Category: Middle East

US Senator McCain meets Turkish leaders

U.S.’s Senior Republican Senator John McCain, who serves as a chairman for the Senate Armed Services Committee, met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Y ld r m on Feb. 20. McCain, who has been an ardent promoter of U.S.-Turkey relations, was expected to discuss the Syrian crisis in Ankara. His visit came after U.S. Senate on December 2016 passed a defense policy bill that allows supplying portable surface-to-air missiles to Syrian opposition groups.

Russia Overtakes Saudi Arabia as World’s Largest Crude Producer

Russia overtook Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest crude producer in December, when both countries started restricting supplies ahead of agreed cuts with other global producers to curb the worst glut in decades. Russia pumped 10.49 million barrels a day in December, down 29,000 barrels a day from November, while Saudi Arabia’s output declined to 10.46 million barrels a day from 10.72 million barrels a day in November, according to data published Monday on the website of the Joint Organisations Data Initiative in Riyadh.

Defense chief Mattis says no plans to seize Iraq’s oil

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Monday the United States does not intend to seize Iraqi oil, shifting away from an idea proposed by President Donald Trump that has rattled Iraq’s leaders. Mattis’ arrived on an unannounced visit in Iraq as the battle to oust Islamic State of Iraq and Syria militants from western Mosul moved into its second day, and as the Pentagon considers ways to accelerate the campaign against the terror group in both countries where it still holds significant territory.

Iran says Turkey better not to test Tehran’s patience

Reacting to anti-Iran remarks by the Turkish foreign minister in the Munich Security Conference, Iran advised Ankara not to test Iran’s patience. “Turkey is our strong neighbor but Iran’s patience is not infinite,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Barham Qassemi told a press conference in Tehran on Monday.

Minister: Israel expects Trump to keep promise to move Embassy to Jerusalem

Every US president in recent memory has committed during electoral campaigns to moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem only to relent on the promise when taking office. “The government expects President Trump will meet his obligations to his voters and move the [US] embassy to Jerusalem,” Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Monday.

Iraq claims troops make early gains in operation to retake western Mosul

Iraqi forces, supported by the Popular Mobilization paramilitaries, prepare to advance towards the village of Sheikh Younis, south of Mosul, after the offensive to retake the western side of the city from Daesh commenced on February 19, 2017. Iraqi forces said on Sunday that they had regained territory from Daesh in the western part of Mosul, hours after the launch of an offensive to dislodge the extremist militia from its last key stronghold in the country.

Zakir Naik’s NGO money trails leads ED to Dawood

MUMBAI: Was the controversial preacher a part of the hawala racket being masterminded from Karachi? Security agencies monitoring Karachi-based businessmen close to D-Company and a `terror outfit masquerading as charitable and social organisation’ for funding Mumbai-based IRF. Three days after controversial preacher Zakir Naik’s chief financial officer Aamir Gazdar was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged money laundering, the trail has led the sleuths to Pakistan and the D-Company.

No love lost for Bibi in Australia

PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem last September. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Australia this week was supposed to be a positive, official trip to further cement Australia’s bipartisan support for Israel.

Iraqi forces launch offensive to drive IS from western Mosul

Ground units pushed into a belt of villages outside the country’s second-largest city, and plumes of smoke rose into the sky early in the morning as U.S.-led coalition jets struck militant positions southwest of Mosul and militarized Iraqi police fired artillery. “This is zero hour and we are going to end this war, God willing,” said Mahmoud Mansour, a police officer, as he prepared to move out.

France’s Le Pen arrives in Lebanon

The far-right French leader Marine Le Pen has arrived in Beirut to meet with the Lebanese head of state and leading Christian figures. The National Front leader is hoping to burnish her credentials as a defender of Christians in the Middle East, ahead of France’s April 23 presidential elections.

.com | 350 000 children trapped in west Mosul: Charity

Save the Children warned on Sunday that about 350 000 children were trapped in western Mosul as Iraqi forces launched a new offensive on jihadists defending the strategic city. The London-based charity’s Iraq country director, Maurizio Crivallero said: “Iraqi forces and their allies, including the US and UK, must do everything in their power to protect children and their families from harm and avoid civilian buildings like schools and hospitals as they push deeper into the city.”

Netanyahu Says Israel, US To Form Team To Tackle Settlements

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he and US President Donald Trump agreed to set up a team to discuss settlements in the occupied West Bank, China’s Xinhua news agency reported. Netanyahu told his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem that during his recent visit to Washington, he and Trump agreed to establish teams on many areas, “even in areas we did not previously agree on.

Report: Israeli leader turned down regional peace initiative

An Israeli newspaper reported Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned down a regional peace initiative last year that was brokered by then-American Secretary of State John Kerry , in apparent contradiction to his stated goal of involving regional powers in resolving Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians. Haaretz reported that Netanyahu took part in a secret summit that Kerry organized in the southern Jordanian port city of Aqaba last February and included Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

Iraq begins battle to reclaim Mosul’s west from IS

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of the operation on state TV, saying government forces were moving to “liberate the people of Mosul from Daesh oppression and terrorism forever”, using the Arabic acronym for IS. US-led coalition jets struck militant positions southwest of Mosul early Sunday morning and militarised police fired artillery toward the city.

Iraqi forces launch push to retake western Mosul from IS

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of the operation early Sunday morning on state television, saying government forces were moving to “liberate the people of Mosul from Daesh oppression forever”, using the Arabic acronym for IS. Southwest of Mosul, near the city’s IS-held airport, plumes of smoke were seen rising into the sky as coalition aircraft bombed militant positions.

KVH Introduces Affordable and Highly Reliable Navigation Solution for Light Military Vehicles

KVH Industries, Inc., , is introducing the TACNAV Light/GPS navigation solution today, at the International Defence Exhibition and Conference , in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Based on KVH’s successful line of tactical navigation systems, TACNAV Light/GPS features a newly designed sensor mast with embedded GPS, and utilizes KVH’s new TACNAV Moving Map Display and its proven Universal Multilingual Display .

Tourism in the north of Cyprus stagnates

A report on the average occupancy percentage of tourist resorts for 2016 shows the average percentage of the occupancy of tourist resorts reached 48.6%, recording a drop of 0.4% from 2015. The data was released in a report issued by the Turkish Cypriot tourism planning office.

Kyprianou: Keep focused on the peace process

By Annie Charalambous As a crisis over a controversial vote in parliament jeopardises the future of the UN-brokered Cyprus talks, Opposition Akel warns of possible startling developments after April’s referendum in Turkey. Left-wing Akel leader Andros Kyprianou also called on President Nicos Anastasiades and ruling right-wing Disy to keep their eyes on the fragile peace process rather than on the 2018 presidential election.

Iraqi forces begin advancing on Mosul

Iraqi planes dropped millions of leaflets on the western side of Mosul warning residents that the battle to dislodge Islamic State is imminent as troops began moving in their direction, the Defence Ministry has stated. The militants are essentially under siege in western Mosul, along with an estimated 650,000 civilians, after US-backed forces surrounding the city forced them from the east in the first phase of an offensive that concluded last month.

Dozens of IS militants killed in bombardment, clashes in Iraq’s Mosul

Dozens of militants of Islamic State group were killed on Saturday in artillery shelling and airstrikes by U.S.-led coalition on IS positions in the western side of the city of Mosul, while paramilitary units of Hashd Shaabi repelled IS attack in west of the city, a security source and a statement said. The international artillery and aircraft bombarded IS positions and headquarters in Shifaa neighborhood and the city’s health department in the western bank of Tigris River, which bisects Mosul, leaving at least 24 IS militants killed and wounding dozens others, Mohammed Ibrahim al-Baiyati, head of provincial security committee told Xinhua.

Trump sons open Dubai golf club as namesake now US president

Two of U.S. President Donald Trump’s sons ceremonially opened a Trump-branded golf club in Dubai on Saturday, meeting privately with Emirati elites as questions remain about how separated their father is from the empire bearing his name. Eric and Donald Trump Jr., who now lead the Trump Organization, watched as fireworks lit the sky over the Trump International Golf Club in Dubai, on the outskirts of the city-state home to the world’s tallest building and other architectural marvels.

February 19, 2017: Culture of pettiness

Culture of pettiness I was pleased to read your February 16 editorial “Israel’s own Air Force One,” which relates to the culture of pettiness that has engulfed our otherwise proud country. Those of us who were privileged to watch and listen to our prime minister talking at the side of the president of the United States last week could not have been more proud that we have a statesman of international stature whose eloquence, diplomacy and sense of occasion are matched only by those of the legendary master of these same qualities, the late Abba Eban.

Turkish army will not be directly involved in Raqqa op: Turkish PM

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Y ld r m speaks during a rally in Dusseldorf, Germany, on Feb 18, / AA Photo Turkish Prime Minister Binali Y ld r m said Feb. 18 that Turkish armed forces would not be directly involved in an operation against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant bastion in Raqqa, but rather give tactical support. “We will not be directly inside an operation [on Raqqa], we will provide tactical support, of course if we agree in principle,” state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Y ld r m as saying on Feb. 18 in Germany, where he is to attend the Munich Security Conference.

Report: Islamic State group’s ‘business model’ near collapse

A worker carried aid supplied at a camp for people displaced by fighting between security forces and Islamic State militants east of Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. The United Nations says they are temporarily pausing aid operations to neighborhoods in eastern Mosul retaken from the Islamic State group for security reasons as IS insurgent and counter attacks continue to inflict heavy civilian casualties there.

Street art transforming Dubai’s urban sprawl

The streets of Dubai may be known for architectural superlatives like Burj Khalifa, the highest of the world’s high-rises, and the Middle East’s largest shopping center Dubai Mall. But a group of street artists now also wants to turn the concrete walls of a fast-growing urban sprawl into an open-air museum that celebrates Emirati heritage and speaks to everyone in the multicultural city.

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A 57-year-old is being treated in the Nicosia General Hospital Intensive Care Unit for severe respiratory problems after attempting to extinguish a fire that had broken out at a church in Pera Chorio. Doctors have described his condition as critical.

Lawmakers push for answers on Trump teama s Russia ties

A crisis over the relationship between President Donald Trump’s aides and Russia deepened as a growing number of Trump’s fellow Republicans demanded expanded congressional inquiries into the matter. Trump sought to focus attention on what he called criminal intelligence leaks about his ousted national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

Assad lashes out at Hollande before polls

Syrian President Bashar Assad lashed out at his French counterpart on Thursday, accusing Francois Hollande of sponsoring terror in Syria and encouraging Western nations to reset their relations with his pariah government, after six years of civil war. The comments, which came in an interview with to French media outlets Europe 1 and TF1, were the latest in a string of Assad’s public remarks aimed at revamping his image in the West in the wake of military victories on the ground in Syria.