الشرق الأوسط

Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas have made a breakthrough in their talks in Cairo aimed at breathing  life into their unity government, negotiators from both factions said on Thursday. Neither party provided any details of their talks, but said that they would make an official announcement later in the day. Both Fatah and Hamas representatives, speaking on the condition of …

20-year-old Mohamud Mohamed Mohamud, a native of Hamilton who had been recruited by extremist group Islamic State (IS), was reportedly killed in fighting in Syria last week, his family said. Earlier in the week, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had unofficially told his family that he was killed in the anti-IS military campaign, battling Kurdish troops in northern Syria. …

On Tuesday, Israel shot down a Syrian warplane over Golan Heights airspace, the first such incident in over three decades, and warned that it will respond “forcefully” in case of any security threat. The last time Israel had shot down a Syrian warplane was in 1985, drawing a sharp response from the then Syrian government. Israel has said that the …

A political coalition on Monday said that an Iranian lawmaker, a close associate of Ali Hosseini Khamenei, made remarks which revealed the regime’s role in developments in Yemen and plans for “exporting terrorism and fundamentalism”. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) quoted Alireza Zakani referring to the Islamic Republic’s plan of “’unifying Muslims by Islamic Revolution”. On its …

The United States, along with its Arab allies, on Tuesday unleashed deadly missile and bomb strikes on Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria, opening a new battlefront for the extremist group. Several dozens of al-Qaeda and IS were reportedly targeted in the raids, which the US has said partly targeted militants plotting an “imminent attack” against the West. The United …

Eleven Iranians who have been accused of sending insulting texts about Islamic republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini were arrested in the province of Shiraz on Monday. “After monitoring social network applications on mobile phones like WhatsApp, Viber, Line and Tango… 11 people were arrested”, General Esmail Mohebipour, the provincial Revolutionary Guards chief”, said. “They recognized the error of their ways”, …

Several Palestinians who had been rearrested in Israel after being freed because of a prisoner exchange are going to stage a hunger strike on Tuesday, Ramallah-based Prisoners’ Club said on Monday. The strike will be observed by 63 of the 1,027 prisoners who were freed by a swap arrangement in 2011. Since June, when 3 Israeli teens were allegedly kidnapped …

Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus on Monday said that around 130,000 Syrians have flooded across the border in Turkey as Kurdish soldiers continued battling the Islamic State (IS) in their attempts to capture the strategically located town of Ain al-Arab. A spokesman for the IS in a statement issued by the group urged Muslims all over the world to …

Prominent Shi’ite scholar Sayyed Hani Fahs and popular opponent of Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian civil war passed away in Beirut on Thursday, succumbing to a long-term illness. The 68-year-old had been in a coma after he was admitted to a hospital a few days ago. A moderate figure who commanded respect both outside and inside the Shi’ite community, Fahs …

On Friday, French President Francois Hollande spoke to press personnel after his meeting with Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in Paris,and said that a “solution to the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis will be presented to the UN Security Council. “We will have a resolution, to be presented to the Security Council, that will say very clearly what we …