BEIRUT The Syrian army and allied forces advanced against rebels in western Syria near Hama city on Sunday, building on recent strategic gains in the area, a military source and a monitoring group said. Government forces captured the town of Halfaya and nearby villages, they said, taking back territory that rebels seized last year from forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. “We gained control of Halfaya and […]
LONDON The leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn said on Sunday he could suspend British involvement in air strikes against Syria if he was elected prime minister at a June 8 election. The veteran peace campaigner, whose Labour Party is around 20 points behind the ruling Conservatives in opinion polls, set out his position on a range of security and foreign policies, saying he […]
BEIRUT An Israeli attack against a military base for the Syrian pro-government National Defence Forces in southern Syria killed three NDF members on Sunday, the NDF militia and a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitoring group, said it remained unclear if the source of the bombardment in Quneitra province was an air strike or shelling. Israel has carried out air […]
Submitted by Jonathan Roth of RiskHedge In an exclusive video interview with RiskHedge, a long-time geopolitical expert says there is an alternate story making the rounds about the United States’ April 7 missile strike on Syria’s Shayrat Airbase in response to the Syrian regime’s alleged use of sarin gas on its own people. “Not all missiles made their target,” says Dr. Theodore Karasik, a senior advisor to […]
Photo A woman laid flowers at a makeshift memorial in front of the Reina nightclub in Istanbul in January. On April 6, United States Special Operations forces carried out a ground raid in Syria that killed Abdurakhmon Uzbeki, an ISIS militant who had helped plot the attack on the nightclub. Credit Ozan Kose/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images WASHINGTON — United States Special Operations forces carried out a […]
TEL AVIV U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Friday that Syria had dispersed its warplanes in recent days and that it retained chemical weapons, an issue he said would have to be taken up diplomatically. The United States launched dozens of missiles earlier this month against a Syrian air base in response to a chemical attack that killed 90 people, including 30 children. It says the […]
A Saudi military helicopter that crashed in Yemen killing 12 Saudi soldiers was likely hit by “friendly fire”, military sources said Wednesday. The soldiers, including four officers, died Tuesday when the helicopter went down in Yemen’s Marib province, the Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting Iran-backed Huthi rebels said in a statement. “As the Saudi helicopter was not identified by the ground operations centre, the air defence system was […]
The defense secretary said Iranian support for the Houthis was destabilizing Yemen, and he talked up the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Relations are enjoying salad days in the Trump administration after years of friction between the Obama administration and the Saudi leadership, which thought Obama officials were too friendly with Iran. Continue reading the main story Mr. Mattis’s two-day visit, the start of […]
JERUSALEM Israel’s military said on Wednesday it believes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces still possess several tonnes of chemical weapons, issuing the assessment two weeks after a chemical attack that killed nearly 90 people in Syria. Israel, along with many countries, blames the strike on Assad’s military. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said French intelligence services would provide proof of that in the coming days. A senior […]
Twelve Saudi soldiers, including four officers, were killed on Tuesday when their helicopter went down in Yemen, the Arab coalition fighting Yemeni rebels said in a statement. The Saudi Black Hawk “fell during operations in the province of Marib” east of Sanaa, the coalition said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency, without clarifying the reason. “The causes of the incident are being investigated,” the […]
WASHINGTON U.S. experts who have been forecasting an imminent North Korean nuclear test said on Tuesday they were surprised when they viewed their latest satellite images of the country’s nuclear test site and saw volleyball games under way. With tension mounting between Pyongyang and Washington, analysts had thought they would see activity suggesting preparations for an underground explosion at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site and were not […]
The near-5 per cent advance in the $20tn benchmark S&P 500 this year has been reliant on the performance of only a few dozen stocks — with gains by the likes of Apple and Facebook accounting for more than 20 per cent of the index’s climb. Ten stocks in the index, including ecommerce behemoth Amazon, Google owner Alphabet as well as the more defensive cigarette maker Philip […]
KHAN SHEIKHUN: A suspected chemical attack killed at least 58 civilians in opposition-held northwestern Syria on Tuesday, a monitor said, prompting global outrage and calls for international action.The attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun also left dozens suffering respiratory problems and symptoms including vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.Hours later, airstrikes hit a hospital in the town […]
BEIRUT Warplanes mounted five air strikes on Wednesday in a rebel-held area of northwestern Syria where dozens of people were killed the day before in a suspected chemical attack, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. The Syrian army could not immediately be reached for comment on the reported air strikes in town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province on Wednesday. An Observatory report did not identify […]
By Phil Stewart | QAYYARA WEST AIRFIELD, Iraq QAYYARA WEST AIRFIELD, Iraq President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, voiced optimism about the long-term U.S. alliance with Iraq’s military and its campaign to retake Mosul from Islamic State on Tuesday, as he visited a base about 10 miles (16 km) from the city. Kushner was on the last day of a two-day trip to Iraq as the guest […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The United States blamed the Syrian government and its patrons, Russia and Iran, on Tuesday for one of the deadliest chemical weapons attacks in years in Syria, one that killed dozens of people in Idlib Province, including children, and sickened scores more. A senior State Department official said the attack appeared to be a war crime and called on Russia and Iran to restrain […]
British Prime Minister Theresa May arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday hoping to tap the oil-rich kingdom’s “immense potential” as she looks to secure post-Brexit investment and trade. May landed at a military airport in the Saudi capital, state news agency SPA said, coming from Jordan. Facing criticism at home and calls to raise rights issues with Saudi leaders, May insisted she had no problem talking about […]
RIYADH British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday she would raise “hard issues” with Saudi Arabia’s leaders during her visit, as critics urged her to pressure Riyadh over its war in Yemen and human rights record. May was expected to explore ways of boosting trade ties with the kingdom during her two-day visit, her second to a Gulf Arab state since Britain decided to leave the […]
BEIRUT A suspected gas attack by Syrian government or Russian jets killed at least 35 people, including nine children, in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, a British-based war monitoring group said. The Syrian army could not immediately be reached for comment. Damascus has repeatedly denied using chemical weapons. The attack caused many people to choke or faint, and some had foam coming out of their […]
BAGHDAD: US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner visited Iraq on Monday with the top US military officer to meet Iraqi leaders and review the fight against Daesh, officials said.The visit comes as Iraqi forces battle to retake Mosul from Daesh with support from US-led air strikes that have recently been criticized for causing civilian deaths in the city’s west.Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs […]
Imagination Technologies lost more than half its market value in a single day this week when the chip designer revealed that Apple, its largest customer, was developing its own version of the graphical processing units in which the UK-based group has specialised. Apple’s initiative to make a GPU, however, should not have come as such as surprise to investors. It follows several months of intensive recruitment by […]
Benjamin J. Rhodes, who was a foreign policy adviser to President Barack Obama, wrote on Twitter: “Kushner in Iraq before the National Security Advisor or Secretary of State. Totally normal.” Continue reading the main story That was not the only way the trip broke with usual government practice: On Sunday evening, as word of Mr. Kushner’s trip began to spread, the White House incorrectly told reporters on […]
Hackers have potentially made off with confidential information about athletes. Image: iStock Russian hackers have compromised the servers of the world governing body for athletics and have likely made off with athletes’ medical data. The attack against the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has been attributed to the APR 28 hacking group – also known as Fancy Bear – and took place in February this year. […]
AMMAN: US-backed Syrian forces repelled a major counter-attack by Daesh militants holding out at the country’s largest dam and in the nearby town of Tabqa, the group and activists said on Sunday.The dam is a key strategic target in the military campaign to isolate and capture the Syrian city of Raqqa, 40 km to the east and Daesh’s biggest urban stronghold.The US-backed group said militants attacked its […]
