Conjoined twin boys born under blockade in Yemen nearly three weeks ago died at the weekend after attempts to secure their evacuation for potentially life-saving treatment failed. The health ministry said the twins’ deaths reflected the humanitarian situation faced by Yemen’s children as a result of the civil war, according to a statement carried by […]

ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT (REUTERS) – The United States is likely just weeks away from starting the withdrawal of ground troops from Syria ordered by President Donald Trump, the top US commander overseeing American forces in the Middle East said on Sunday (Feb 10). US Army General Joseph Votel, head of the US Central […]

ISTANBUL (REUTERS) – The fiancee of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi said on Friday she would welcome a change in Donald Trump’s approach to the killing, and may visit the United States in March, having previously rejected an invitation from the president. Khashoggi, a royal insider who became a critic of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince […]

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – A top Saudi official on Friday (Feb 8) reiterated his government’s position that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not order the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and he declined to comment specifically on a newspaper report that the crown prince in 2017 said he would use”a bullet” on the journalist. […]

Saudi Arabia “seriously curtailed and undermined” Turkey’s ability to investigate the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a UN expert has said. A preliminary report into the investigation says Turkey was not allowed into the consul where the journalist was killed for 13 days. Khashoggi was last seen alive entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 […]

GENEVA (REUTERS) – The United States supports “dictators, butchers and extremists” in the Middle East, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a Twitter post on Wednesday (Feb 6) in a response to US President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech. Tensions have ramped up between Iran and the United States since Trump […]

HASAKA, Syria — More than six years after he was abducted in Syria by the Islamic State, John Cantlie, a British journalist, is believed to be still alive, a British government official said on Tuesday. Mr. Cantlie has been seen in several propaganda videos made by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, […]

Iraq’s President Barham Saleh has rebuked Donald Trump over his comments that he wanted to maintain a US military presence there to watch Iran. Mr Trump told CBS on Sunday he intended to keep an “incredible” base being used by US troops to combat the jihadist group Islamic State “because I want to be looking […]

RIYADH (REUTERS) – Saudi Arabia will study how its male guardianship system is being abused, Saudi media reported on Monday (Feb 4), after the flight of an 18-year-old woman to Thailand last month focused global attention on the issue. Every Saudi woman is assigned a male relative – often a father or husband but sometimes […]

KERBALA, Iraq (REUTERS) – A motorcycle gunman shot dead an Iraqi novelist close to his house in the holy Shi’ite Muslim city of Kerbala on Saturday, police and witnesses said. Alaa Mashzoub, 50, was on his way home when he was shot multiple times, police said late on Saturday. It was unclear what the motive […]