Donald Trump has accused Iran of orchestrating an attack on the US embassy in Baghdad after dozens of Iraqi Shia militia supporters broke into its compound. Video from the scene shows protesters climbing over the wall of the embassy and setting fires
Continue reading...Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa
Africa’s young leaders face a testing 2020
Politicians in their 30s and 40s face huge hurdles in sweeping away decades-old regimes
After several years during which younger leaders have come to power across Africa, 2020 could hold challenges that may force many of the newcomers to take a step back.
Not all the young politicians are progressive, or even pro-democracy. But they are all representative of sweeping changes across the continent that have destabilised long-standing regimes and forced out some veteran leaders.
Continue reading...Aftermath of US airstrike on Kata’ib Hezbollah militia in Iraq – video
The US military carried out airstrikes on Sunday against the Iranian-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah militia in response to the killing of an American civilian contractor in a rocket attack on a US military base in Iraq. An Iraqi militia leader warned of a strong response after airstrikes in Iraq and Syria killed at least 25 people overnight. This footage shows the aftermath of a strike on Kata'ib Hezbollah's headquarters in the Iraqi town of Qaim
Continue reading...Protests, climate crisis and Ebola: a tumultuous 2019 – in pictures
Around the world people took to the streets in pro-democracy protests, while extreme weather, disease and violence wreaked havoc in some of the most vulnerable communities. But amid disaster, new grassroots leaders came to the fore, women fought to claim their rights and radical treatments for diseases were trialled
Continue reading...US military carries out ‘defensive strikes’ in Iraq and Syria
Offensive on Kata’ib Hezbollah sites comes after rocket attack on Iraqi military base blamed on militia group
The US military has carried out what the Pentagon described as “defensive strikes” in Iraq and Syria against the Kata’ib Hezbollah militia group, two days after a US civilian contractor was killed in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base.
The Pentagon said it targeted three locations of the Iranian-backed Shia Muslim militia group in Iraq and two in Syria. The sites included weapons storage facilities and command and control locations Kata’ib Hezbollah had used to plan and execute attacks on coalition forces.
Continue reading...Saudi Arabia sentences man to death for attack on Spanish musical
Yemeni suspect accused of November knife attack on live performance in Riyadh
A Saudi court has sentenced a Yemeni man to death for a knife attack on a Spanish theatre group as the country cracks down on violence and harassment at entertainment venues.
The court also sentenced an accomplice to 12 and a half years in jail for the 11 November attack during a live performance in Riyadh, which Madrid said left four performers wounded.
Continue reading...Zaghari-Ratcliffe to go on hunger strike for fellow detainee in Iran
British-Australian Kylie Moore-Gilbert wants to be removed from solitary confinement
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is to go on hunger strike in solidarity with another dual national being held in Iran.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a British-Australian academic, started an open-ended hunger strike six days ago in protest at being sentenced to 10 years on espionage charges. She wants at minimum to be moved from solitary confinement.
Continue reading...The power behind the thrones: 10 political movers and shakers who will shape 2020
Some are trusted aides, others are fixers who work in the shadows. Often unelected and unaccountable, they all have the ear of national leaders
The role of Dominic Cummings in plotting and facilitating Boris Johnson’s drive for power has focused attention on the influence exerted by behind-the-scenes advisers and confidants who have the ear of prominent politicians.
Powerful men and women around the world all have personal counsellors, trusted aides and backroom mentors. Then there are the “insiders” – string-pullers, fixers and manipulators with ambitions of their own. Few become well-known, although Cummings’s notoriety is by no means exceptional.
Continue reading...US isolationism leaves Middle East on edge as new decade dawns
With Trump deciding against protecting allies, old rivalries are converging across the region
Throughout the Middle East’s modern history, a constant remained – the US held a prominent stake and would throw its weight around to protect its interests and allies. The maxim held true as ideologies rose and fell, Gulf monarchies, Israel, and Arab nationalist police states took root – and war and insurrection periodically raged.
But it ended during Donald Trump’s third year, a time when an isolationist, unworldly president began to see regional interests through a much narrower lens. The effect has been profound and 2020 will continue the process of recalibration by traditional friends of the US without a country whose clout they used to defer to and whose agenda they could more or less understand.
Continue reading...Iran says jailed Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert must serve out her sentence
Tehran’s foreign ministry says it will not submit to ‘political games and propaganda’
An Australian academic jailed in Iran for espionage must serve out her sentence, Tehran’s foreign ministry said on Saturday, stressing it would not submit to “propaganda”.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert reportedly began a hunger strike in Tehran’s Evin prison on Tuesday after losing an appeal against a 10-year jail sentence.
Continue reading...Aftermath of fatal truck bomb explosion in Mogadishu – video
Dozens of people were killed, including many students, when a truck bomb exploded at a busy checkpoint in Somalia's capital on Saturday. The attack, one of the deadliest in the city's recent history, has not been claimed by any group; Al-Shabaab often carries out such attacks, but the al-Qaida-linked group was pushed out of Mogadishu several years ago.
Continue reading...Truck bomb kills scores including many students in Mogadishu
At least 79 dead and more than 100 injured after morning rush-hour blast in Somali capital
A truck bomb has exploded in central Mogadishu, killing at least 79 people including many university students, and injuring more than 100 in the deadliest attack on the Somali capital for more than two years.
The bomber struck during the Saturday morning rush hour, the start of Somalia’s working week. The mayor, Omar Mohamud Mohamed, told reporters at the blast site that most of those killed were civilians, including two Turkish citizens.
Continue reading...‘A blessed initiative’: secular Israel rejoices over Sabbath buses
Minibuses that run on Friday evenings and Saturdays buck state’s religious restrictions
Tel Aviv is one of Israel’s most dynamic cities, but the latest local craze could appear fairly humdrum to outsiders – a bus service that runs at weekends.
Packed 19-seat minibuses fill up fast with passengers, who excitedly gossip about the new routes. People patiently queue at bus stops, knowing they might have to wait for two or three buses to pass before there is a space. Still, they are upbeat. “It’s a pleasure,” said Ben Uzan, a 30-year-old electronic engineer. “It’s a blessed initiative.”
Continue reading...More than 235,000 people have fled Idlib region in Syria, says UN
Displacement follows two weeks of air and ground assaults on rebel stronghold
More than 235,000 civilians have fled their homes in opposition-held areas of north-west Syria in the past two weeks, the UN has said, after attacks by Syrian government forces intensified.
Syrian troops and their foreign backers are targeting the towns of Maaret al-Numan and Saraqeb in Idlib province, which sit on a highway connecting Aleppo with the capital, Damascus.
Continue reading...Israel: leadership win gives Netanyahu boost before tough election
Prime minister to enter March election campaign while under indictments for corruption
Triumphant after quashing a mini-revolt within his party, Benjamin Netanyahu faces what is likely to be a gruelling campaign to win Israel’s third national election in a year with damning corruption indictments still hanging over him.
Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, famed for his political acumen in escaping seemingly impossible situations, won a primary leadership contest held on Thursday by a landslide.
Continue reading...Israel: Netanyahu wins landslide in battle for Likud party leadership
Prime minister gets backing of 72% of members despite corruption indictments
Benjamin Netanyahu has won a landslide victory in a primary election for leadership of the ruling Likud party in Israel.
Official results announced early on Friday showed Netanyahu capturing 72% of the votes, compared with 28% for challenger Gideon Saar. Earlier, Netanyahu had declared a huge victory following an exit poll that put him on course for more than 70% of the vote.
Continue reading...Benjamin Netanyahu hustled off stage at election rally after rocket launched from Gaza – video
Israel's prime minister was bundled off the stage at an election rally on Wednesday after sirens rang out, warning of a rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. The incident happened in the southern town of Ashkelon, a few miles from Gaza. Israeli authorities said their Iron Dome missile defence system intercepted the rocket. Netanyahu was campaigning hours before an internal Likud party leadership ballot
- Benjamin Netanyahu takes shelter after rocket launched from Gaza
- Israel: voting under way in Likud primary seen as threat to Netanyahu
Reasons to be fearful – the international news review of 2019
This year world leaders struggled to manage the fallout from the erratic tenant in the White House – as China flexed its imperial muscles. We look back at the events that created the most turbulence
Click here for 2019’s reasons to be cheerful
A year of high anxiety was rendered more alarming by intensifying clashes of interest between world powers. As international cooperation declined, and nationalist agendas gathered strength, China, the US, Russia and Europe, and their respective allies, emulators and proxies, engaged in often dangerous competition.
The Chinese communist regime’s increasingly assertive behaviour at home and abroad, reflecting the authoritarian outlook of its paramount leader-for-life, Xi Jinping, produced head-on collisions with western countries, notably over Hong Kong, trade, technology and the repression of the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang.
Continue reading...Benjamin Netanyahu takes shelter after rocket launched from Gaza
Second attack in three months forces Israel’s prime minister to interrupt campaign rally
A rocket launched from the Gaza Strip at a southern Israeli city as it hosted a campaign rally prompted the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to take shelter briefly before resuming the event, Israeli TV stations have reported.
The Israeli military confirmed the launch on Wednesday against Ashkelon, which is 12km (7.5 miles) from the coastal Palestinian enclave, and said the rocket was shot down by an Iron Dome air defence interceptor.
Continue reading...Benjamin Netanyahu: weakened Israeli PM faces primary vote
Party rival Gideon Saar has launched a bid to unseat Netanyahu as Likud leader
Israel’s longest-serving prime minister is poised to face one of his most dangerous political challenges in a decade on Thursday when the ruling Likud party holds a leadership primary to decide who will lead it in the next election.
The internal vote arrives at a particularly fraught time for Benjamin Netanyahu, wounded by three damning corruption indictments as well as growing internal dissent over his failure to score decisive wins in two inconclusive national elections.
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