al-Hayya said in an interview published by the movement’s official website. “These are...

At least 517 inhabitants – mostly children – of the famed Al-Hol camp which houses relatives of detained Daesh fighters in northern Syria, have died throughout 2019, the Kurdish Red Crescent reported. The Kurdish-run camp, which hosts around 68,000 people reliant on humanitarian aid and assistance, has long been...

Kuwait has expelled 40,000 expatriates, representing 20 different nationalities in 2019, for various reasons, most notably for violating residency law and involvement in criminal activities, Kuwaiti Al-Qabas newspaper reported on Thursday. The Kuwaiti newspaper pointed out that the number of deportees has increased by 14,000 in 2019, compared with...

Contrary to US President Donald Trump’s declaration that no US soldiers were harmed in Iran’s retaliatory attack over the assassination of its top general, Qassem Soleimani, the Pentagon has now revealed that at least 11 troops were wounded in the missile attack on the Ain Al-Assad airbase in the...

READ: Hundreds dead in Yemen as swine flu spreads ...

A morbidly obese Daesh ‘mufti’ who advocated enslavement, rape, torture and ethnic cleansing was caught in a raid yesterday by an elite Iraqi SWAT team of the Nineveh regiment in the city of Mosul. Shifa Al-Nima, also known as Abu Abdul-Bari, was too overweight (reportedly weighing over 135 kilograms)...

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced on Thursday that at least 39 fighters have been killed during clashes between the Syrian regime forces and armed rebels, in the Idlib governorate. “Clashes broke out around midnight on Wednesday, south of the city of Maarat Al-Numan, together with heavy bombardment...

Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, disclosed on Thursday that his government is working daily “to prevent military confrontation or war,” stressing that dialogue between Iran and the rest of the world is difficult, but “possible”. In a televised speech, Rouhani announced: “The US administration planned to eliminate the Iranian regime...

A request filed by Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, asking the Knesset to grant him immunity from prosecution in the three criminal cases against him is shrouded with uncertainty, due to insufficient time ahead of the upcoming elections scheduled for 2 March. Israeli media reports have been contradictory regarding...

Hamas has said that the Palestinian Authority’s security apparatus has committed 424 violations against university students in 2019. Hamas’ media office said in its annual report that in 2019, female university students were attacked and their families were threatened in order to prevent them from participating in activities run...

An Ethiopian-Israeli protester accused of torching a police car during demonstrations against police violence in Israel is facing a six-year prison sentence. Eitan Mahareto, 24, is being tried on charges of incitement, arson, and vandalism for setting fire to the car during massive protests in July after an off-duty...

Turkish foreign affairs minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, refuted allegations over granting Turkish citizenship, or offering compensation, to soldiers affiliated with the Free Syrian Army, in exchange for fighting in Libya. In response to the allegations, Cavusoglu indicated in statements to CNN Turk that: “These allegations are completely false.” Turkey has...

US troops resumed on Thursday joint military operations with Iraqi forces, which were suspended in the wake of the assassination of the Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a US air raid in Baghdad earlier this month. The US decision coincided with the statement of Salah Al-Din Operations Command (affiliated...

The Dutch government has criticised the conduct of pro-Israel advocacy group NGO Monitor, singling out the unreliability of their accusations against human rights defenders. Responding to a parliamentary question, Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok stated that the Netherlands is “concerned about the shrinking civil space in Israel”, and “therefore...

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein is expected to announce a date at the beginning of next week for the plenum “to convene to pass the final proposal necessary to ensure that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s immunity will be removed”, reported The Jerusalem Post.  As the paper reports, “there is a...

Human rights organisations have urged Israel to immediately halt renewed aerial herbicide spraying along the Gaza Strip perimeter fence, stated legal rights centre Adalah. Israeli crop dusters flew along the fence on Tuesday “and sprayed chemicals purported to be herbicides”, which was “conducted sporadically for about three and half...

Prime minister of the Government of National Accord, Fayez Al-Sarraj, and retired field marshal, General Khalifa Haftar, announced on Thursday that they will participate in the Berlin Conference to be held next Sunday to discuss the Libyan crisis. Al-Sarraj confirmed that he would participate in the conference, and disclosed...

The Court of Appeal in Rome rejected a verdict to freeze Iranian assets in Italy, against the backdrop of a lawsuit filed by some of the families of the victims of the 11 September, 2001, attacks. “The issue lies in the filing of some victims of the 11 September...

During the third ministerial meeting of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum in Cairo, France officially requested to join. The deputy assistant US secretary of energy also expressed his country’s desire to join as a permanent observer. Egyptian minister of petroleum and mineral resources, Tarek El-Molla, welcomed France’s participation in...

Security forces detained at least 100 people who participated in two days of protests in Beirut, some of which targeted banks, according to lawyers following up on their cases. On Tuesday night Beirut witnessed confrontations between demonstrators and security forces, which resulted in injuries of people from both sides....

Fuelled by a supportive ecosystem and a tech-savvy population, the fintech industry in the Middle East has been growing rapidly in the last few years, disrupting the financial landscape and attracting billions in investment globally. In the future, it’s believed that the whole world will move to the digital...

One of Anadolu Agency’s four employees detained in Egypt earlier this week has arrived back in Turkey, the agency’s director said Friday, Anadolu reports. Hilmi Balci said he felt the support of his nation and government while being held in Egypt, expressing his gratitude to the country’s president, foreign minister and communications director,...

United States (US) has threatened to impose 25 per cent of tariffs on all European car exports if the European Union (EU) had continued to support Iran’s nuclear deal, German defence minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, announced yesterday. Speaking at a press conference in Britain’s London, Kramp-Karrenbauer, said that the US...

The former Muslim Brotherhood-supported rule of Oman Al-Bashir has left behind a legacy of “gross failure and instability” in Sudan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s foreign minister Anwar Gargash said yesterday. “Sudanese people are today facing accumulations of the failed ideology,” Gargash wrote on Twitter, stressing that they were...

Israel has banned its student missions from visiting Ethiopia following a recent security report about a “possible threat” on the African continent, local media reported yesterday. “Following warnings against travelling to Africa by the foreign office, the Israeli government had decided not to send any student missions to Ethiopia...

The Palestinians and Iranians are still reading the consequences of the US assassination of General Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Qods Force on Iraqi soil, in early January. This occurred amid great interaction, especially Hamas and Iran, as the movement used this event to try to restore its relationship...

Around 350,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have fled a renewed Russian-backed offensive in the opposition-held Idlib province since early December, and have sought shelter in border areas near Turkey, the United Nations said on Thursday, Reuters reports. The humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate as a result of the “escalating” hostilities,...

The United Nations on Thursday demanded the release of four Anadolu Agency employees detained during a raid on agency’s office in Cairo, Anadolu Agency reports. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said his colleagues were speaking with Egyptian officials “at various levels” and urging them to adhere to global human rights treaties. “We...

Libya’s UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) on Thursday said forces loyal to renegade commander Khalifa Haftar violated the cease-fire in the country, Andolu Agency reports. Muhammed Kununu, the military spokesman of the GNA, said Haftar militias targeted al-Brega oil complex in southern Tripoli. The oil complex sustained the damage, he added....

France will deploy the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and its battle group from January to April to support French military operations in Middle East, Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, Reuters reports. “The aircraft carrier will support Chammal operations (in the Middle East) from January to April 2020 before deploying to the Atlantic...

The interim head of the UN agency that aids Palestinian refugees accused the United States on Thursday of lobbying foreign parliaments to stop donations to the organisation, to which Washington cut off funding in 2018, Reuters reports. Christian Saunders, in an interview with Reuters in his Gaza office, also said...

Countries that lost citizens in the accidental downing of a Ukrainian airliner by Iran met Thursday and demanded “five key elements” that must be adhered to, including compensation for victims’ families, Anadolu Agency reports. All 167 passengers and nine crew died when the plane was brought down by Iranian missiles, Jan....

A global journalist group on Thursday called on Egypt to respect press freedom and release Anadolu Agency employees detained in a police raid at Cairo office earlier this week, Anadolu Agency reports. “We strongly urge the Egyptian authorities to release all jailed media workers and to respect press freedom....

Israeli media has reported that the International Criminal Court (ICC) could issue secret arrest warrants for Israeli officials involved in war crimes against the Palestinian people. According to a senior Israeli official who spoke to Israel Hayom, “The very fact that an ICC investigation will be launched will make...

Saudi security forces reportedly arrested a number of people accused of attempting to smuggle cheetahs into the country. According to local sources, the suspects travelled by land, through the rough terrain on the Yemen-Saudi border. The CGTN news website stated that security personnel noticed movements in bags that the...

Syrian activists have ridiculed the Russian embassy in Syria after it was exposed for using a fake photo of a ‘humanitarian crossing’ in which it claimed Syrians from Idlib were queuing up to move to areas held by the Syrian regime. In the Tweet published by the embassy on...

An Iranian nuclear bomb, high possibility of war in the north, and a continued truce with Gaza. These are the predictions of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate known as Aman for the year 2020. They were published last night after being postponed from last Tuesday in an attempt to...

The Supreme Political Council yesterday denied that Yemen is represented in the newly established Council of Arab and African States, formed by Saudi Arabia, which includes countries bordering the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In a meeting chaired by President Mahdi Al-Mashat, the Saudi initiative was described...

For the second time in under a week the US Pentagon has contradicted President Donald Trump, this time for his boastful claim that he manged to get $1 billion from the Saudis for increasing the number of American troops in the Middle East. Speaking of the deal in an...

A new train ride that tours historical sites of Jerusalem’s Old City, including a small building representing the Dome of the Rock Mosque, has opened at the Asdaa City theme park in Gaza, reported The Times of Israel. The new ride is called ‘The train of Return to Jerusalem’,...

The Republican governor of South Dakota signed an executive order on Tuesday prohibiting state offices from conducting business with companies boycotting Israel. The recent move made by Republican, Kristi Noem, has made South Dakota the 28th state to have adopted the anti-BDS law. “Israel is one of our nation’s...

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected the charge of anti-Semitism following its announcement to launch a full investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian Territories. The landmark decision was met with hostility in Tel-Aviv. Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, dismissed the court’s decision, stating that it...

According to the Health Ministry of the Houthi-aligned National Salvation Government based in Sanaa, an outbreak of swine flu has claimed more than 270 lives within the space of three months. The Health Ministry is reportedly introducing measures to counter the spread of the H1N1 virus across several governates,...

Diplomatic activities between Moscow, Ankara, Tripoli and Benghazi finally yielded some kind of lull in the nine-month war over control of Tripoli, the Libyan capital. On Sunday 12 January, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Vladimir Putin called on Libya’s warring sides to declare a ceasefire, which they did....

Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, and human rights groups have condemned Egypt’s raid on the Turkish news organisation Anadolu Agency’s office in Cairo, yesterday evening. Speaking in a televised interview on CNN Türk, Cavusoglu stated that: “Such a raid by the Egyptian police on Anadolu Agency is unacceptable,” and...

Israeli occupation forces carried out military drills on Wednesday in several areas in the north of the occupied Jordan Valley, Wafa News Agency reported. Reporting local activist, Aref Daraghma, Wafa News Agency revealed that the Israeli military drills lasted for two days in several neighbourhoods in the occupied Palestinian...

The Israeli occupation arrested on Wednesday Palestinian citizen, Waleed Mustafa Salim Deeb, at the Erez Crossing between Gaza and Israel, as he was making his way to Jordan, Quds Press reported. Reporting Abdel-Naser Farwanah, an official at the PLO’s Prisoners and Freed Prisoners Committee, Quds Press revealed that Deeb...

Mount Lebanon public prosecutor, Ghada Aoun, on Wednesday charged celebrity dentist, Dr. Fadi Al-Hashem, husband of renowned singer, Nancy Ajram, with “intentional murder” over the shooting of a man who broke into the couple’s house two weeks ago. The case has been referred to Mount Lebanon’s first investigative judge,...

PLO’s Committee of Prisoners and Freed Prisoners announced on Wednesday that Israel continues to block 250 bodies of Palestinian martyrs in its ‘cemeteries of numbers’, Al Watan Voice reported. According to Hassan Abed-Rabbu, spokesman of the committee, burying the Palestinian martyrs in the ‘cemeteries of numbers’ contradicts all the...