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by Michel Moutot © Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An estimated 40,000 people traveled from around the world to take up arms for the Islamic State group as it occupied territory in Syria and Iraq and declared a caliphate in 2014. A few hundred are believed to still be fighting as IS struggles to survive, having lost most of its territory to campaigns by Western-backed Syrian and Iraqi coalition armies. But what happened to the […]
by Stuart Williams and Fulya Ozerkan Agence France-Presse ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Islamic leaders on Wednesday urged world powers to recognize occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of the “State of Palestine”, as Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas warned that the United States no longer had a role to play in the peace process. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened an emergency summit of the world’s main pan-Islamic body, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in Istanbul, seeking […]
by Fulya Ozerkan and Ezzedine Said Agence France-Presse ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday chaired an emergency summit of the world’s main pan-Islamic body, seeking to marshal Muslim leaders towards a coordinated response to the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Erdogan, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will be hoping to unite often feuding Muslim leaders into a tough final statement on the […]
by Mike Smith Agence France-Presse JERUSALEM, Undefined – The Middle East saw a fifth day of protests on Monday over US President Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, while further global condemnation followed the deeply controversial move. While tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met EU foreign ministers in Brussels, declaring that the move he has lauded as historic “makes peace possible.” He also said he expected “all or […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia on Monday lifted a decades-long ban on cinemas, part of a series of social reforms by the powerful crown prince that are shaking up the ultra-conservative kingdom. “Commercial cinemas will be allowed to operate in the kingdom as of early 2018, for the first time in more than 35 years,” the culture and information ministry said in a statement, adding that the government will begin licensing cinemas immediately. […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that recognising Jerusalem as his country’s capital “makes peace possible”, after widespread international criticism of the US decision to do so. US President Donald Trump’s announcement last week has been followed by days of protests and clashes in the Palestinian territories, as well as demonstrations across the Islamic world. The EU expressed alarm at the decision, which upends seven decades of US policy on […]
by Mahmoud Saleh © Agence France-Presse BAIJI, Iraq (AFP) — A white rocking horse and a child’s toy car lie abandoned on a dusty lane in the Iraqi city of Baiji, a small sign of the ruin that can be seen all around. Two years after the jihadists of Islamic State group were forced from this one-time industrial hub, Baiji remains a devastated ghost city as pledges of funds to help rebuild life have failed to […]
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will not hold a planned meeting with US Vice President Mike Pence following Washington’s controversial policy shift on Jerusalem, an Abbas aide said on Saturday. “There will be no meeting with the vice president of America in Palestine,” diplomatic adviser Majdi al-Khaldi told AFP. “The United States has crossed all the red lines with the Jerusalem decision,” he added. The White House warned on Thursday that cancelling the […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday announced the end of a three-year war by Iraqi forces to drive the Islamic State jihadist group out of the country. “Our forces are in complete control of the Iraqi-Syrian border and I therefore announce the end of the war against Daesh (IS),” Abadi told a conference in Baghdad. “Our enemy wanted to kill our civilisation, but we have won through our unity and our determination. We […]
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — An Israeli air strike on a Gaza base of Hamas’s military wing killed two people on Saturday, health officials of the territory’s Palestinian Islamist rulers said. The strike on a base in Nusseirat in the central Gaza Strip, one of several in the early hours, came amid protests across the Palestinian territories against US President Donald Trump’s deeply controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The Hamas health […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian president Vladimir Putin is “deeply concerned” by Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, the Kremlin said in a statement Thursday. In a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Putin called for the Palestinians and Israel to “hold back” and renew negotiations. “This kind of measure can block possible paths to peace in the Middle East,” the Kremlin said of US President Trump’s move. […]
by Mike Smith with Andrew Beatty in Washington Agence France-Presse JERUSALEM, Israel (AFP) — President Donald Trump will recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital Wednesday, upending decades of careful US policy and ignoring dire warnings of a historic misstep that could trigger a surge of violence in the Middle East. A senior administration official said Trump would make the announcement — ignoring frantic warnings from US allies in the region and around the world — at […]
