Al Jazeera: At least 23 civilians, including eight children, have been killed in air raids on an ISIL-held village in northern Syria, according to a monitor. The fighter jets that carried out the strikes were believed to belong to the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS) armed group, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said… Read more »
Recently, President Donald Trump when accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a statement declaring that a two-state solution is no longer the ultimate solution for peace in the region. Setting aside the fact that he’s discarded two decades of precedent, this declaration of his has only served to further militarize the Palestinian State, namely the Hamas organization… Read more »
Al Jazeera: Iraqi security forces fired tear gas and rubber-coated bullets at thousands of supporters of an influential Shia leader demonstrating near Baghdad’s Green Zone to press for electoral reform. Four protesters and one police officer were killed during Saturday’s protests, Baghdad’s governor told Al Jazeera. Police and hospital officials said hundreds of protesers and seven other policemen were also injured… Read more »
Al Jazeera: At least eight women and a child were killed in an overnight air raid on a funeral reception near the Yemeni capital Sanaa, medics said. At least 10 more women were reported wounded in the raid on Thursday, which hit the women’s reception area at a funeral in Arhab district, 40km north of Sanaa. Medics dispatched to the incident… Read more »
Al Jazeera: The UN and the Arab League have issued a joint statement in support of the establishment of a Palestinian state, after US President Donald Trump dropped his country’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The statement on Thursday came a day after Trump and the visiting Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, refused to endorse the two-state… Read more »
Al Jazeera: Hamas members in the Gaza Strip have elected Yahya Sinwar to head its Gaza political bureau to succeed outgoing leader Ismail Haniya. Sinwar will take over from Haniya, who served out his two-term limit some time in April. Sinwar was jailed by Israel in 1988 and spent the next 23 years in prison, where he was a key leader… Read more »
Since the approval of the Constitution in 2005, the Iraqi government has still been far from stable, though President Trump may have unknowingly exposed how conflicted the Iraqi Federal Government actually is. What set forth this divide between the Legislative and Executive Branches was President Trump’s temporary travel ban, which included all Iraqi citizens, including US Green Card and Visa… Read more »
Al Jazeera: The World Food Programme (WFP) has slashed food rations distributed to 1.4 million displaced Iraqis by 50 percent because of delays in payments from donor states. The sharp cutbacks come at a time when a growing number of Iraqis flee the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group. At least 160,000 people have… Read more »
Al Jazeera: Civilians were “likely” to have been killed in a US commando raid in Yemen over the weekend and children may have been among the dead, the US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said. “A team designated by the operational task force commander has concluded regrettably that civilian non-combatants were likely to have been killed in the midst of a firefight… Read more »
Al Jazeera: Syrian government forces have recaptured all towns and villages in the Wadi Barada valley near the capital, Damascus, according to a statement by the Syrian military. “Units of our armed forces, together with … allied forces have achieved their mission in returning security and stability” to the area, said the statement, read out by a military spokesman on Syrian… Read more »