Israeli warplanes on Tuesday pounded the Gaza Strip to take out Hamas’ rocket fire, killing 13 Palestinians and wounding at least another 90, as the two sides moved closer to another major conflict. The attack, the most serious outburst between the two since November 2012, comes as Israel tries to cope with the wave of violence in Arab Israeli towns …
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“Labeiki ya Zaynab,” chanted Iraqi Shia fighters as they swayed, dancing with their rifles before TV news cameras in Baghdad on June 13. They were apparently getting ready for a difficult fight ahead. For them, it seemed that a suitable war chant would be answering the call of Zaynab, the daughter of Imam Ali, the great Muslim Caliph who lived …
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On Thursday, UN Under-secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos accused Syria of putting more effort into obstructing the UN than providing aid to millions of needy people. Amos, presenting the fourth UN report on humanitarian access in Syria, stressed that around 10.8 million are in critical need of humanitarian aid, and that workers could not reach …
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US President Barack Obama has asked his nation’s Congress to approve $500 million in aid to equip and train “moderate” Syrian rebel forces. The funds would go a long way in helping Syrians defend themselves against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, the White House said. It also said that the aid could also help counter militants like the Islamic State in …
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The United States on Thursday said that it is opposed to a Syrian role in resolving the turmoil in Iraq after the Syrian government had carried out air strikes against the militants. Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who is facing insurgents from Syria who are sweeping across his nation, told the BBC that the Syrian air force had, earlier in …
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A suicide bomber targeted and bombed an army checkpoint at the Tayyouneh roundabout in the southern suburbs of Beirut, and at least one person was killed and twenty more were injured in the blast. Lebanon’s Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq, however, said that the security situation in the country is “under control”. An army communiqué sent on Tuesday said that the …
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Russia on Monday commended the “successful” completion of the international mission to ship out chemical agents in Syria, under a Russia-US brokered deal that helped avert any potential Western air strikes on the middle-eastern country. In a statement, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said, “Russia greets the successful end of a large-scale and unprecedented international operation to ship all components of chemical …
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On Sunday, the Sri Lankan media, in a rare show of unity, condemned the nation’s police forces for failing to control anti-Muslim Buddhist extremists. Religious tensions continue to grow in the island-nation in the wake of riots in the south. Four people were killed, 80 were wounded and over hundreds of shops and homes were destroyed in the anti-Muslim riots …
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Iraq on Wednesday asked the United States to direct air strikes at Sunni extremists who are now in control of important cities and large portions of the country, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said. Speaking in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Zebari urged the Kingdom, which in the past has openly criticized the “sectarian” policies targeting Arab Sunnis of the …
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Eminent radio personality and proud Arab American Casey Kasem passed away early on Sunday at the age of 82, his daughter Kerri Kasem confirmed on popular website Facebook. Kasem had been hospitalized for the past two weeks in Washington. Kasem had Lewy body disease, the most prevalent kind of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease. His agent Don Pitts confirmed the news …
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