Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli denounces Egypt’s demonstrations as part of ‘brutal war’ designed to create ‘confusion’. Egypt’s prime minister has warned his government would not allow protesters to spread “chaos” after small rallies recently erupted against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The rare protests broke out in defiance of a ban on demonstrations after Mohamed Ali, […]

BAGHDAD (REUTERS) – In their long hunt for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Iraqi intelligence teams secured a break in February 2018 after one of the Islamic State leader’s top aides gave them information on how he escaped capture for so many years, said two Iraqi security officials. Baghdadi would sometimes hold strategy talks with his commanders […]

Kurdish-led SDF begins withdrawal from region in accordance with deal brokered by Russia and Turkey. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has said it has agreed to re-deploy away from the Syria-Turkey border, in accordance with an agreement reached between Russia and Turkey on Tuesday. “The SDF is redeploying to new positions away from the Turkish-Syrian border across […]

BAGHDAD (REUTERS) – At least 67 Iraqis were killed and hundreds wounded in two days of protests over the weekend, as demonstrators clashed with security forces and militia groups in a second wave of protests against Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government this month. Seeking to contain the spiralling violence, on Saturday night (Oct 26), […]

At least five people have been killed in fresh clashes with security forces in Iraq as nationwide anti-government protests entered a second day. Three of the dead were reportedly hit by tear gas canisters fired by security forces in the capital Baghdad. At least two more were killed when protesters tried to storm an official’s […]

A deal between Turkey and Russia has brought an end to a Turkish military operation in north-eastern Syria against a Kurdish-led militia alliance previously allied to the United States. We’ve boiled down why it matters. Turkey considers the biggest militia in the Kurdish-led alliance a terrorist organisation. It says it is an extension of a […]

Like a bad movie where you’ve already seen the ending, history now risks repeating itself in a dangerous corner of the Middle East. Kurdish-run camps and detention centres confining tens of thousands of Islamic State (IS) fighters and their dependants are boiling over with frustrated rage. This month, spurred on by Turkey’s incursion into Syria […]

Like a bad movie where you’ve already seen the ending, history now risks repeating itself in a dangerous corner of the Middle East. Kurdish-run camps and detention centres confining tens of thousands of Islamic State (IS) fighters and their dependants are boiling over with frustrated rage. This month, spurred on by Turkey’s incursion into Syria […]

Thousands also wounded by security forces as renewed rallies erupt in Baghdad and several southern cities. Renewed anti-government demonstrations in Iraq have gripped the capital, Baghdad, and swept through several other cities in the country’s south, leaving at least 30 people dead, according to the country’s human rights commission and a monitor. The protests on […]

Amnesty International has condemned the Iranian authorities for publicly flogging a man who was convicted of consuming alcohol when he was 14 or 15. Local media published photographs of the man – identified only as “M R” – being given 80 lashes in a square in the eastern city of Kashmar on Tuesday. Prosecutors say […]