While the war in Syria and Iraq rages on, covered daily by all news networks and America constantly seems to have public disagreements with Saudi Arabia and Israel, many Americans seem to think they know quite a bit about Middle Eastern affairs. However, one area which seems to be of little or no concern to the vast majority of Americans… Read more »
Reuters: Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president overthrown in 2011 and the first leader to face trial after the Arab Spring uprisings that swept the region, was freed on Friday after six years in detention, his lawyer said. He left the Maadi Military Hospital in Cairo where he had been detained, heading to his home in Heliopolis. “Yes, he is now… Read more »
Reuters: Turkey will review all political and administrative ties with the European Union after an April referendum, including a deal to curb illegal migration, but will maintain economic relations with the bloc, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday. In an interview with broadcaster CNN Turk, Erdogan said everything “from A to Z” in Turkey’s relations with Europe would be reviewed… Read more »
Reuters: Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian and wounded three others on Thursday in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian health official said. The Israeli army said they had attacked a settlement with petrol bombs. The Palestinian health source said the dead man was 17 and that one of the three wounded was in critical condition. An Israeli army spokeswoman… Read more »
Reuters: Oil prices edged up on Friday, supported by a fall in Saudi exports to the United States, but overall markets remained under pressure on the back of a world market awash with fuel. Benchmark Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $50.69 per barrel at 0756 GMT, up 13 cents or 0.3 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas… Read more »
Following the recent announcement that the United States will no longer be seeking a two state solution to resolve the Israel- Palestine conflict, many Middle Eastern alliances have begun to be reevaluated and reconsidered, notably, that between Egypt and Hamas. The relationship between the two has been strained recently but the Egyptian government is seeking to rebuild it in an… Read more »
Reuters: A young Israeli soldier who killed a wounded and incapacitated Palestinian assailant was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment on Tuesday, in a show of leniency that drew Palestinian outrage after one of the most divisive trials in Israel’s history. Eleven months ago, Sergeant Elor Azaria was serving as an army medic in the town of Hebron in the occupied… Read more »
Reuters: Syrian government warplanes carried out several air strikes against towns in mostly rebel-held Idlib on Tuesday after insurgents fired on two besieged Shi’ite villages in the province, a pro-Damascus media outlet and war monitors said. The air strikes killed at least six people and wounded 21 others in Maarat Misreen, and left several injured in nearby Binnish, just a… Read more »
Reuters: After years of strained relations, Egypt is moving closer to Hamas in Gaza, offering concessions on trade and free movement in return for moves to secure the border against Islamic State fighters who have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in northern Sinai. Egypt has been at odds with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, since a crackdown by… Read more »
Reuters: U.S.-backed Iraqi forces closing in on the Islamic State-held western half of Mosul prepared on Tuesday to storm the airport and a nearby military base on its southern outskirts to create a bridgehead for a thrust into the city. Since ousting the militant group from eastern Mosul last month, Iraqi forces have advanced in sparsely populated outlying areas but… Read more »