Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that extremists belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) would have reached Beirut if it were not for his party’s decision to send fighters to Syria. During a meeting of al-Mahdi Scouts Association on Sunday, he said, “Had we not interfered in Syria at the appropriate moment, ISIL would …
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Syria: Rival horse rider to Assad’s brother released after 21 years in prison
Syria on Sunday freed former horse rider Adnan Qassar, said to be a rival horse rider of one of President Bashar Assad’s late brothers, after spending 21 years in jail. Qassar’s release is part of an amnesty Assad decreed last week – around 1,500 people have so far been freed from Syrian prisons due to the amnesty, the Syrian Observatory …
Read More »Yemen: Several dozen killed in clashes between rebels and government forces
Clashes between Shi’ite Huthi groups and government forces in Northern Yemen have led to the deaths of several dozen people in the past 24 hours after a ceasefire between both parties had collapsed, military and tribal sources said. According to sources, the fighting began on Sunday, and continued intermittently on Monday near the Jabal al-Dhine region, a mountainous area around …
Read More »Kuwait: Attorney General asked to investigate coup claim and corruption scandal
On Monday, Kuwait’s Prime Minister and a senior Royal filed two different lawsuits at the Attorney General’s office, demanding an inquiry into allegations of a coup plotted against the government and a massive corruption scandal. Kuwait was shaken about two months ago when news of videotapes allegedly showing several former government officials plotting a coup surfaced, and only last week, …
Read More »Iraq: Militant drive continues, US Secretary of state considering drone strikes
Security forces battled against militants for control over a strategic location in northern Iraq on Monday, thereby forcing half the region’s population to abandon their homes. Meanwhile, the United States of America have mulled over the thought of using drone strikes against the militant forces leading the charge. John Kerry, US Secretary of State, said that he was also willing …
Read More »Yemen: warplanes launch strikes on tribesmen suspected of sabotaging power lines
On Wednesday, Yemeni warplanes struck tribesmen suspected of damaging power lines on Tuesday, an act that left the country without any electricity and caused angry protests in the capital city of Sana’a. Officials had also accused the tribesmen of blocking the road that connects Sana’a to the province of Marib to the east, thus making it almost impossible to carry …
Read More »Egypt: leading activist given 15 year jail sentence
An Egyptian court on Wednesday handed a 15-year jail sentence to leading activist Alaa Abdel Fattah for violating a protest law, among other charges, Fattah’s lawyer said. 33-year-old Fattah became a symbol of the uprising against Hosni Mubarak in 2011 due to his prominent role in demonstrations and on social media. The court handed out 24 other people the same …
Read More »Boko Haram violence forces thousands to abandon their homes last week
More than 6,000 people in the past week have fled the northeast Nigerian state of Borno due to Boko Haram violence, the nation’s main relief agency said. On Wednesday, The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said that it had registered exactly 6,227 internally displaced people (IDP) in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, the past week. “Most of them came in …
Read More »US “ready” to increase aid to Iraq
On Wednesday, the United States of America vowed to increase aid to Iraq, after scrambling to respond to a Jihadist offensive that has already captured two Iraqi cities and is heading towards Baghdad. Jen Psaki, spokeswoman for the State Department, said that the United States is committed to “working with the Iraqi government and leaders across Iraq to support a …
Read More »Palestine wants international action against Israel for its treatment of Palestinian detainees
Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erakat on Wednesday called for immediate international action against Israel regarding its detention of over a 100 Palestinians who have been on a hunger strike since they were held without charges. “I am writing on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization and President Mahmud Abbas to request your immediate intervention on behalf of the approximately 130 …
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