The Yemeni army took control of the important al-Qaeda stronghold Azzan in the Shabwa province as its offensive against them entered its tenth day on Thursday. The army’s offensive had begun on April 29th in the country’s central and southern provinces, where US drone strikes have killed several al-Qaeda suspects in the last month. In its statement, the Defense Ministry, …

The head of the Joint Mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations (OPCW-UN) today called for safe and unfettered access to the remaining eight per cent of Syria’s chemical weapons material that needs to be removed and destroyed. Speaking to reporters after a closed-door briefing to the UN Security Council, Special Coordinator Sigrid …

On Thursday, a high-level government intelligence official, Colonel Ibrahim al-Senussi Akila, was assassinated by gunmen in Benghazi. Colonel Akila, Head of General Intelligence in Benghazi, was reportedly shot and killed near the Medical Center in the city. According to sources, unknown assailants had opened fire on his car, killing him instantly. Benghazi was the epicenter of the uprising in 2011 …

On Thursday, spiritual lead of the Crimean Tatars Mustafa Dzhemilev appealed to the West to not forget the Crimean Peninsula as it turned its attention to the increasing violence in Eastern Ukraine. “We are concerned that because of Russia’s recent actions, the issue of Russia’s occupation of Crimea has become secondary in light of the potential threat of Russian forces …

On Thursday, a luxury hotel converted into an army base was blown up by Syrian rebels in the heart of Aleppo after they tunneled under the front lines which divide the city. State television has not confirmed if the attack on the famous Carlton Citadel Hotel, right across the road from the UNESCO-listed citadel in the city, had resulted in …

International support has poured in for the 276 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram, increasing pressure on Nigerian authorities to resolve the crisis soon. The Nigerian extremist organization, led by Abubakar Muhammad Shekau, had threatened to sell the girls as slaves recently. The terrorist organization has been behind several violent incidents in Nigeria since 2009, with most of its Islamic allies …

10,000 Arab Israelis on Tuesday rallied in northern Israel to demand the right to return for all Palestinian refugees. The rally took place in the village Lavi, built on the wreckage of the Palestinian village Lubya, which was, until 1948, home to 2,726 Palestinians. During the Arab Israeli conflict in 1948  about 400-500 Palestinian villages were depopulated, destroyed, occupied and …

On Tuesday, residents of Warabe in Nigeria’s northeast say suspected Boko Haram Islamists kidnapped eight more girls from the region. The leader of the extremist group last month had said that the group had abducted more than 200 schoolgirls. According to the residents, the assailants were looking for girls in every household in an attack in Warabe late on Sunday, …

On Sunday, May 4th, the Vancouver Muslim Community center, in coordination with the SFU Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures, organized a lecture by Dr. Walid Fitaihi titled “Have a Cause, Have a Mission”. The lecture has been presented all over the world, including several cities in Europe, North America and Saudi Arabia. According to Dr. …

Fighting between Jihadist groups ISIL and the Al-Nusra killed 63 people in Eastern Syria on Monday despite the al-Qaeda chief’s call for a ceasefire, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The clashes between the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Al-Nusra Front have prompted over 60,000 people to abandon their homes in the oil-rich region. …