Middle East Experience

UN adopts a resolution which should see more accountability for countries who abuse the veto power..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: UN: VETO RESOLUTION IS A VITAL STEP TOWARDS ACCOUNTABILITY

A prosecutor told jurors in an opening statement Monday that a New Jersey software developer was actually a highly trained terrorist scoping out US landmarks for attack from 2000 to 2005.Alexei Saab, 45, of Morristown, New Jersey, had a double identity while he worked for Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization, ready to attack Americans at popular locations if Iran was attacked by the US, said Assistant US Attorney Samuel Adelsberg.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.By day, Saab was a software engineer working for technology companies who fit in enough that he became a US citizen, the prosecutor said.By night, he was “a terrorist and spy” scoping out potential terrorism targets in New York, Boston, Washington, DC, and abroad in France, Turkey and the Czech Republic, Adelsberg said.Saab was arrested in July 2019 after being questioned during 11 sessions over several weeks with FBI agents.Saab’s lawyer, Marlon Kirton, said all the evidence in the case was from Saab himself and could not be considered reliable.And he claimed that Hezbollah had never attacked Americans in the United States.In court documents, investigators said Saab told agents he took photographs of buildings and locations including Quincy Market and the Prudential Center in Boston and the Capitol Building, Congress and the White House in Washington, DC A video of Fenway Park was recovered from one of Saab’s electronic devices.Adelsberg said the targets researched by Saab included Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Terminal, all three New York area airports, the Brooklyn, Triborough and George Washington bridges and the Lincoln and Holland tunnels connecting New Jersey to Manhattan, among other locations.“On paper, he lived a normal life when in reality he was a sleeper agent for Hezbollah,” he said.Besides surveillance activities in the United States, Adelsberg said Saab also operated abroad after joining Hezbollah in 1996.He said Saab tried to kill a man he later understood to be a suspected Israeli spy by pointing a weapon at the individual at close range, but the firearm jammed.Saab is also facing a marriage fraud charge for allegedly marrying a co-conspirator in 2012 under false pretenses. Saab’s lawyer did not contest that charge.Saab has pleaded not guilty to charges including providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy, receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization, unlawful procurement of citizenship to facilitate international terrorism and citizenship application fraud.The most serious charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 25 years in prison, though the charges collectively carry potential penalties of over 100 years in prison.Read more:Israel retaliates after projectile fired from Lebanon: Israeli militaryUS ambassador blasts ‘terrorist’ Hezbollah on anniversary of Beirut bombingSaudi Arabia, Kuwait sending their withdrawn ambassadors back to Lebanon
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Prosecutor: New Jersey man working for Hezbollah eyed US targets for terror attack

Topped by snake crown, Palestinian archaeological authorities identify face with love and warrior goddess worshipped by numerous ancient Semitic cultures
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Farmer unearths face of 4,500 year old statue in Gaza

Survivors accused the military of insulting passengers aboard the ship and then deliberately cracking its hull..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Lebanon asks army to probe deadly migrant boat capsize

Ukraine and Israel are both seen as examples of pro-American and pro-western states that are somehow geographically “out of place.”
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: What unites the pro-Iran lobby with the anti-Ukraine voices? - analysis

Two mines belonging to state-owned JSW have seen fatal accidents over the past week, and Poland's prime minister has said safety standards will be checked.

Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Polish miner found alive in collapse that killed 6 others

Current calls for Israel's destruction as well as antisemitism that never dies show that some attitudes toward the Jews have not changed. What has changed, however, is the Jews themselves. 
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Jewry demographics report: A transformation in small stats - analysis

B’Tselem: "Courts function as a rubber stamp for apartheid regime"

Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Palestinian administrative detainees boycotting courts for four months

Emir’s bet on moral and religious commitment to win over the support of parliament could fall short of achieving its goals..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Kuwait political crisis set to continue despite emir’s appeal for unity

Italy on Monday reopened its embassy in Kyiv, becoming the latest country to return diplomats to the Ukrainian capital after Russian troops withdrew from the region.Italy had moved its diplomats to the western city of Lviv after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.But after Russia withdrew its forces from around the capital and northern Ukraine, ahead of an expected assault on the east of the country, diplomatic missions have been trickling back to the city.Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday that Madrid would reopen its embassy in the “coming days” after staff were relocated to Poland.Turkey has moved its embassy in Ukraine back to Kyiv after relocating it to Chernivtsi near the Romanian border.France announced last week that its embassy would return to Kyiv from the western city of Lviv.Read more:Two captured Britons appear on Russian state TV, ask to be swappedRussia’s Putin has ‘his own war logic’, believes he’s winning: Austria’s ChancellorItaly’s PM Draghi tests positive for COVID-19, scraps Africa trip
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Italy reopens embassy in Ukraine’s Kyiv