Tag Archives: US embassy

Israel will remain opposed to Washington’s plan to reopen a U.S. consulate in Jerusalem that has traditionally been a base for diplomatic outreach to the Palestinians, even if political conditions change, an Israeli cabinet minister said on Tuesday. The consulate was subsumed into the U.S. Embassy that was moved to …

The Lebanese presidency said on Thursday that the United States has decided to assist Lebanon with electricity provision as the country struggles with crippling fuel shortages. It said the U.S. ambassador informed President Michel Aoun of the decision through a phone call on Thursday. There was no immediate comment from …

US President Joe Biden warned the Taliban Monday not to disrupt or threaten the evacuation of thousands of American diplomats and Afghan translators at the Kabul airport. The response to any attack would be “swift and forceful,” Biden said in a televised address from the White House. “We will defend …

Albania has accepted a U.S. request to temporarily take in Afghan refugees seeking visas to enter the United States, Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Sunday, as Taliban forces entered the Afghan capital Kabul. Rama said U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration had recently asked fellow NATO member Albania to assess …

Taliban insurgents entered Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Sunday, an interior ministry official said, as the United States evacuated diplomats from its embassy by helicopter. The senior official told Reuters the Taliban were coming in “from all sides” but gave no further details. There were no reports of fighting. Taliban spokesman …

At least eight Katyusha rockets landed in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone in an attack targeting the U.S. Embassy, causing some minor damage on the compound on Sunday, the Iraqi military and the embassy said on Sunday. The Iraqi military said an “outlaw group” fired eight rockets. Most of the …

Iran-backed militias launched rockets targeting U.S. troops that landed near Erbil airport in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a Kurdish security agency said on Wednesday, hours after Iraq’s premier pledged to protect foreign missions. Iraqi Kurdistan’s counterterrorism service blamed the attack on the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), an umbrella …

Palestinian officials today slammed the US’ decision to downgrade its Jerusalem Consulate, merging it with the US Embassy to Israel. The Palestinian Authority (PA)’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad Al-Malki condemned the US decision, saying it “proves that the US administration has adopted the agenda of the far-right Israeli settler …

An apparent attempt to bomb the American Embassy in Cairo failed on Tuesday when an explosive detonated prematurely in the backpack of a would-be attacker, the Egyptian government said in a statement. No one was injured. It was the latest reminder of the continuing threat to Western interests from the …

US President Donald Trump has declined to give a timeline for releasing Washington’s plan for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, saying that neither party was committed to the process. US President Donald Trump has declined to give a timeline for releasing Washington’s plan for peace between the Israelis …

Palestine will continue to seek a full membership in the United Nations despite the US veto which seems even more inevitable under the current administration, Nabil Shaath, the foreign affairs adviser of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Sputnik. “I have just returned from Japan. Japan’s membership was vetoed five times by the …

Palestinians have reacted to Donald Trump’s recognition of Occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital with street protests, but one couple have come up with an idea of their own, in the naming of their triplets. Nidal and Islam Al Saiqli from Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip decided to name the …

The head of the U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinian refugees appealed on Wednesday for world donations after the United States withheld about half its planned funding for the organization, a move he said risks instability in the region. Washington said on Tuesday it would provide $60 million to …

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas appears to have confirmed reports that the Trump administration has earmarked Abu Dis, a town adjacent to Jerusalem, as the capital of a future Palestinian state, during a speech to the PLO Central Council. “Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the state of Palestine,” Abbas …

Arab states will soon embark on a diplomatic drive to persuade the United Nations to recognise a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital on territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said. Six Arab foreign ministers met in Amman on Saturday to …

As President Trump moved last month to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, an Egyptian intelligence officer quietly placed phone calls to the hosts of several influential talk shows in Egypt. “Like all our Arab brothers,” Egypt would denounce the decision in public, the officer, Capt. Ashraf al-Kholi, told the …

US Vice-President Mike Pence’s trip to Israel has been postponed, amid Palestinian protests against the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. But why does the move remain popular with evangelical Christians in the US? The Reverend Johnnie Moore, a 34-year-old evangelical Christian, is closer than most to President …

UNITED NATIONS: US President Donald Trump said in tweets on Tuesday that the United States may withhold future aid payments to Palestinians, accusing them of being “no longer willing to talk peace” with Israel. Trump said that Washington gives Palestinians “HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no …

Energized by American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the country’s right-wing government has accelerated plans that imperil a two-state solution, solidifying Israel’s power and control over Jerusalem. In an all-night session, the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, enacted a law early Tuesday making it much more difficult to negotiate Jerusalem as …

Israel indicted a 16-year-old Palestinian girl on Monday on charges including assault for punching an Israeli soldier in the face two weeks ago, an incident which made her into a hero for Palestinians and was seen as humiliating by right-wing Israelis. Palestinian teen Ahed Tamimi (R) enters a military courtroom …

Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza and the occupied West Bank for the fourth Friday in a row in protests against U.S. President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Palestinian health officials said at least 50 protesters had been wounded by live fire, mostly along …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD   I was attending a lecture once by an Egyptian science fiction writer, quite a distinguished engineer in fact, and he gave a hilarious example. He talked about an Egyptian boy that had grown up in America and had come back to Egypt, as it …

The word Crusade is associated with the European Christians of Middle Ages. The declared purpose of the European  Crusades was to reclaim Jerusalem from Muslims. Currently, a Judeo-Christian Crusade is underway to consolidate the territorial claims of Israel, a state instituted by the European Jews with the support of the …

More than 120 countries defied President Donald Trump on Thursday and voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for the United States to drop its recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favor. …

Prior to an emergency UN General Assembly session on Jerusalem al-Quds, the United States and Israel have resorted to pressure tactics and lobbying efforts in an attempt to prevent the world body from adopting a resolution critical of Washington’s policy shift on the occupied city. Arab and Muslim states have …

China called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, Xinhua state media reported Thursday. “China understands the Islamic countries’ concern about the status of Jerusalem,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, adding that China “calls for a …

Palestinian officials are reportedly pushing for a UN Security Council resolution that rejects US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital.” The measure, which would strongly condemn Washington’s decision and demand its reversal, would almost certainly face a US veto, diplomats said Wednesday. According to senior …

The Trump declaration recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocating the U.S. embassy there is as historically significant to Israel’s control of Jerusalem as the Balfour Declaration was to recognizing the rights of the Jewish people in Palestine. But according to new revelations, the announcement could be part of a …

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) convenes an urgent summit in Istanbul on Washington’s contentious declaration on Jerusalem al-Quds, with the Turkish foreign minister urging Muslim nations to respond by pressing the world for the recognition of the city as the capital of a Palestinian state. Representatives from 57 OIC members are …

Former French president Francois Hollande condemned on Tuesday the move by the United States to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel at a time of high political and military tensions around the world. Speaking to delegates at the 10th annual Arab Strategy Forum in Dubai, Hollande criticised President Donald …

The Coptic Christian pope has canceled a meeting with the US vice president in Cairo, in protest against America’s move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Palestinian leader Abbas also snubbed Mike Pence. In a statement released on Saturday, the Coptic Church said it “excused itself from hosting Mike Pence” when …

The recognition by US President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has triggered more than just criticism from America’s allies. Here in Bahrain, at the annual Manama Dialogue security conference, there is an almost universal concern that the announcement will be a gift to the region’s twin adversaries – …

The United States faced blunt and sometimes withering criticism from friends and adversaries alike at the United Nations on Friday over President Trump’s declaration that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital and his plans to move the American Embassy to the highly contested holy city. The rebukes, made at an emergency Security …

The Grand Imam of Egypt’s al-Azhar Mosque, the country’s highest Islamic authority, has canceled a meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence in the wake of an announcement by US President Donald Trump that Washington will recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s capital. Al-Azhar said in a statement on Friday that …

A shooting at a royal palace in Saudi Arabia has left two security guards dead and three others injured, according to state media. A Saudi interior ministry statement said a 28-year-old man was killed after he drove up to the Al Salam palace gates in Jeddah and shot at security. …

A new bombshell report alleges that a meeting between high-level Israeli officials and their American counterparts last month deteriorated when National Security Adviser H.R McMaster brushed off Israel’s concerns about Hezbollah, at one point backing up an aide who denied that Hezbollah is a terror organization. According to the report …

An explosion hit a bank in an area of the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday close to the heavily protected U.S. embassy compound, officials said. Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said the blast occurred at the entrance to a Kabul Bank branch, not far from the embassy. There was no …

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering the United States to slash its diplomatic staff in Russia, remarks likely to rekindle criticism of Trump’s kid-gloves handling of Putin. Breaking nearly two weeks of silence on Putin’s July 30 order cutting U.S. embassy and consulate …

THE LEVANT – Yemen’s Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia claimed responsibility for a rocket that hit near the US embassy in Sanaa Saturday, shortly after the mission said it was unlikely the target. “Ansar al-Sharia have targeted the US embassy in Sanaa with a (shoulder-launched) LAW rocket,” the jihadist group posted on …

McClatchy has asked the president of Yemen to direct his government to issue a new visa to Adam Baron, McClatchy’s special correspondent in that country. Baron was expelled from the country in May without explanation. Anders Gyllenahaal, McClatchy vice president for news and the newspaper group’s Washington editor, said McClatchy …