Latest in Region Highlight
Latest in Region
Iraqi forces assault gunmen in crisis-hit city
Iraqi forces backed by tribesmen moved into five Ramadi neighbourhoods Sunday, with helicopters providing cover and firing on the sprawling district of Malaab at the centre of fighting between anti-government fighters and security forces and their tribal allies.
South Sudan troops capture key town Bor, ‘defeat’ 15,000 rebels: Army
Ateny Wek Ateny, spokesman for President Salva Kiir, said the troops had been “congratulated for a job well done”.
Iran diplomat fatally wounded in Yemen shooting: Medic
Nobody at the Iranian embassy was immediately available for comment but other diplomats said the victim was an embassy security officer.
Tunisia agrees on new charter’s chapter on judiciary
A two-thirds majority of parliament’s 217 elected members is then needed to adopt the charter and avoid it being put to a referendum.
Divided Syria opposition debates joining peace talks
The talks opening Wednesday are aimed at setting up a transitional government to find a way out of the brutal conflict that has killed 130,000 people and made millions homeless since March 2011.
Car bomb in Lebanon town near Syria kills at least three
This was the fifth major assault on a Hezbollah stronghold in Lebanon since the Shi’a movement admitted it was fighting alongside President al-Assad’s forces in Syria
South Sudan battles rage as conflict enters second month
Some of the 20,000 civilians sheltering in the peacekeeper’s compound had been wounded from stray bullets from heavy machine guns during the intense battle.
Syria’s Assad slams Saudi ideology as ‘threat to world’
The comments came amid ongoing tensions between Syria and Saudi Arabia, which are fiercely opposed to each other.
Tunisia marks uprising anniversary without new constitution
The main groups demonstrating were supporters and critics of Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party that was voted to power after Ben Ali’s downfall, but which finally resigned last week under an agreement to end months of political turmoil.
Kerry and Lavrov discuss Syria peace talks
The meetings come as Assad’s forces appear to make gains on the ground amid deadly internal fighting in the rebellion pitting the once-dominant Islamists against resurgent fighters from groups more palatable to the West.
One man shot dead as protesters clash with police across Tunisia
Scattered protests over economic hardships have broken out as Tunisia‘s new prime minister takes office to lead a caretaker administration to end a crisis three years after its uprising ousted Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
Govt troops deploy in north Yemen after ceasefire deal
They rose up in 2004 in their stronghold of Saada against the government of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, blaming it for marginalising them.
South Sudan troops fight to wrest final rebel stronghold
The UN leader warned that evidence of widespread atrocities committed during the nearly month-long conflict would be investigated, and that “perpetrators of serious human rights violations will be held accountable.”
Iraq would face huge challenge in Fallujah assault: experts
Gunmen seized Fallujah and parts of Anbar provincial capital Ramadi last week, the first time militants have exercised such open control in major cities since the insurgency that followed the 2003 US-led invasion.
Ex-Israel PM Sharon dead: Netanyahu’s office
Sharon has been in a coma since January 4, 2006 after suffering a massive stroke.
Lebanon teen death spurs ‘selfie’ anti-violence protest
The “Not A Martyr” campaign sprung up after Chaar was killed in a 27 December car bombing that targeted moderate Lebanese politician Mohammad Chatah.
Tunisia’s Jomaa, technocrat PM tasked with ending crisis
Tasked with forming an interim government of technocrats and overseeing fresh elections
Syria opposition under pressure to attend ‘Geneva 2’ talks
Syria’s main rebel groups have warned opponents against attending the talks and against any negotiation with Assad’s regime.
Tunisia Islamist PM set to step down as unrest mounts
The Islamist Ennahda party has been under mounting pressure to relinquish the grip on power
Tunisia police, protesters clash in deprived region
The region is one of the poorest in Tunisia and was a hotbed of unrest during the January 2011 revolt that toppled veteran strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Kuwait PM reshuffles cabinet
The new cabinet line-up includes a new oil minister, Ali al-Omair, a lawmaker who is a senior member of the Islamist Salaf Alliance. He replaced Mustafa al-Shamali, who served in the post for just five months after serving several years as finance minister.
Tunisia charter to uphold equality, freedom of opinion
The Islamists also agreed in recent months to drop their insistence on Islam being the main source of legislation, or criminalising “attacks on the sacred”.
Blast kills Libya courthouse guard: officials
A security official speaking on condition of anonymity said Monday’s bomb was placed in a guard post outside a courthouse in central Benghazi by unknown assailants.
Tunisia votes for gender equality in new charter
They are equal before the law without discrimination,” states article 20 of the new charter, which was approved by 159 lawmakers out the 169 who voted.
African asylum seekers protest Israel detention laws
Demonstrators sharply criticised the authorities’ refusal to give them refugee status and their detention of several hundred asylum seekers.
ISIL claims bombing in Hezbollah’s Beirut stronghold
The army said Saturday that a young man from northern Lebanon was the bomber who blew himself up.
73,000 killed in Syria conflict in 2013: NGO
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights released an updated toll for the entire war, saying more than 130,000 people had been killed since it began
Large explosion hits south Beirut: Hezbollah TV
AFP – A large explosion hit a Hezbollah stronghold in south Beirut Thursday, the Shi’a group’s Al-Manar television reported, on the heels of a November double suicide bombing at Iran’s embassy in the area. “A very big blast hit Haret Hreik… targeting an area that is very densely populated,” Al-Manar said in an initial report. …
Iraq arrests Shi’a cleric who claimed Saudi shelling
AFP – Iraqi security forces on Thursday arrested a Shi’a cleric who heads a pro-Iranian group which he claimed was responsible for firing mortar rounds into Saudi Arabia in November, police said. Security forces arrested Wathiq al-Battat, the head of Jaish Al-Mukhtar, on Palestine Street in Baghdad, the police colonel said. It was not immediately …
Iraq suffers worst year of violence since 2008
Death tolls vary widely, but all point to a sharp rise in violence.