Syria’s Kurds will be protected from Turkish military threats, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Kurdish leaders in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region on Wednesday during an unannounced trip to Erbil. The top US diplomat earlier met Iraqi leaders in Baghdad as part of his Middle East trip to reassure allies about President Donald Trump’s surprise plans to withdraw troops from Syria. In Iraq, Pompeo also sought… Read more »
Sudan said on Monday it had detained more than 800 people since protests began nearly three weeks ago in the most persistent challenge to President Omar al-Bashir’s three-decade rule. The figure, the first given by authorities since the unrest erupted, was far below the assessment of a leading human rights activist who said about 2,000 people were detained. In a… Read more »
Saudi Arabia is trying to ban child marriage through new regulations, but loopholes are leaving young girls in the deeply conservative kingdom unprotected, campaigners said on Thursday. The Shura Council, a top advisory body to the government, approved regulations on Wednesday to prohibit marriage for girls and boys under 15, and those under 18 will need approval from a specialized… Read more »
Kuwait reiterated its request to Dubai to release $496 million in frozen funds held for over a year and belonging to Port Fund, part of a Kuwaiti private equity, Port Fund said on Sunday. The funds are at the heart of a money-laundering probe which is straining relations between the two Gulf allies. The $496 million have been frozen at… Read more »
Clashes among rival Syrian rebel factions have spread across northwest Syria, rebels and residents said on Thursday, in the latest bout of tit-for-tat fighting between opponents of President Bashar al Assad’s rule. Infighting has long plagued Syria’s armed opposition since the uprising against Assad began in 2011. Turf wars have helped the Syrian president, with his Iranian and Russian allies,… Read more »
Egypt inaugurated a massive cathedral under heavy security on Coptic Christmas Eve Sunday, a day after a deadly bomb blast near a church in the country where jihadists have repeatedly targeted Christians. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi observed a moment of silence after Saturday’s explosion on the eastern edge of Cairo killed a policeman who was trying to defuse the device and wounded two… Read more »
Turkey will go ahead with an offensive against Syrian Kurdish fighters in Syria if the United Statesdelays the withdrawal of its troops from the war-torn country, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said. “If the [withdrawal] is put off with ridiculous excuses like Turks are massacring Kurds, which do not reflect the reality, we will implement this decision,” he told NTV channel on Thursday…. Read more »
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has reiterated its call for an international probe into the killing of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. The rights monitor made the call outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday as it marked the 100th day since Khashoggi was killed there. “It is important for the Turkish authorities to keep up their calls for… Read more »
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a scathing rebuke of President Barack Obama’s Middle East policy in Cairo on Thursday in an address that centered on exerting maximum pressure on Iran and doubling down on the United States’ alliances with Sunni autocrats and Israel. In establishing his own vision for the Middle East, Pompeo set… Read more »
President donald trump thinks America is being ripped off. “We have spent $7trn—trillion with a T—$7trn in the Middle East,” he told a crowd last year, exaggerating slightly. “You know what we have for it? Nothing. Nothing.” To right this perceived wrong, Mr Trump has long favoured seizing Iraq’s oil. But after he hinted at the idea with the Iraqi prime… Read more »