Middle East

ANALYSIS: Yemen’s king of snakes is dead, and only the snakes remain

On the outskirts of Sanaa, Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh was stopped at a checkpoint by his recently renounced Houthi allies, who reportedly dragged the 75-year-old Saleh from his car and shot him in the back of the head. Less than a week before, the two parties were in a

Middle East

Yemen’s Hadi orders advance on Sanaa after predecessor killed

Yemen's exiled president ordered troops to advance on Sanaa hours after his predecessor was killed by Houthi rebels, officials said, as heavy fighting continued in the capital. President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi called on Yemenis to unite against the Houthi rebels who shot Ali Abdullah Saleh dead as he fled the city following the collapse of their

Middle East

US Supreme Court allows Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’

The US Supreme Court ruled on Monday to allow President Donald Trump’s travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries to go in full effect. The open-ended ban, announced in September, targets people from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea, as well as certain government officials from Venezuela. Last month, it was blocked by a federal judge in

Middle East

‘Reasonable basis’ to believe UK soldiers committed war crimes in Iraq: ICC

File photo of Iraqi soldiers training with British soldiers inside UK base on the outskirts of Basra, 15 February 2006 (AFP) The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said on Monday that there is a "reasonable basis" to believe that some British soldiers committed war crimes after the US-led invasion of Iraq. The disclosure came in a 74-page

Middle East

Israel strikes Syrian military base west of Damascus: State media

Israel fired missiles at a military site in the Damascus countryside late on Monday, and Syrian defence systems shot down three of the projectiles, Syrian state news agency SANA said. Sounds of explosions were heard from the village of Jamraya, west of Damascus, and smoke was seen rising from the area, witnesses told Reuters. The UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory

Middle East

HR McMaster: ‘I’m not sure’ if Trump will move embassy in Israel

"I'm not sure what decision he'll make. We've given him options," McMaster said. When asked by "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace about Trump's decision-making process, McMaster said the President's advisers have discussed a number of options, and that each of these options will allow the United States to take action concerning Jerusalem in a

Middle East

Gaza’s isolation takes a toll on medical patients

Their mother, Ra'eda, looks on at her two children, neither of them old enough to really understand the daily struggles of Gaza."Life in Gaza is full of pain on all levels, economically, socially and on all levels," Ra'eda said. "It's very difficult."We first met the Al Dan family at the end of July 2014 on the day baby Feras was born. He is known to his

Middle East

Ali Abdullah Saleh reported killed as fighting rages in Yemeni capital

The former president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was reportedly killed on Monday, as his loyalists and former allies the Houthis fought intense battles around the capital Sanaa. Graphic video shared on social media showed the body of a man, with a strikingly similar appearance to Saleh, being carried in the back of a pick-up vehicle. The man had suffered a large head

Middle East

UK suspends aid to Syria over fears of money going to ‘extremists’

The UK government has suspended aid to a Syrian opposition policing project after a BBC investigation found that money ended up in the hands of a controversial militant group. An aid group involved in the project denies the claims. In a programme scheduled to air on Monday, BBC's Panorama will report that money sent through the UK-based Adam Smith International to

Middle East

The worst ever deal? Trump declaring Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

Palestinians had hoped that 2017, the year that marked the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, 70 years since the Nakba and 50 years since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, would bring them an apology from the UK for Balfour and recognition by the world that the injustice which they have suffered for so long should come to an end