Tag Archives: Iran

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced on Friday that he will soon call a cabinet session, saying that the situation in the country is “very difficult and the people should not have to deal with more crises.” His remarks came after protesters stormed the Ministry of Health building in Beirut …

The United States condemns the detention of Yemeni staff of the U.S. embassy in Sanaa by the Houthi movement and demands their immediate release, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on Friday. Dozens of Yemeni citizens and their family members have been detained and mistreated by the …

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud has urged the Lebanese political class to put an end to Hizbullah’s “hegemony.” Bin Farhan affirmed that KSA is not willing to communicate with the Lebanese government “for the time being.” He added that the political class should take the necessary …

Yemen’s warring sides clashed south of the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah late on Saturday, after Iranian-backed Houthi fighters moved into territory ceded by forces allied to a Saudi-led coalition, military sources and witnesses said. Yemeni forces backed by the United Arab Emirates had on Friday announced they were …

Leaders of both the US Senate and House Foreign Relations committees on Friday condemned the Iranian-backed Houthis who recently breached the US Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, and are holding staff hostage. Washington closed the embassy in 2015 amid escalating violence in the country and American diplomats left the country. However …

Yemeni forces under a Saudi-led coalition said on Friday they had withdrawn from around the main Red Sea port of Hodeidah held by their foes the Houthis to help deter the Iran-aligned group’s advances in other parts of Yemen. A joint statement by United Arab Emirates-backed forces, including the Giants …

The Hezbollah leader rejected calls for the resignation of a Lebanese minister who sparked a diplomatic rift with Riyadh by criticising its military intervention in Yemen, underlining the slim chances of the crisis easing any time soon. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah, also said Saudi Arabia faced …

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday said he does not want to “escalate” things in the diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia but stressed that Lebanon should reject “submission and humiliation.” “Saudi Arabia stirred the latest crisis with Lebanon and we want things to calm down,” Nasrallah said in a …

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen said on Wednesday its troops were redeploying in line with its strategy to support Yemeni forces, but were not withdrawing. Yemeni security sources told Reuters the Saudi military had withdrawn from a major military base in Burayqah district in the southern …

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has vowed that Israel will not allow advanced weaponry to reach Iran’s regional proxies, amid a recent uptick in Israeli airstrikes in Syria. “Fifteen years ago, this place burned from Hizbullah rockets,” he said at the inauguration of a new factory opened by Israeli weapons …

Besides Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama, few religious leaders today command as much respect among Muslims and non-Muslims alike as Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, the 91-year-old “supreme marja” of the world’s Shiite Muslims. Al-Sistani was a disciple of Ayatollah Abu Al-Qasim Al-Khoei, who was for decades the most renowned religious …

Expecting a possible siege, pro-government forces in central Yemen are preparing to defend Marib city, their last northern stronghold, against advancing Houthi fighters bent on taking full control of one of Yemen’s key energy-producing regions. Should Marib governorate fall to the Houthis it would deal a blow to the military …

Bahrain on Tuesday urged its citizens in Lebanon to immediately leave the country amid a row between Beirut and Arab Gulf states over a Lebanese minister’s remarks on the Yemen war. The foreign ministry “urged all citizens in Lebanon to leave immediately, following the tense situation there, which calls for …

Yemen’s Houthis on Sunday put up posters in support of a Lebanese minister whose criticism of the Saudi-led war in Yemen sparked a diplomatic row between Lebanon and Gulf states. Saudi Arabia has expelled Lebanon’s envoy and recalled its ambassador from Beirut, with Bahrain and Kuwait following suit. The UAE …

Prime Minister Najib Miqati met Monday with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and the two discussed the bilateral relations between the two countries. The Qatari leader affirmed that he will dispatch Qatar’s Foreign Minister to Beirut soon to find ways to support Lebanon and to address the Lebanon-Gulf …

Information Minister George Kordahi on Sunday stressed that he will not resign despite the growing diplomatic crisis with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. In remarks to al-Jadeed television, Kordahi emphasized that such a move is “out of the question.” The crisis erupted Friday when Saudi Arabia gave Lebanon’s ambassador …

The Houthi militia’s planned attacks using explosive-rigged boats in the Red Sea pose a threat to global maritime trade lines in the area, Yemen’s information, culture and tourism minister Moammar Al-Eryani warned. The Arab coalition earlier said it destroyed four Houthi boats loaded with explosives during an airstrike in Yemen’s …

The Arab coalition on Saturday said it had destroyed four explosive-laden Houthi boats in Yemen’s western province of Hodeidah. A coalition statement said warplanes targeted Al-Jabanah coastal base, east of Hodeidah city, where the vessels had been prepared to attack international ships sailing through the Red Sea. “The coalition efforts …

A U.S. outpost in southern Syria was attacked on Wednesday, but there were no reports of any American casualties from the blast, U.S. officials told Reuters. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it was too early to say who was responsible for the attack. One of the …

Syria’s government and opposition in the war-torn country have agreed to start drafting constitutional reforms, the U.N. Syria envoy announced Sunday, a major step after a nine-month hiatus of talks and several fruitless rounds. U.N. special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen didn’t say what was behind the agreement or offer …

The US on Wednesday demanded an end to the Houthi siege of Abedia to allow beleaguered civilians access to humanitarian aid. The Iran-backed militia has surrounded the district in the battleground Yemeni province of Marib for more than three weeks, denying 35,000 people access to food, drinking water, medicines and …

Facebook has removed two networks linked to military organizations in Sudan and Iran for violating its policies. The company shared details about the accounts in its September 2021 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report. The report comes on the heels of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen’s testimony before the US Senate Committee. Haugen …

Saudi Arabia called on the United Nations to hold Yemen’s Houthi militia accountable after 10 people that were injured in a drone attack on an airport. Passengers and airport staff were among those hurt when the explosives-laden drone hit King Abdullah Airport in Jazan on Friday. The injured included six …

A car bomb targeting the governor’s convoy shook Yemen’s southern port city of Aden on Sunday killing at least six people and wounding seven, the information minister said on Twitter. Governor Ahmed Lamlas and agriculture minister Salem al-Suqatri, both members of a southern separatist group, survived a “terrorist assassination attempt”, …

The United States on Thursday denounced Hezbollah’s deliveries of Iranian fuel in crisis-hit Lebanon as a public relations stunt and warned that Tehran remained under sanctions. Iran is set to deliver more fuel in the coming days to Lebanon for distribution by Hezbollah, the Shiite movement that has shown its …

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi movement in Yemen said a hostile projectile launched by the group hit King Abdullah airport in Jizan, injuring five civilians, the Saudi state news agency reported on Friday. “There were five minor injuries among civilians, passengers and airport employees,” the agency quoted a coalition …

Bahrain, Russia and other members of the U.N. Human Rights Council pushed through a vote on Thursday to shut down the body’s war crimes investigations in Yemen, in a stinging defeat for Western states who sought to keep the mission going. Members narrowly voted to reject a resolution led by the …

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Jaber held talks with Sweden’s envoy for Yemen Peter Semneby in the capital, Riyadh, on Thursday. During the meeting, they discussed the Kingdom’s efforts and joint steps for a cease-fire and beginning political consultations to alleviate the human suffering of the Yemeni people …

US President Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is traveling to Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the Associated Press.  Sullivan will also visit the United Arab Emirates as part of his regional trip. Source: Arab News

Fire broke out in one of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) research centers in the west of Tehran on Sunday evening, state media said. “On Sunday evening a fire broke out in one of the IRGC … research centers in the west of Tehran. Three people were injured and the …

Iran-backed Houthi terrorists launched five armed drones toward Saudi Arabia late on Thursday as the Kingdom celebrated its 91st national day, state media Al-Ekhbariya TV and the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. The weaponized drones, which came in waves, were intercepted and destroyed by coalition air defenses before they could do any …

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian held “thorough and confident” talks with Iraq’s President Barham Salih late on Thursday, wrote Le Drian on his Twitter page. “Following on from the Baghdad conference of August 28 and the ministerial meeting in New York on September 21, I reaffirmed the support of …

2 MIN READ DUBAI, Sept 23 (Reuters) – Houthi military forces are intensifying their push towards the central Yemeni city of Marib, which is held by the Saudi-backed government, and are stepping up fighting in the south, Houthi group and Yemeni military sources said on Thursday. After recent advances and …

 The European Union joined a chorus of international criticism on Monday over the execution of nine men by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen following their conviction for involvement in the killing of the group’s top civilian leader. Saleh al-Samad, who held the post of president in the Houthi-controlled administration …

Despite the threat of possible US sanctions, Hezbollah has arranged up to 80 oil tankers carrying Iranian diesel fuel to arrive in Lebanon via Syria on Thursday. The tankers are destined for Baalbek, about 67 kilometers northeast of Beirut, where the fuel will be discharged into tankers owned by the …

The Lebanese flag was set at half-mast on Tuesday to mourn the death of Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan, the head of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council, at the age of 85. The council is the official reference of the Shiite sect in Lebanon as Qabalan had been at the helm …

The US led on Sunday the global condemnation of a recent escalation in Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. The Houthi militia launched three ballistic missiles toward the Kingdom on Saturday, two targeting the southwestern cities of Najran and Jazan. A third missile was launched at Dammam in the Eastern Province. …

Israel carried out air strikes on targets near Damascus early on Friday, triggering Syrian air defences but causing no casualties, Syrian state media reported, the second such attack in just over two weeks. The Israeli military declined to comment on the report. A Syrian military source quoted by state media …

The Lebanese government has received no request for fuel to be imported from Iran, the caretaker energy minister said on Wednesday, appearing to confirm that the Shi’ite group Hezbollah has bypassed the state with a move to import Iranian fuel. Hezbollah, a heavily armed group founded by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards …

The second unit of United Arab Emirates’ only nuclear power plant has started operations, UAE leaders announced on Twitter on Friday. “Operations started at Unit 2 at the Barakah nuclear energy plant,” said Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed, the Ruler’s representative in the western region of Abu Dhabi. “This is a …

The first White House meeting between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was postponed until Friday, overshadowed by suicide bombings near Kabul airport during a chaotic U.S. evacuation mission from Afghanistan. Two deadly explosions https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/western-nations-race-complete-afghan-evacuation-deadline-looms-2021-08-25 occurred on Thursday just hours before Biden and Bennett were due to …

Iraq has invited Iran and Tehran’s Gulf Arab foes to a summit in Baghdad with the aim of calming tensions which have brought them close to open conflict in recent years. Officials say the meeting, which will also discuss the war in Yemen, Lebanon’s collapse and a regional water crisis, …

Syrian army units aided by pro-Iranian militias have staged a major assault on an opposition enclave in the southern border city of Deraa in a bid to retake the last opposition stronghold in southern Syria, residents, army and opposition sources said. Troops amassed around the sprawling government-held city sought to …

A fighter jet with the U.S.-led coalition shot down a drone in eastern Syria on Saturday after the unmanned aircraft was deemed a threat, the U.S. military said. “Coalition aircraft successfully engaged and defeated a UAS through air to air engagement in the vicinity of Mission Support Site Green Village,” …