SINJAR: For decades, his land was his life. Now, like other Sunni Arab farmers in Iraq’s diverse north, Mahdi Abu Enad is cut off from his fields, fearing reprisal attacks. He hails from the mountainous region of Sinjar, which borders Syria and is home to an array of communities — Shiite and Sunni Arabs, Kurds, and…
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SINJAR: For decades, his land was his life. Now, like other Sunni Arab farmers in Iraq’s diverse north, Mahdi Abu Enad is cut off from his fields, fearing reprisal attacks. He hails from the mountainous region of Sinjar, which borders Syria and is home to an array of communities — Shiite and Sunni Arabs, Kurds, and…
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DEIR AL-ZOR, Syria: The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) denied a report on Thursday that all of Daesh’s final enclave has been captured after a Kurdish media outlet said the militant group had been finally defeated there.“Combing continues in the Baghouz camp and there is no truth (to the report) about the complete liberation of…
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DEIR AL-ZOR, Syria: US-backed Syrian fighters said they were still searching territory captured from Daesh at its final enclave in eastern Syria on Thursday and denied a report the jihadists had been finally defeated.The final capture of the Baghouz enclave at the Iraqi border will mark the end of Daesh territorial rule that once spanned…
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Erdogan’s ‘vile’ comments on Christchurch mosques shootings dismissed as not representative of Muslims JEDDAH: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was condemned on Wednesday for “vile, offensive and reckless” comments after last week’s Christchurch mosque terrorist attacks. Australia summoned the Turkish ambassador in Canberra to explain the remarks, and New Zealand dispatched its foreign minister to…
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Erdogan’s ‘vile’ comments on Christchurch mosques shootings dismissed as not representative of Muslims JEDDAH: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was condemned on Wednesday for “vile, offensive and reckless” comments after last week’s Christchurch mosque terrorist attacks. Australia summoned the Turkish ambassador in Canberra to explain the remarks, and New Zealand dispatched its foreign minister to…
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Pompeo thanks Saudi crown prince for supporting UN Yemen envoy Griffiths during Middle East tour LONDON: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo thanked Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for supporting the efforts of the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths during his stop in Kuwait on a Middle East tour. Speaking on Wednesday in Kuwait City,…
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SALZBURG, Austria: Abdullah Adnan Karam stares down at the computer screen and watches the story of his escape from war-torn Syria to his new home in Austria play out step by step as a game.The 23-year-old left the northwestern city of Hama in 2014, crossed the border into Turkey then started the long and arduous…
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DEIR EZZOR, Syria: Warplanes flew near Baghouz in eastern Syria early on Wednesday, a Reuters witness said, as the final remnants of the Daesh group held a narrow strip of land along the Euphrates in a last-ditch defense of its dwindling territory.Defeat there would signal the end of the ultra-hard-line Islamist movement’s control in eastern…
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Four Houthis died when landmines they planted detonated in an area west of Taiz, national press agency SPA reported. Yemen’s national army targeted militants who were planting landmines in Al-Dhabab front in Taiz, killing two of their leaders. Meanwhile, Yemen’s Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani told Saba news the militia’s failure to comply with international agreements set…
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GAZA: One year on from the start of Gaza’s border protests, the weekly clashes with Israeli soldiers have become part of the texture of life in the Palestinian enclave, providing inspiration and even raw materials for local artists. Diorama artist Majdi Abu Taqeya spends hours creating three-dimensional miniature replicas of the protest scenes, with figures carved…
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GAZA CITY: Hamas is facing the biggest demonstrations yet against its 12-year rule of the Gaza Strip, with hundreds of Palestinians taking to the streets in recent days to protest the dire living conditions in the blockaded territory.With little tolerance for dissent, the militant group has responded with heavy-handed tactics. It has arrested dozens of…
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AMMAN: Issam was reduced to tears recounting his life as a drug addict, as Jordanian authorities press an unprecedented campaign in the Muslim-majority country where substance abuse remains taboo.Slogans such as “No to Drugs” are part of the new drive, launched in the wake of a worrying rise in the number of cases of addiction,…
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TEHRAN: Iran has denied a claim by the Turkish interior minister that it took part in a joint operation on Monday targeting Kurdish rebels in the border area.In recent weeks, Ankara has talked up the prospects of joint military action with Tehran against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its allies but Monday marked the…
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DAMASCUS: Syrian regime forces will reclaim control of northeastern areas controlled by the US-backed Kurds, whether by force or through reconciliation, the defense minister warned Monday. Marginalized for decades, Syria’s minority Kurds have carved out a de-facto autonomous region across some 30 percent of the nation’s territory since the devastating war broke out in 2011. Backed…
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DAMASCUS: Syrian regime forces will reclaim control of northeastern areas controlled by the US-backed Kurds, whether by force or through reconciliation, the defense minister warned Monday. Marginalized for decades, Syria’s minority Kurds have carved out a de-facto autonomous region across some 30 percent of the nation’s territory since the devastating war broke out in 2011. Backed…
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