RIYADH (NYTIMES) – At the cramped shop where Mr Kholoud Ahmed sells the traditional Muslim women’s gowns known as abayas, the rainbow of colours is a revelation. In the past, women in Riyadh typically dressed in the same black abaya no matter where they were going. Now, observed Mr Ahmed, 21, there is a differently […]

BAGHDAD (REUTERS) -Militants from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group killed four Peshmerga soldiers and a civilian, and wounded six other people in an attack near Qara Salem village in northern Iraq, security sources said on Sunday (Dec 5). The Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs said in a statement that the attack […]

TEHERAN (AFP) – A senior Emirati security official is due in Iran on Monday (Dec 6), ISNA news agency reported, in the latest outreach between the two countries since a downgrading of ties five years ago. United Arab Emirates National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al-Nahyan “will arrive tomorrow in Teheran” at the invitation […]

TEHERAN (AFP) – Iran is firmly determined to reach an agreement with major powers on salvaging its 2015 nuclear deal at talks that resume on Monday (Nov 29) in Vienna, its foreign ministry spokesman said. “The delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran is in Vienna with a firm determination to reach an agreement and […]

BEIRUT (AFP) – Two civilians were among four people killed by Israeli strikes on Wednesday (Nov 24) that targeted a part of Syria where fighters loyal to Lebanon’s Hizbollah are based, a monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that relies on sources on the ground, said the Israeli missiles struck […]

MANAMA (REUTERS) – Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin sought on Saturday (Nov 20) to reassure allies in the Middle East that President Joe Biden’s administration was committed to the region despite Washington increasingly turning its attention towards countering China. It was unclear how much impact Austin’s speech would have with allies in the Middle East, since […]

TEL AVIV (REUTERS) – Turkey on Thursday freed an Israeli couple who had been arrested for photographing President Tayyip Erdogan’s residence in Istanbul and accused of spying, an allegation denied by Israel. The couple’s release spurred the first conversation between the countries’ leaders in years. Mordi and Natali Oknin were detained on Nov 9. A […]

ARBIL, IRAQ (AFP) – Hundreds of Iraqis returned home on Thursday (Nov 18) on an Iraqi Airways flight from Belarus, where thousands of migrants have camped on the Polish border for weeks hoping to enter the EU. It was the first repatriation flight of migrants – many of them fleeing war and poverty-wracked Middle Eastern […]

LONDON – Britain has joined other major Western countries in warning its citizens not to travel to Lebanon. The move amounts to a further economic blow to a Middle Eastern country that used to be a magnet for tourists, but is now facing political meltdown on top of a catastrophic economic decline. Please subscribe or log […]

DUBAI (REUTERS) – Forces from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Israel and the United States Naval Forces Central Command (Navcent) began a multilateral maritime security operations exercise in the Red Sea on Wednesday, Navcent said on Thursday (Nov 11). This is the first publicly acknowledged naval exercise between the US, Israel and the two Gulf […]