MIDDLE EAST

A Shiite rebel leader on Friday warned Yemeni President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi to form a new government in ten days or a “national salvation council” will take its place. Ansarullah rebels, also known as Huthis, have taken advantage of a lack of stability since Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s overthrow in 2011 to capture capital city Sana’a on September 21st. …

On Thursday, Sweden became the first major European nation to officially recognize the state of Palestine, as Palestinians were quick to hail the “historic” move while the Israelis denounced the announcement. “Today the government takes the decision to recognize the state of Palestine. It is an important step that confirms the Palestinians’ right to self-determination. We hope that this will …

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) has sent several hundreds of fighter to Kobane, in addition to the 400 fighters already in the town, a commander of a unit said on Thursday. FSA fighters, who oppose the Syrian regime, have joined the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) to defend Kurdish Syrian border town Kobane, and will shortly be joined by the …

The UN Human Rights Committee advised Israel to respect the rights of the Palestinian people, and demanded that the country investigate violations committed during the attack on Gaza. The committee published its conclusions in a report on Thursday after a month-long review of Israel’s human rights record and amid near-daily clashes in East Jerusalem. The committee bemoaned continued demolitions of …

Iraqi peshmerga forces On Thursday reached the Turkish border as they prepared to join their fellow Kurds fighting the extremist group Islamic State (IS) in Kobane. According to monitoring group Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, a group of ten fighters were to coordinate with the Kurdish militia in Kobane that has been resisting the IS assault for the past six …

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has asked for greater access to a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus where refugees have had to live without water for 40 days. Deputy Commissioner General for the UNRWA Margot Ellis said that increased access to Yarmuk camp was top priority. “In the conversations we had with the government, we were imploring them, …

Islamic State (IS) militants on Wednesday executed over 40 people from a tribe the Albu Nimr tribe, which had battled them in the province of Anbar. According to local sources, the tribesmen were killed in the Heet region to the northwest of Baghdad, which had been overrun by the IS earlier in the month. However, there are no hard statistics …

The UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to talk about Israel’s plans to construct more settlement building in East Jerusalem. The talks were requested by Jordan after a letter from Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour, who had called on the council to “address this crisis situation in occupied east Jerusalem”. UN Undersecretary General for Political …

At least 850 people were executed in Iran in the last 15 months, a UN official stated on Monday, emphasizing the worsening human rights situation in the country under President Hassan Rouhani. Ahmed Shaheed, the UN’s rights rapporteur for Iran, said that the “surge in executions” has resulted in Iran having the world’s highest death penalty rate per capita. “The …

Reyhaneh Jabbari, the Iranian woman who was hanged on Saturday for killing her alleged rapist, in her final message to her mother, said that she will get her justice in “the court of God”. The 26-year-old, who was executed despite an international campaign arguing for a seven-year prison sentence instead, left the voice message in April to her mother Shole …