MIDDLE EAST

On Friday, The White House warned that training and providing arms to moderate rebel troops in Syria to fight the Islamic State (IS) will take months, only a day after the US Congress approved the plan in a rare show of bipartisanship. “We will move out as rapidly as can be done, in partnership with the countries that will host …

On Friday, France conducted its first air strike on the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq, augmenting strikes conducted by the United States strikes and boosting its efforts to unite global powers against the threat the extremists pose. After France famously refused to participate in the US-led invasion of the Iraq in 2003, it became the first country to join the …

Western powers on Thursday told Iran that it must cooperate with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) investigation team looking into suspected nuclear weapon research conducted by the country if it wants an expansive nuclear deal which would lift some sanctions. The warning was given out after a board meeting of the IAEA at Vienna, as negotiators from six …

Extremists from the Islamic State (IS) have captured several villages around the city of Ain al-Arab thanks to heavy weaponry, as they closed in on the third largest Syrian town, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said on Thursday. “IS fighters have seized at least 21 villages around Kobane”, the Observatory’s director Rami Abdel Rahman said, referring to the town …

On Thursday, Israeli Arab rights group Adalah called for an international probe into alleged war crime committed by Israel during the 50-day war with Hamas, a week after the Israeli army dismissed several such investigations. On September 10th, the Israeli army launched five criminal probes into incidents involving its soldiers during the conflict, in which over 2,140 Palestinians had died. …

Extremist group Islamic State (IS) on Thursday released a video of a British journalist John Cantlie to show that he was being held captive by the group. The video, which was posted on YouTube, shows Cantlie dressed in an orange jumpsuit speaking to the camera – he promised to reveal the “truth” about the extremist group in a series of …

Britain-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Wednesday said that Syrian regime air strikes on a rebel-held town have killed 48 people in the past two days. “On Tuesday, 25 people, including seven women and a child, were killed in air strikes on Talbisseh, in Homs province”, the monitor said, adding that a rebel commander was among those …

On Wednesday, the Middle East Quartet of peacemakers joined calls for an expedited start to rebuilding efforts in war-ravaged Gaza before the peace with Israel may end due to renewed violence. “The precarious situation in Gaza and southern Israel, the danger that violence could flare up again at any point, are precisely the reason to move as quickly as possible …

Elite Iraqi soldiers supported by US jets battled extremist forces near capital city Baghdad on Wednesday as Washington plans its strategy for expanded operations against the Islamic State (IS). US President Barack Obama prepared to meet with US military commanders and take crucial decisions in his strategy against the IS while trying to stay true to his promise of not …

An Egyptian court on Monday ordered the release of top activist Alaa Abdel Fattah on bail at a retrial of the case in which he was handed a 15-year prison sentence. Abdel Fattah, who was one of the biggest faces of the 2011 revolt against former President Hosni Mubarak, was initially charged with assaulting a policeman at a protest. His …