The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday voted with an overwhelming majority in favour of a draft resolution affirming Syria's sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, and considering all Israeli procedures in them null and void. The resolution called on Israel to withdraw from the entire occupied Syrian Golan Heights and to comply with the resolutions relating to them, especially Resolution No. 497 of 1981, which […]
Middle East Monitor
5686 posts
Senior officers from the Israeli army have recently met with their counterparts from the US Central Command to strengthen coordination and preparation for a possible Iranian retaliation to the assassination of Tehran's top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported. The paper divulged that several defence measures had been taken as part of the coordination, including joint detection of missiles launched at Israeli or US […]
Israeli Alternate Prime Minister and Defence Minister Benny Gantz welcomed on Thursday the arrival of 316 Ethiopian Jews to Israel, in a special airlift headed by Israeli Immigration and Absorption Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata, Russia Today reported. The arrival of the Ethiopian Jews is the first phase of a plan to bring some 2,000 members of the Jewish community to Israel from Ethiopia, in what has been […]
The Prime Minister of Yemen's Houthi-led National Salvation Government (NSG) yesterday denounced the surprise visit by US ambassador to Yemen, Christopher Henzel, to the country's eastern province of Al-Mahra earlier this week. Dr Abdulaziz Bin Habtoor branded Henzel's meeting with Muhammad Ali Yasser, the governor of Mahra under the Saudi-backed internationally-recognised government of exiled President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, as a provocation. Bin Habtoor told Al-Masirah that the arrival of […]
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has warned that at least 20,000 foreign fighters and mercenaries are currently present in Libya, leading to a serious crisis regarding the ongoing arms smuggling operations into the country. Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) Stephanie Williams indicated on Wednesday, at the outset of the third virtual meeting of the Libyan Political Dialogue […]
The Foreign Exchange Dealers Association in the interim Yemeni capital of Aden announced on Wednesday the closing of all exchange firms, following the significant deterioration of the local currency. The Yemeni riyal recorded a historic collapse against the US dollar, as the price of one dollar during the past two days reached 880 riyals, for the first time since the start of the war in the country. The […]
Palestinian teachers in the West Bank on Thursday began a strike demanding that the government pay their delayed salaries in full. The General Union of Palestinian Teachers called on public school teachers across the West Bank to strike after the Palestinian government announced that it would pay the public sector employees the full salary of November but only half of their delayed salaries. The government announcement […]
The participants in the Libyan political dialogue forum started on Thursday to vote on the proposals and suggestions over the mechanisms to select Libyan top officials, Anadolu Agency reports. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, a member of the dialogue forum, requesting anonymity, said the UN Support Mission in Libya engaged on Thursday with 75 members of the forum to take their votes by phone over suggestions and also to support their ongoing […]
An Israeli journalist wrote Thursday on Twitter that Bahrain's Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister said his country "will NOT distinguish between Israeli products made within the 1967 lines and those from settlements", Anadolu Agency reports. Raphael Ahren, who works for the Times of Israel online news site quoted Zayed bin Rashid Al-Zayani who said Bahrain will have "no labels for goods from West Bank & Golan Heights." Ahren […]
Lebanon is on the verge of not being able to feed itself, a British minister warned on Thursday, as the country's financial crisis hikes poverty and inflation, Reuters reports. James Cleverly, the Foreign Office minister for the Middle East, called it "a man-made problem which could have been prevented", joining a chorus of voices who have blamed Lebanon's ruling elite for failing to chart a path out of the crisis. […]
Russia, China and Iran are behind dangerous misinformation campaigns about coronavirus, the intelligence agency responsible for keeping Canadians safe said in a report made public Thursday, Anadolu Agency reports. As well, Russia and China spies have traded "trench coats" for "lab coats" as they attempt to infiltrate Canadian research companies to steal secrets on virus vaccine developments, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) reported in late November. The […]
The third appeal hearing for the Lockerbie bombing's only conviction ended last Thursday before Scotland's highest court. The five judges have now retired to deliberate their verdict. Presiding Lord Justice General Colin Sutherland, Scotland's most senior judge, said that the panel will deliver its written opinion "as soon as it possibly can" after three days of submissions. In 2001, Abdelbaset Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence officer, […]
The US sanctioned an Iranian organisation and its chief Thursday for alleged activities related to chemical weapons research, the latest such tranche of economic penalties on Tehran in the final days of the Trump administration, Anadolu Agency reports. The newly-designated entity is Shahid Meisami Group, as well as its director, Mehran Babri. The administration accuses the group of being linked to the Iranian Organization of Defensive Innovation and […]
The US government has revealed plans to open an "outreach building" in occupied East Jerusalem to improve relations with Palestinians. According to the Jerusalem Post, senior US officials claim that the office will not be a consulate or offer similar facilities. "There is one American diplomatic mission in Israel – the US Embassy – and it is based in Jerusalem, Israel's capital," said a senior embassy official. […]
The UN's hypocritical manner of dealing with the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People finds a contender in the way of the Palestinian Authority. On behalf of PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, Palestine's Permanent Observer to the UN Riyad Mansour addressed a virtual UN meeting with a statement that portrayed the recognition of one paradox while creating others equally harmful to the Palestinian people's political […]
Turkish military exports to Azerbaijan increased by a staggering 610 per cent over the course of 2020, according to data recently released amid the defeat of Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The data released by the Turkey Exporters Union shows that the amount of Ankara's military exports to its ally Baku totalled almost $256 million in the first 11 months of this year, representing the increased […]
Security concerns have forced the US to withdraw some of its staff from its embassy in the Iraq capital Baghdad, AFP reported an Iraqi official saying. Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, which hosts the American Embassy and other foreign diplomatic missions, has come under several rocket attacks since the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike in January. A US State Department spokesperson declined to comment […]
One of the foremost expert on anti-Semitism in the world has warned the British government against the imposition of the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism on universities. Writing in the Guardian, Professor David Feldman, who is the director of the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism at Birkbeck, University of London, said that the so called IHRA working definition "is confusing and divisive" […]
Palestine Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas today renewed the state of emergency in the occupied West Bank for 30 days following an increase in the number of coronavirus infections, Wafa has reported. The occupied West Bank has now been in a state of emergency for ninth month in a row since cases of the virus first appeared in Palestine in early March. In a televised speech last night, President Abbas […]
Israeli authorities routinely detain Palestinian children in isolation solely for interrogation purposes, a practice that amounts to torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, said Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) in its newly released report. The 73-page report by the rights group, "Isolated and Alone: Palestinian children held in solitary confinement by Israeli authorities for interrogation," evaluates and details patterns of arrest, […]
A detained Saudi prince has reportedly been moved to a secret location by the authorities, prompting a European lawmaker to write a letter urging for clarity on the location of the royal and his father. Thirty-seven-year-old Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz, who was detained along with his father Abdulaziz Bin Salman Al Saud in January 2018 without any formal charges. They were first held in solitary confinement […]
The UN's International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People — commemorated on 29 November every year since 1977 to remind the world that the question of Palestine remains unresolved — could have been an occasion for Britain's Labour Party leader Sir Kier Starmer to unite his party. But it wasn't. Instead, it was another source of division. There is something about Starmer's leadership style that blinds […]
United States President-elect Joe Biden said he is willing to return to the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, stressing that re-joining the deal is the best way to avoid a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. In an interview with the New York Times published yesterday, Biden said without a nuclear agreement with Iran, "we may be facing a situation in which Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and other […]
Some 20 Iraqi citizens have been arrested in the Turkish capital Ankara for allegedly "working with Daesh", Anadolu Agency reported yesterday. Local sources said that the country's anti-terrorism police and intelligence services had arrested 18 Iraqis on suspicion of "having links with Daesh", adding the local police were "on the lookout for two other suspects". Last month, Turkish security services arrested 294 suspects on suspicion of collusion with Daesh […]
France will be inspecting 76 mosques in the coming days in a "massive and unprecedented" operation against separatism, the country's interior minister said Wednesday, Anadolu reports. Gerald Darmanin said state services will be monitoring and controlling 76 Muslim places of worship — 16 in the Paris region and 60 in the rest of France — and that some of these mosques may be shut down. Of […]
The French Foreign Ministry has reiterated its desire for the US and Iran to return to the nuclear deal and stated that attacks on Saudi Arabia by the Houthis in Yemen are against international law. According to the Saudi news site Al-Arabiya, a spokeswoman of the French Foreign Ministry said: "We are following the situation between America and Iran with concern because it carries risks to regional […]
Lebanese President Michel Aoun expressed on Wednesday that the difficulties of the demarcation of maritime borders with Israel can be solved. His remarks came during a meeting at the presidential palace with head of the US delegation, Ambassador John Deroche, mediating in indirect negotiations to demarcate southern maritime borders. "The difficulties which emerged in the last negotiations round can be overcome through in-depth research based on […]
Several US company owners have expressed their eagerness to invest technical expertise and financial resources to help rebuild the infrastructure and economy in Libya. This came during a virtual meeting held on Tuesday by the American Chamber of Commerce in Libya (AmCham Libya), with the participation of Washington's Ambassador to Tripoli Richard Norland, according to a statement issued by the US embassy. As per the statement […]
The Tunisian government decided on Wednesday to reopen roads and production sites that had been closed following protests that took place two weeks ago. This came during a meeting held at the government headquarters with the participation of Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, Defence Minister Brahim Bartagi, Minister of Justice Mohamed Boussetta and Interior Minister Tawfiq Sharaf Al-Din to discuss the security situation in the country, according […]
The roses with which the UAE welcomed the first Israeli aircraft to land in the country of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, who was known for his historic hostility to normalisation, were repaid by Israel's humiliating investigation and inspection of its Emirati visitors. Whoever understands Netanyahu's mentality will know that returning Emirati passengers from Ben Gurion Airport and insulting those who wanted to take selfies with […]
Head of the Algerian Movement of Society for Peace Abderrazak Makri has accused the European Parliament of attempting to blackmail his country by issuing a resolution on the human rights situation in Algeria. This came in statements made by Makri on Wednesday, during a press conference at the headquarters of the movement (the largest Islamic party in the country) in Algiers. Makri commented at the press […]
Legal adviser to the Sudanese victims of the Emirati Black Shield Company Omar Al-Obaid announced on Tuesday that he is preparing to file regional and international lawsuits against ten prominent Emirati, Sudanese and Libyan personalities for human trafficking. Al-Obaid stated at a press conference in the capital, Khartoum: "We have contacted Human Rights Watch (HRW) about the misleading practices carried out by the Emirati Black Shield […]