The United States said it is disappointed and troubled by attempts to provide legitimacy to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. US State Department spokesperson Ned Price made the statement after Assad’s visit to the United Arab Emirates last Friday. It was Assad’s first visit to an Arab country since the outbreak of the Syrian conflict in [&hel...
GENEVA (AA) – A new round of talks involving the Constitutional Committee seeking a solution to the ongoing 11-year war in Syria started in Geneva on Monday as the opposition group presented details on the “basics of governance.” The five days in the seventh round of talks are scheduled to end Friday and involve both [&hellip...
DOHA, Qatar – The Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX 2022) opened on Monday with a ceremony at the Qatar National Convention Centre. Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Defense Minister Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah attended the opening ceremony of the three-day event, with several official...
HOUSTON, Texas, US – The US invaded Iraq on March 19, 2003, on the premise that there were weapons of mass destruction in that country. This marks the 19th anniversary of the euphemistically titled ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom.’ Zaid al-Mahdawi is an Iraqi living in Houston who was in Baghdad when the war began. “Most of [&hellip...
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA: Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired drones and missiles at Saudi water and energy desalination facilities causing no causalities, but a temporary drop in output at a refinery. The drone strikes and ballistic and cruise missiles used by Houthis hit Yanbu’s gas plant, the Yasref refinery in the Yanbu Industrial City on the Red [&he...
SANAA, Yemen (AA) – The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen announced that it has thwarted a booby-trapped boat attack south of the Red Sea. A coalition statement said the boat was destroyed in al-Hudaydah in western Yemen. The statement said the attack targeted navigation south of the Red Sea, without giving further details. According to the [&helli...
ERBIL, Iraq (AA) – Iraq’s Kurdish region has never been a threat to anyone, the head of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has said. In a statement marking the Newroz holiday, Masrour Barzani said the KRG will continue defending and upholding its constitutional rights. KRG “will not surrender its rights under any pressure,” he added. ...
TEHRAN (AA) Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed hopes for the improvement of his country’s economy during a speech to mark Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Iran’s economy has suffered under stringent sanctions that were reimposed by the US in 2018 after it unilaterally pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal betwe...
SANAA, Yemen (AA) – United Nations special envoy Hans Grundberg has said he is seeking a truce in Yemen during the fasting month of Ramadan, due to start early next month. Grundberg met Saturday with Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam and Omani officials “to discuss ongoing UN consultations and efforts to address the dire humani...
SANAA, Yemen (AA) – More than 116,000 Yemeni civilians were displaced in the central Marib province in 2021 amid fighting between government forces and Houthi rebels, according to the Yemeni authorities on Sunday. In a statement, the government-affiliated Executive Unit for IDP’s Camps Management said most of those displaced had fled to ...
