Syria’s army and rebel groups locked in battle, as civilian death toll hits 1,099, according to UK-based war monitor. The Syrian army and rebel groups early on Sunday engaged in fierce battles in Eastern Ghouta, where fighting has killed at least 1,099 civilians over the past 21 days, a war monitor said.  The death toll, […]

TEL AVIV – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s alliance with a racist party has angered the largest Jewish groups in the United States, leading to a highly unusual strong public rebuke of Israel’s government and fears of serious damage to a strategically important relationship. The American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the pro-Israeli lobby AIPAC are among […]

A Saudi princess has been named as the country’s first ever female ambassador and its next envoy to the United States. The appointment of Princess Reema bint Bandar al-Saud comes as the conservative kingdom remains under international scrutiny over the alleged torture of imprisoned female activists and the murder in Istanbul of Jamal Khashoggi, the […]

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the main players in the Arab world. Its stature is built on its prestige as the custodian of the birthplace of Islam, and its status as an one of the world’s largest oil producers. Its importance as an oil exporter has made economic interdependence with the West […]

VIENNA (REUTERS) – Iran has remained within the key limits on its nuclear activities imposed by its 2015 deal with major powers despite growing pressure from newly reimposed US sanctions, a report by the UN nuclear watchdog indicated on Friday (Feb 22). The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is policing those nuclear restrictions, said […]

Shamima Begum was 15 when she became radicalized, left her home in London for Syria and joined the Islamic State, marrying one of its fighters. As the group’s grip on its last pieces of territory slipped, Ms. Begum, 19 and pregnant, fled to a refugee camp in northern Syria. When she met a British reporter […]

Benjamin Netanyahu will pass a political landmark to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, if he stays in office beyond 31 May 2019. This would be a remarkable achievement for a politician who was branded by critics as too inexperienced when he was narrowly elected for the first time in 1996. As he nears the record-breaking […]

A court in Cairo has recommended the death penalty for 30 people convicted of involvement in the killing of Egypt’s top public prosecutor. Hisham Barakat was assassinated in a car bomb attack in June 2015. He was the most senior state official to be killed by militants in recent years. Mr Barakat had sent thousands […]

ISLAMABAD • Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said his country plans to invest a whopping US$20 billion (S$27 billion) in Pakistan as he began a swing through Asia, at a time when his country’s ties with the West have waned. The two nations signed memorandums of understanding in the energy and agriculture sectors, […]

In short: yes, but not in the same form. The jihadist terror group’s self-proclaimed “caliphate”, which once ruled over nearly eight million people across Syria and Iraq, has been all but eliminated. The temptation for triumphalism in Western capitals is overwhelming. It has taken four-and-a-half years of relentless military pressure by a 79-nation coalition to […]