US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner arrived in Israel Wednesday morning, where he met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, marking the beginning of Kushner’s so-called Middle East peace efforts. Kushner, a real estate developer with little experience in international or Middle Eastern diplomacy, was also[…]
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday denounced the isolation of Qatar by neighbouring states as a violation of Islamic values and akin to a “death penalty” imposed in a crisis that has reverberated across the Middle East and beyond. Erdogan’s comments marked the strongest intervention yet by a powerful regional[…]
While Muslim citizens around the world celebrate the holy month of Ramadan, leaders of Muslim majority nations are at loggerheads, in a move that has sent ripple effects across the globe. On Monday Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and the Maldives implemented a diplomatic ban on the state of Qatar;[…]
Donald Trump heads to Saudi Arabia on Friday on his first foreign trip as president to repair relations with the United States’ closest Arab ally, restart the Arab-Israeli peace process and, potentially, reassert the US security role in the region. Going to Saudi Arabia first is a highly symbolic move[…]
US President Trump will encourage Gulf countries to form a Middle East force such as the Atlantic Alliance, during his anticipated visit to Saudi Arabia, a senior administration official said on Wednesday. The official said Trump is not planning to announce the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem on[…]
US authorities are planning to ban passengers traveling on certain US-bound foreign airline flights from carrying into the cabin larger electronic devices in response to an unspecified terrorism threat, US officials told Reuters on Monday. The new rule is expected to be announced as early as Monday by the Department[…]
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told lawmakers last month that Washington should prioritise defeating Islamic State to then focus on “radical” groups, including al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood. The subtle reference lumping of al-Qaeda, the militant organisation behind the 9/11 attacks, with a popular political movement that reaches across[…]
More than 2,000 Saudis are fighting for militant organisations abroad, the Saudi ministry of interior said on Monday. In an interview with pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, interior ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki said 2,093 Saudi militants are fighting with “terrorist organisations” in different conflict zones. Syria is the top destination for[…]
The so-called Arab Spring of 2011 has cost the region’s economies an estimated $614bn of growth because of governmental changes, continuing conflict and falling oil prices, according to a United Nations agency. The figure from the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), equivalent to 6 percent of[…]
Deputy minister of international relations and cooperation Nomaindiya Mfeketo, on Monday ended the first leg of an official visit by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) to three Levant countries; Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Mfeketo explained that though South Africa has relations with the countries, no formal visit[…]
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