Mideast

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Yemen-Launched Missile Hits US-Owned Cargo Ship

Houthis are suspected as tensions escalate in the Red Sea

(Newser) - A missile fired from Yemen struck a US-owned ship just off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, less than a day after Yemen's Houthi rebels fired an anti-ship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea, officials said. Suspicion immediately fell on the Iranian-backed...

Fears of Mideast War Grow as Israel Hits Hezbollah Again

In wake of commander Wissam al-Tawil's death in Lebanon, renewed worries about entire region

(Newser) - An Israeli airstrike killed an elite Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon on Monday, the latest in an escalating exchange of strikes along the border that have raised fears of another Mideast war, even as the fighting in Gaza exacts a mounting toll on civilians. The strike on an SUV killed...

Biden Wraps Up Mideast Trip With a Promise

'We will not walk away and leave a vacuum,' he told Arab leaders summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

(Newser) - President Biden, speaking at a summit of Arab leaders, said Saturday that the United States "will not walk away" from the Middle East as he tries to ensure stability in a volatile part of the world and boost the global flow of oil to reverse rising gas prices. His...

Pompeo: Saudi Oil Attack an 'Act of War' by Iran

As Trump hits Iran with new sanctions

(Newser) - President Trump may have hedged on officially naming Iran as the party responsible for the weekend attack on Saudi oil facilities, but he lowered the financial kibosh on Tehran on Wednesday morning, Bloomberg reports. "I have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase Sanctions on the...

Pompeo: Obama Made a Mess of the Mideast

Says policies led to rise of ISIS, problems with Iran

(Newser) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a scathing rebuke of the Obama administration's Mideast policies Thursday, denouncing the former president for "misguided" and "wishful" thinking that diminished America's role in the region, harmed its longtime friends, and emboldened its main foe: Iran. In a speech to...

This Exists: Mustache Surgery
 This Exists: Mustache Surgery 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Dec 2, 2012 7:00 PM CST

This Exists: Mustache Surgery

And it's increasingly popular among Mideast men

(Newser) - As Movember has proved , not all mustaches are the bushy stuff of legend. That's apparently a bit of a problem in the Middle East, where the facial hair signifies both wisdom and virility, and it's leading more and more men to undergo mustache surgery. Seriously. CNN reports that...

Troops' A/C Costs $20.2B— More Than NASA

Military spends $20B to cool tents in the Mideast

(Newser) - Which would you rather have: a space program or cool army tents in the Mideast? The US military spends $20.2 billion annually on air conditioning for tents in Iraq and Afghanistan—an amount that NPR notes tops NASA's entire budget, all damages BP has paid for the Gulf...

Benjamin Netanyahu Rejects Idea of 1967 Borders in Meeting With Obama
 Netanyahu Doesn't Budge 
May 20, 2011 3:32 PM CDT

Netanyahu Doesn't Budge

He rejects Obama's backing of 1967 borders in talks

(Newser) - President Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu said reassuring things about US-Israeli relations today, but Netanyahu's list of deal-breakers made clear the two leaders remain far apart on the elements of a peace deal with Palestinians, reports the New York Times . Notably, Netanyahu rejected Obama's suggestion of a return to...

Charles Krauthammer: President Obama Adopts the Bush Doctrine for His Own
Obama Doctrine? He Just Borrowed Bush's
charles krauthammer
May 20, 2011 12:40 PM CDT

Obama Doctrine? He Just Borrowed Bush's

His Mideast plan is the same as his predecessor's: Charles Krauthammer

(Newser) - Analysts keep looking to define an Obama Doctrine, but after listening to the president's Mideast speech yesterday , Charles Krauthammer thinks it's easy: The Obama Doctrine is the Bush Doctrine, Krauthammer writes in the Washington Post . Bush "made the spread of democracy the key US objective in the...

Hamas, Fatah Strike Deal on Palestinian Government

But Israel may not deal with Hamas

(Newser) - Palestinians have reached initial agreement on reuniting their rival governments in the West Bank and Gaza, a step that would remove a main obstacle in the way of peace efforts with Israel. Fatah and Hamas officials said the plan, brokered by Egypt, calls for the formation of a single caretaker...

Bus Explodes in Jerusalem, Initial Reports Say at Least 25 Injured
 Jerusalem Blast 
 Kills 1, Injures 24 
UPDATED
Mar 23, 2011 12:15 PM CDT

Jerusalem Blast Kills 1, Injures 24

Bomb blows out windows of 2 buses

(Newser) - Today's bombing in Jerusalem has killed one woman and injured at least 24 other people, the AP reports. Police blamed Palestinian militants. The explosion happened near the main entrance to the city about 3pm local time and blew out the windows on two crowded buses. The lone fatality so far...

Syria Still Unscathed —but True Test Awaits

David Ignatius: If Assad delays reforms, he could suffer Mubarak's fate

(Newser) - Syria has reason to be worried about the Arab revolution sweeping its neighbors, writes David Ignatius in the Washington Post . After all, it "has an authoritarian regime dominated by a corrupt Baath Party—a relic of the age of dictators that is being swept away in so many other...

As Mideast Seethes, Saudis Stand Alone

Kingdom feels encircled by enemies around the region

(Newser) - Popular unrest roiling the Middle East is is rocking the ultra-rich, ultra-conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia, leaving its rulers feeling isolated both from regional allies and the United States alike, reports the New York Times . King Abdullah has called President Obama at least twice to voice his concerns about Egypt,...

Abbas Challenges Obama to 'Impose' Peace

Palestinian leader gives blunt message to US

(Newser) - Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called on President Obama to "impose" a Mideast peace deal, reflecting growing frustration with what Palestinians see as Washington's failure to wrangle concessions out of Israel's hardline government. In an unusually blunt appeal, Abbas said that if Obama believes Palestinian statehood is a vital US...

Saudis to Behead TV Host as 'Sorcerer'

TV talk-show host boasted of predicting future

(Newser) - A Lebanese TV host who boasted he could predict the future is to be beheaded tomorrow in Saudi Arabia for "sorcery." Dad of two Ali Hussain Sibat hosted a popular call-in TV program in Beirut in which he doled out advice and predicted the future. He was busted...

In Jordan, Pope Decries 'Manipulation' of Religion

(Newser) - The top religious adviser to Jordan's king thanked Pope Benedict XVI today for his expression of "regret" after a 2006 speech that many Muslims deemed insulting to Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Benedict told the audience of religious leaders and officials at an Amman mosque that the history of the two...

UN Calls for Ceasefire in Gaza; US Abstains

(Newser) - The UN Security Council tonight passed a resolution—with the US abstaining—calling for "an immediate and durable" cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, the BBC reports. The vote was 14-0. It's unclear how much of an effect it will have on the ground, and Israel appeared to be resuming...

Gaza Fighting Rages On; Talks Set for Tomorrow

(Newser) - Israel continues to press its assault and Hamas continues to fire its rockets, but a sliver of hope emerged tonight toward an end to the Gaza hostilities, MSNBC reports. Representatives from Israel, Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority will meet—probably separately—with Egyptian officials in Cairo tomorrow to discuss a...

Israel Weighs Truce Proposal
 Israel Weighs Truce Proposal 
Jan 6, 2009 8:37 PM CST

Israel Weighs Truce Proposal

(Newser) - Israel and Hamas are considering a new truce proposal floated by Egypt and France, Reuters reports. Few details emerged, but the US supports the plan, as does Europe. The development comes on the deadliest day yet of the conflict, after an Israeli missile struck a UN school and killed at...

Al-Qaeda No. 2: Gaza Raid Is 'Gift From Obama'

Zawahiri mocks him as a potential 'savior'

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader called the Israeli invasion of Gaza a "gift from Obama" and urged Muslims to take revenge against Israel, CNN reports. In an audio message posted on extremist websites, Ayman al-Zawahiri said that Barack Obama was portrayed as "the savior who will come and change...

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