January, 2021

• 14 January

  Regime Forces Members Go MIA in Hama Countryside

  A bus carrying regime soldiers went missing on its way to Homs city, only to be later found, empty and on fire reports Baladi News. On Saturday, the Syrian regime forces lost contact with a bus carrying its members on the Ithria road in the eastern Hama countryside, as it …

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• 14 January

  Dignitary From al-Akidat Tribe Gunned Down in Deir ez-Zor

  Sheikh Atilyoush al-Shatat and his son were gunned down by unknown assailants in Hawaij Theban village in Deir ez-Zor’s eastern countryside reports SANA.

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• 14 January

  UAE reopens land, sea, air ports to Qatar following Gulf deal

  The announcement comes after Gulf leaders this week agreed to end their years-long embargo of Qatar. The United Arab Emirates will reopen its borders to Qatar beginning Saturday, the Emirati Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation announced Friday, days after the Gulf countries agreed to resume ties with Doha.

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• 14 January

  Biden taps veteran diplomat William Burns for CIA director

  Burns, a former ambassador to Jordan and Russia, would bring with him decades of experience in the foreign service. President-elect Joe Biden has named career diplomat William Burns as his choice to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency. If confirmed, Burns would be the nation’s first-ever spy …

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• 14 January

  Pompeo to label Yemen’s Houthis a foreign terror group

  Relief organizations in Yemen warn the designation will hamstring their life-saving work in a country already considered to have the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The Trump administration will designate Yemen’s Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said late Sunday, despite months of pleading from relief …

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• 14 January

  US Launches Work on Consulate in Disputed Western Sahara

  The United States on Sunday started the process of establishing a consulate in contested Western Sahara, after Washington recognized Morocco’s sovereignty there in exchange for Rabat normalizing ties with Israel. U.S. Ambassador to Morocco David Fischer visited the port of Dakhla, 1,440 kilometers (895 miles) southwest of Rabat in the …

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• 14 January

  Cairo to host quartet meeting on Monday to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace process

  The meeting will focus on the peace process in the Middle East as well as ways to tap into the recently-signed normalisation agreements between Israel and the four Arab countries

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• 14 January

  Three-way talks on Ethiopian dam reach new impasse

  Negotiations between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, in a long-running dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile, have reached a new impasse, the three countries said on Sunday. “We cannot continue this vicious cycle of circular talks indefinitely,” Sudanese irrigation minister Yasir Abbas said in a …

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• 14 January

  Pompeo says US designating Yemen’s Huthis a terrorist group

  The United States will designate Yemen’s Huthi rebels as a terrorist group, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday, a late-term move that aid groups fear will worsen a humanitarian crisis. With just 10 days left before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, the action could complicate the new administration’s efforts …

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• 14 January

  Rojava opposition leader accuses the PKK of harming Kurdish unity talks

  ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A leadership member of the opposition umbrella group Kurdish National Council (ENKS) accused the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) of being the de-facto ruler of northeast Syria’s autonomous region (Rojava), adding that the group has harmed Kurdish unity talks.

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