Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Dead Sea scroll fragments and ‘world’s oldest basket’ found in desert cave

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Six-millennia-old skeleton of child also unearthed during dig in Judean Desert by Israeli archeologists

Israeli archaeologists have unearthed two dozen Dead Sea scroll fragments from a remote cave in the Judean Desert, the first discovery of such Jewish religious texts in more than half a century.

“For the first time in approximately 60 years, archaeological excavations have uncovered fragments of a biblical scroll,” the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said in a statement.

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Lawsuit targets Russian mercenary company over role in Syria

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Brother of Syrian man aims to force Moscow to investigate possible role of Wagner Group in his killing

The brother of a Syrian man killed by suspected Russian mercenaries has called on the authorities in Moscow to investigate the incident and the possible role played by the Wagner Group, a mercenary group run by one of Vladimir Putin’s close allies.

Video footage published by the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta shows a group of six men torturing a Syrian detainee. The victim, Mohammed Taha Ismail Al-Abdullah, is believed to have deserted from President Bashir al-Assad’s army and then been captured.

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‘A crime on top of a crime’: Assad regime reburies Aleppo’s war dead

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Fears Syrian government carrying out ‘degrading’ exhumations to erase identities and forensic evidence

Fadwa Hallak’s memory of what happened the day her husband died is blurry.

Ibrahim Rahawi was killed by shrapnel in either an airstrike or missile attack in 2015 during the siege of Aleppo – one of the bloodiest and most brutal chapters of Syria’s long war.

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‘We won’t give up’: new generation of activists keep Syria’s revolution alive

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In the few areas not retaken by Assad’s forces, people gather to reiterate the same demands protesters made a decade ago

Sarah Kasem was 12 when Arab Spring protesters began to fill the streets and squares of Syria 10 years ago. She remembers the hope and excitement of that time vividly; it seems so divorced from the horrors that followed.

Kasem’s teenage years were spent living under siege in the city of Homs, where friends and relatives disappeared in regime prisons and her family lived much of the time without electricity, struggling to secure food and medicine. All the while, Bashar al-Assad’s air force dropped barrel bombs and cluster munitions on their neighbourhood.

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Asma al-Assad risks loss of British citizenship as she faces possible terror charges

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It is alleged Bashar al-Assad’s wife’s support of Syrian army implicates her in its crimes

The British wife of Syria’s ruler, Bashar al-Assad, is facing possible terrorism charges and the loss of her British citizenship after the Metropolitan police opened a preliminary investigation into claims she has incited, aided and encouraged war crimes by Syrian government forces.

Asma al-Assad, 45, who was born and educated in London before becoming Syria’s first lady in 2000, is being investigated in response to legal complaints alleging her speeches and public appearances in support of the Syrian army implicate her in its crimes, including the use of chemical weapons.

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Fleeing Syrians lament the loss of their final refuge in Sudan

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Visa-free access to the African state proved a lifeline during the war. Now the border is closed

When Syrian government troops seized Mahmoud al-Ahmad’s home town, he spent his savings and risked his life getting smuggled over the Syrian border into Turkey. His planned destination was Khartoum, where a former boss had opened a carpet factory and offered him work.

The only part of the journey he hadn’t worried about was the flight from Turkey to Sudan. Until the end of last year it was the only country in the world that Syrians could travel to without a visa, a unique haven for those seeking a new life away from their country and its brutal civil war.

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Friendly Fire review: Israeli warrior Ami Ayalon makes his plea for peace

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The former head of Shin Bet came to realize all-out war against terrorists only deepened an existential mire

Ami Ayalon is a retired Israeli warrior with much more history than he needs to fill this compact, compelling memoir. Three years older than the state of Israel, he spent the first two-thirds of his life fighting Arabs, first as a member of Shayetet 13, the Israeli equivalent of the Navy Seals, then as commander of the Israeli navy and finally as head of Shin Bet, the internal security service, its motto: “Defender that shall not be seen.”

Related: Protesters silencing speakers like me won’t solve the Israeli-Palestinian problem | Ami Ayalon

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Moroccan police accused of burning migrant shelters near Spanish enclave

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Refugees and migrants camped along border to Melilla say there have been repeated raids following 150 people attempting to cross

Migrants in northern Morocco said they had been forced to sleep out in the open after repeated raids by police, who allegedly burned down their shelters in camps near the Spanish enclave Melilla.

Those camped along the border said Moroccan forces returned for a fourth day on Friday despite having already torched most of their tents.

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Cast out: the Yazidi women reunited with their children born in Isis slavery

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Yazidi elders disown former slaves of Islamic State, forcing them to choose between their children and their community

Bundled up in oversized scarves and coats, and squirming over lounge chairs, the 12 young children seemed startled as nine strange women with outstretched arms hurried towards them.

Some of the women sobbed as they embraced the bemused toddlers, who stared at them blankly not recognising their mothers, or understanding what the fuss was about. One mother stood motionless with her head in her hands, while another stared intently into her tiny daughter’s eyes.

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Israel ‘bombed a dozen ships carrying Iranian oil or weapons in past two years’

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Unconfirmed attacks would suggest opening of new front in semi-covert conflict between arch-foes

Israel has bombed at least a dozen ships en route to Syria during the past two years, most of which have been carrying Iranian oil, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US and regional officials.

The attacks, which the article said included water mines in the Red Sea and other areas of the region, would, if confirmed, suggest a new front in the semi-covert conflict between arch-foes Israel and Iran.

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Three Palestinian fishermen killed ‘when Israeli drone exploded in nets’

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  • Hamas says drone probably in water since 22 February attack
  • Palestinian militants have also test-fired rockets into sea

Three Palestinian fishermen who died in an offshore blast had encountered an explosive-laden Israeli drone that had fallen into the sea and blew up in their nets, the Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza said on Thursday.

An Israeli military spokeswoman had no immediate comment. At the time of the blast on Sunday, the Israeli military had denied it had any involvement in the incident.

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Gurrumul, Omar Souleyman, 9Bach and DakhaBrakha: the best global artists the Grammys forgot

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From the Godfathers of Arabic rap to the father of Ethio-jazz, Grammy-winning producer Ian Brennan guides a tour through global music’s greatest

This week I wrote about the glaring lack of international inclusivity in the Grammys’ newly redubbed global music (formerly world music) category.

In the category’s 38-year history, almost 80% of African nations have never had an artist nominated; no Middle Eastern or eastern European musician has ever won; every winner in the past eight years has been a repeat winner; and nearly two-thirds of the nominations have come from just six countries (the US, the UK, Brazil, Mali, South Africa, India). The situation shows little signs of improving.

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Israeli real-world data on Pfizer vaccine shows high Covid protection

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Jab has 97% efficacy against disease and death and 94% against infection without symptoms

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine appears to give high protection against asymptomatic Covid-19, according to data from Israel – a finding that will boost hopes that mass vaccination can stop the spread of the virus.

The top line of the real-world results, issued by the Israeli ministry of health and the companies but not yet peer-reviewed by scientists, is efficacy of 97% against disease and death and 94% against infection without symptoms.

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Moroccan court approves Australian citizen’s extradition to Saudi Arabia

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Lawyers for Osama al-Hasani have ‘credible concerns’ he was targeted for his political views but his wife says she is ‘still hoping for a miracle’

The wife of an Australian citizen who is to be extradited to Saudi Arabia says she “hopes a miracle will happen” after a Moroccan court approved his transfer.

International lawyers acting for Osama al-Hasani, 42, have asked United Nations special rapporteurs to raise his case with Moroccan authorities, citing “credible concerns” that he was being targeted by the Saudi Arabian government for his political opinions.

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Libya gets new unified government as corruption allegations swirl

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Move follows almost a decade of division, with no stable government since fall of Gaddafi in 2011

Libya’s parliament has brushed aside allegations of corruption to endorse a new, unified government in which a woman was appointed as foreign minister for the first time.

Libya has been unable to form a stable unified government since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with divisions between the east and west of the country leading to fighting and institutionalised division.

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Israel says 600 children given Covid jab had no serious side-effects

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Exclusive: hopes raised for vaccine safety, although children, some of whom have cystic fibrosis, were not part of a clinical trial

Hundreds of children between the ages of 12 and 16 who have been given the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccination in Israel experienced no serious side-effects, a senior official has told the Guardian, one of the first signs that Covid-19 inoculations could be safe for minors before clinical trial results.

Israel’s health ministry has recommended vaccinating some teenagers if they suffer from underlying conditions that make them vulnerable to coronavirus.

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‘Another abuse of power’ as Saudi court upholds Loujain al-Hathloul’s travel ban

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Women’s rights activist was released from prison in February but faces years of probation

A court in Saudi Arabia has denied an appeal by one of the kingdom’s most prominent political activists that would have allowed her to travel freely, her supporters said, weeks after her release from prison.

Relatives of Loujain al-Hathloul, whose 1,001-day detention drew fierce international criticism of the kingdom’s human rights record, had hoped that a five-year ban on travelling outside Saudi Arabia that the court imposed as a condition of her release on 10 February would be lifted. She also faces three years of probation, meaning she cannot return to activism or speak her mind without risking re-arrest, her family said.

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France to declassify files on Algerian war

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Opening up of defence files from more than 50 years ago may also shed light on 1968 Air France crash

Emmanuel Macron is to allow access to classified national defence documents from more than 50 years ago, covering France’s war in Algeria and other files previously deemed to contain state secrets.

The Élysée said the move, a week after the admission that French troops tortured and killed the Algerian independence activist Ali Boumendjel in 1957, sought to balance “historical truth” with legitimate “national defence issues”.

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Rescuers find 39 bodies off Tunisia after two boats sink

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Coastguards were able to save 165 people before rescue called off due to bad weather and nightfall

At least 39 migrants have drowned off Tunisia when two boats capsized, the defence ministry has said, as numbers risking the dangerous crossing to Europe continued to rise.

Rescuers pulled 165 survivors from the foundering boats to safety on Tuesday.

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Quarter of women and girls have been abused by a partner, says WHO

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Largest such study finds domestic violence experienced by one-in-four teenage girls with worst levels faced by women in their 30s

One in four women and girls around the world have been physically or sexually assaulted by a husband or male partner, according to the largest study yet of the prevalence of violence against women.

The report, conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN partners, found that domestic violence started young, with a quarter of 15- to 19-year-old girls and young women estimated to have been abused at least once in their lives. The highest rates were found to be among 30- to 39-year-olds.

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