Eurasia

Egypt’s purchase of 12 Dassault Rafale fighter jets from France looks to be going ahead, allaying Cairo’s fears that the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance (Bercy) would block the deal. During a three-day visit made by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Paris in October, French President Emmanuel …

Libyan UN-backed government and EU Border Assistance Mission in Libya (EUBAM) on Sunday discussed Libya’s border security. According to the media office of the Prime Minister, Serraj met with EUBAM delegation in the capital Tripoli and discussed cooperation between Libya and EU against terrorism and illegal immigration. The prime minister …

French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Burkina Faso on Monday evening for the opening leg of a three-day Africa tour aimed at boosting France’s regional influence and stemming the continent’s migrant exodus. Macron’s first African tour takes him to Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, two former French colonies that deposed …

Sudan’s counter-insurgency forces have arrested a powerful militia chief from Darfur accused by the United Nations of human rights abuses in the war-torn region, officials said on Monday. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) arrested Musa Hilal, a former aide to President Omar al-Bashir, near his home town of Mustariaha in …

Egyptian authorities say security forces have killed at least 14 Islamic militants in Sinai and an adjacent Suez Canal province following the massacre at a village mosque in the northern part of the peninsula last week that killed 305 people.

President Donald Trump spoke Monday with President Emmanuel Macron of France to discuss the Syrian issue, the White House announced. “The presidents agreed on the importance of the United Nations-based Geneva Process as the only legitimate forum for achieving a political solution in Syria,” the announcement said.

Iraqi troops found on Monday an Islamic State arms depot in Hit city in Anbar Province, Al-Ghad Press quoted military media saying. “Military intelligence officers from the 39th brigade have found an underground IS arms depot at al- Bakr district in Hit city in Anbar,” the Directorate of General Military …

Iraqi forces have cleared roughly five square kilometers of territory in Iraq’s northern Nineveh province of ISIS, an Iraqi police source said Monday. “For the fourth day in a row, joint forces from the army, police and Hashd al-Shaabi are carrying out military operations in Nineveh’s desert region,” Police Brigadier-General …

Iraq is to resume paying war reparations to Kuwait at the start of 2018, in UN-endorsed compensation for Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of the emirate, the president’s office announced Friday. It said the two countries had agreed during a visit to Kuwait City by President Fuad Masum on Monday for …

An angry Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pledged to respond with “brutal force” against militants who massacred at least 235 people at a mosque during weekly prayers on Friday. “The army and police will avenge our martyrs and return security and stability with force in the coming short period,” he …