Al Akhbar

The “ISIS Spring” In North Africa

Libya is unique as it remains the largest haven for terrorist groups affiliated with ISIS, after being the main reservoir and source for all kinds of groups fighting in Syria.

Al Akhbar
By Al Akhbar

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) (aka the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant [ISIL]) is expanding beyond the Levant. Establishing Wilyat Sinai (the Province of Sinai) was just the start, and now the group is determined to expand into all of North Africa. What happened in Sirte yesterday is just one episode in a series geared toward

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IAEA: Iran Halts New Sensitive Nuclear Centrifuge Tests

“The disconnection reflects Iran addressing concerns about its enrichment (of uranium),” said the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), which closely tracks Iran’s nuclear program.

Al Akhbar
By Al Akhbar

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani adjusts a translation headphone during a news conference in New York on Friday, Sept. 26, 2014. Iran has refrained from expanding tests of more efficient models of a centrifuge used to refine uranium under a nuclear agreement with six world powers, a UN report showed, allaying concerns it might be violating

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UN Says Conflicts In Darfur Displace 41,000 In Two Months

Some 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict in Darfur, and the region is home to more than two million internally displaced persons, according to the UN.

Al Akhbar
By Al Akhbar

A Sudanese family takes shelter under their donkey cart at the Kalma refugee camp for internally displaced people, south of the Darfur town of Nyala, Sudan.  (AP/UNAMID) Fighting between Sudanese government forces and rebels in parts of Darfur has displaced more than 41,000 people from their homes since late December, the UN said on

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Turkey Actively Assisting Rebels In Fight Against Syria

Turkey has now involved itself in the battle raging in Aleppo’s northern countryside.

Al Akhbar
By Al Akhbar

Aleppo — Upon seizing control of the towns of Bashkoy, Ratyan and Hardetneen in Aleppo’s northern countryside, the Syrian army retreated in Ratyan. Government sources say that this retreat came in response to opposition groups mobilizing forces from the Aleppo countryside and, indeed, from within Turkish territory. The army began to reinforce its

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Houthis Reject UN Resolution To Cede Power In Yemen

The UN Security Council, in a resolution adopted unanimously on Sunday, urged the Houthis to relinquish power, release President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi along with other officials, and to negotiate in “good faith.”

Al Akhbar
By Al Akhbar

Members of the Houthi Shiite group watch a televised speech by the leader of Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, as they attend the annual Eid al-Ghadir festival in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2014.   Photo: Hani Mohammed/AP Yemen’s Houthi movement, which has seized the capital Sanaa, rejected a UN call to cede power on Monday, stoking tensions after

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UN Envoy Says Assad Must Be Part Of “Political Solution” In Syria

This was the first time a UN envoy on Syria explicitly named Assad as part of a peaceful solution after nearly four years of fighting between pro-government fighters and Western-backed rebels seeking the leader’s overthrow.

Al Akhbar
By Al Akhbar
Bashar Assad

Three people were wounded, including one policeman, in an explosion Friday at a police checkpoint near the Syrian border in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, local officials said, the latest in a series of bombings to hit Turkey this year. Meanwhile, the United Nations envoy to Syria said that President Bashar al-Assad remained part of a

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Assad Says Damascus Receives Information On US-led Airstrikes

Washington has ruled out cooperating with Assad’s government against ISIS, and the Syrian leader said Damascus had no interest in joining the coalition.

Al Akhbar
By Al Akhbar
Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad giving an interview to the BBC's Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen in Damascus on February 8. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said third parties including Iraq were conveying information to Damascus about the US-led campaign of airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group in

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