Middle Orient

It takes just a few seconds to post a tweet, but for one woman in Saudi Arabia it has resulted in a 45-year prison sentence which has shocked ordinary citizens across the kingdom. Nourah Bint Saeed Al-Qahtani was convicted in the Saudi Specialised Criminal Court on charges of using the …

A Turkish court decided to arrest senior Islamic State figure Bashar Hattab Ghazal Al Sumaidai, who wascaptured by the police, the state-owned Anadolu news agency reported on Friday. The militant, code-named Abu Zeyd, was captured in Istanbul in an operation carried out by police and Turkey’s intelligence agency, Anadolu said.

Latest Turkish-Greek war of words linked to electoral campaigns Turkish Greek bickering continued apace this week with Erdogan repeating his stock threats about descending on Turkey’s foes “unexpectedly in the night,” spurring further overwrought takes on how the two NATO allies might slip into war.

In spite of the opposition from US allies in the Middle East as well as many US Congressman — both Democrats and Republicans — the Biden administration appeared determined to reward the ruling mullahs of Iran whose policies and ideology are anchored in “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”. …

TÜRKIYE-GREECE President Erdoğan accused Athens of militarising what should be demilitarised Eastern Aegean islands, threatened to “do what was necessary”, and warned of a “heavy price” should Greece harass Turkish F-16 fighter jets. The latter warning follows Ankara’s accusation that Greece in August used the Russian-supplied S300 air defence system …

Hezbollah and its patrons in Tehran have done nothing to help end the disastrous economic crisis in Lebanon, where nearly 80% of the people live below the poverty line. The World Bank has warned that the crisis ranks as one of the three most severe the world has seen since …

We all have that annoying neighbor bragging about what they are “going to” buy next. In my case, they usually talk about expensive guns, a huge new pickup truck, or maybe a center console boat. But, somehow, the big ticket item just never seems to show up.

The Turkish and Greek foreign ministers write dueling letters to key international actors as leaders exchange barbs after Erdogan’s one-liner that Turkey “can come suddenly one night.” The volatile waters of the Aegean Sea heated up again as Athens and Ankara sent dueling letters to the United Nations, the European …

U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters arrested dozens of Islamic State militants and rescued four women who were being held chained in tunnels at the massive al-Hol camp in northeastern Syria that houses IS families, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

“A few days ago, US officials announced that it was Iran, not America, that had given up core demands. They lie. Iran has not given up on anything essential. On the contrary, Iran has obtained the essential demands it wants.” — Sayed Zahra, deputy editor of Bahrain’s Akhbar Al-Khaleej, August …