Middle East Experience

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman received a phone call on Friday from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, according to the official Saudi Press Agency SPA.During the phone call, they discussed the bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to develop them on various fields.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.They also discussed a number of issues of common interest.Read more:Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince discusses stronger partnership with JapanUS condemns Iran-backed Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia’s Abha airportBiden talks US support for Saudi Arabia, energy supplies in call with King Salman
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, British PM discuss bilateral relations

The horror that faced Yazidi boys as young as seven who were forced to train and fight as Islamic State (ISIS) soldiers is driven home in a short film in which two victims recall their experiences..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Amnesty puts out short film on enslaved Yazidi ISIS child soldiers

The lifting of ban on four newspapers that had been barred from publishing since 2016 and 2017 for exposing alleged corruption and human rights violations is a positive step, but the Tanzanian authorities must do more to guarantee media freedom going forward, Amnesty International said today..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Tanzania: Victory for media freedom as ban on four newspapers lifted

Gas exploration plan for the fiscal year 2022/2023 is expected to add 450 million cubic feet to gas production per day..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Egypt gas exports to reach 7.5 million tonnes by end of 2022/2023

The ground in the Middle East is shifting yet again..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Embattled Erdogan Signals Turkish-Israeli Thaw

The chill of a Cold War hung over Eastern Europe again Friday, with Russian military maneuvers and drills close to Ukraine and the US escalating its dire warnings about a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying it could take place within days.Diplomats and government leaders, meanwhile, struggled ever more to jumpstart moribund talks to stave off full-out war.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Here's a look at what is happening where and why:Stark warnings from the White House The White House said it still didn’t know if Russian President Vladimir Putin had made a decision to invade, but it said Putin has assembled all the elements to do so quickly.The United States is set to evacuate its embassy in Kyiv and has told Americans in Ukraine to leave within the next 48 hours.Many analysts have believed that any invasion was unlikely to start until after the Winter Olympics in China end on February 20.The heightened US rhetoric followed new intelligence that showed another increase in Russian troops near the Ukrainian border.“We can’t pinpoint the day at this point, and we can’t pinpoint the hour, but that is a very, very distinct possibility,” President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.The US picked up intelligence that Russia is looking at Wednesday as a target date, according to a US official familiar with the findings. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and did so only on condition of anonymity, would not say how definitive the intelligence was.US officials said late Friday that the State Department planned to announce early Saturday that virtually American staff at the Kyiv embassy will be required to leave.A small number of officials may remain in Kyiv but the vast majority of the almost 200 Americans at the embassy will be sent out or relocated to Ukraine’s far west. The State Department would not comment.Those officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.In a demonstration of American commitment to NATO allies, the Pentagon is sending 3,000 more combat troops to Poland to join 1,700 already assembling there, a senior US defense official said Friday. The official provided the information under ground rules set by the Pentagon.The White House said Biden and Putin will discuss the crisis by phone on Saturday.Several NATO allies, including Britain, Norway and Denmark, are also asking their citizens to leave Ukraine.Prepping and posturing In Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta, the rumble of U.S. heavy military materiel was breaking the dawn quiet, signs that reinforcements and 1,000 more troops were coming into an airbase there.It was yet another indication that hardware was being beefed up around the strategic Black Sea where Russia, Ukraine and three NATO allies have bases.“From here in the Black Sea region, all the way to the Baltic, allies are stepping up to reinforce NATO’s presence at this critical time,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said from Constanta.Romania's neighbor Bulgaria will also welcome Spanish jets to increase the potent presence of the alliance.In Black Sea waters, warships of Russia's Baltic and Northern fleets arrived in Sevastopol Bay on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. The ships join several similar vessels that are part of Russia's Black Sea fleet, augmenting its amphibious landing capability.Moscow has announced sweeping drills in the Black and Azov Seas in the coming days and closed large areas for commercial shipping, drawing a strong protest from Ukraine.Off Ukraine's northern border, Russia and its ally Belarus are starting 10 days of war games, involving massive drills with live ammunition.“There is a risk for a full-fledged invasion,” warned Stoltenberg, but he added other threats were lurking too, “including attempts to topple the government in Kyiv.”Tanks Trump talks for now Despite the flurry of flights crisscrossing Europe to bring leaders together around the tables of diplomacy over the past weeks, the results have been far less spectacular as both sides continue to wait to see who will blink first over the issue.The only slightly positive news Friday seemed to come out of Moscow, where British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said he had had a “constructive, frank” discussion with Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu.“I heard clearly from the Russian government that they had no intention of invading Ukraine,” Wallace told reporters in Moscow. He added: “We will judge that statement on the evidence.”Talks in Berlin between Ukraine and Russia, joined by France and Germany, at first held hope for some progress as they lasted into Friday morning, but at the end, nothing palpable emerged.“Unfortunately, almost nine hours of talks have ended without any significant results,” Russian deputy chief of staff Dmitry Kozak said. It remained unclear when and how the next attempt at a breakthrough would be made.A 2015 peace deal brokered by France and Germany in a similar so-called Normandy format helped halt large-scale battles in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed rebels, but regular skirmishes have continued.The Kremlin has accused Kyiv of sabotaging the agreement, and Ukrainian officials argued in recent weeks that implementing it would hurt their country.Across the world in Melbourne, Australia, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was downbeat.“We’ve made every possible effort to engage Russia, to look at the concerns that it’s raised, to share concerns that we have, that European partners and allies have,” he said. But the gap with Moscow remains yawning.“Simply put, we continue to see very troubling signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the Ukrainian border. And as we said before, we’re in a window when an invasion could begin at any time,” Blinken said.Later Friday, Biden spoke to a number of European leaders to underscore the concerns raised by US intelligence about the potential imminence of a Russian invasion. Sullivan said Western leaders were completely united and would respond harshly to a Russian invasion with devastating economic and trade sanctions.Read more:US moves F-16 squadron from Germany to Romania as tension spikes over Ukraine‘Nothing new’: Ukraine plays down Biden’s evacuation callBlinken says Russian invasion of Ukraine could come ‘any time’, even during Olympics
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Ukraine-Russia crisis: Everything you need to know so far

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he would speak to Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov Saturday in a last-ditch attempt to head off a possible invasion of Ukraine.“We continue to see very troubling signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving around Ukraine’s borders,” Blinken said in a press conference in Fiji.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“If Russia is genuinely interested in resolving this crisis of its own making through diplomacy and dialogue, we’re prepared to do that,” he said.“But it must take place in the context of de-escalation. So far, we’ve only seen escalation from Moscow,” he said.“This is a pivotal moment. We’re prepared for whatever should happen,” he said.The top US diplomat reiterated that Washington and its allies will “swiftly” impose punishing sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine, which he said could now start “at any time”.“We don’t know whether President Putin has made that decision,” he said.“But we do know that he has put in place the capacity to act on very short notice.”Read more:Ukraine-Russia crisis: Everything you need to know so farNew Zealand urges its citizens in Ukraine to leave immediatelyUS to evacuate Ukraine embassy amid Russian invasion fears
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Blinken to speak to Russia’s Lavrov in ‘last-ditch attempt’ to avoid Ukraine invasion

Saudi Arabia has recorded 1,726 new COVID-19 cases and two virus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the Kingdom’s Ministry of Health.A total of 726,251 COVID-19 cases and 8,971 virus-related deaths have been recorded in Saudi Arabia, as of February 12.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.The critical cases count is 1,020 on Saturday, compared to 1,040 on February 11.In the last 24 hours there were also 2,938 recoveries, bringing the total number of recoveries to 688,519.The Kingdom has administered 59,344,267 vaccine doses to its population of around 35 million, the health ministry said.Authorities in the Kingdom will offer booster vaccine shots to people immediately after recovering from the virus, the health ministry announced last week.The booster shot is available three months after the second dose for those who have not tested positive.The Ministry of Interior also announced last week that citizens traveling outside the country must take a third dose starting from February 9.Exceptions to this rule include those younger than 16 years of age and citizens who have an exempt status on the Tawakkalna application.Booster shots are now required to be considered “immune” in the country’s contact-tracing Tawakkalna app for people over 18 who were vaccinated more than eight months ago.Simultaneously, authorities also passed a law mandating all arrivals into the Kingdom present a negative PCR or antigen test report within 48 hours before departing to and arriving in Saudi Arabia.Read more:Australia, New Zealand COVID-19 vaccine mandate protests gain in numbersChina approves Pfizer’s COVID pill Paxlovid for mild to moderate casesPandemic not over, more variants expected: WHO chief scientist
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Arabia’s daily COVID-19 infections drop below 2,000 as vaccination rates climb

The UAE Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, is requesting citizens to “postpone travel” to the country, according to a social media post shared by the authority on Saturday.The embassy did not officially share a reason behind the request.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Many other countries including Kuwait, the US, UK, Belgium and several other European countries have called on their citizens in Ukraine to leave the country as the Russia-Ukraine tensions escalate.White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters in Washington on Friday that an attack by the more than 100,000 Russian troops currently massed next to Ukraine “could occur any day now” and said Americans in Ukraine “should leave as soon as possible.”Russia, a main player in the escalation, also “optimized” its diplomatic staff numbers in Ukraine, fearing “provocations” by Kyiv or other party, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry said on Saturday.Spokesperson Maria Zakharova did not say whether that meant a reduction in staff numbers but said the embassy and consulates in Ukraine continued to perform their key functions, according to reports.Tensions have been mounting for weeks due to a Russian military buildup and surge of military activity that has fueled fears that Russia could attack Ukraine. Russia denies any such plans.With agenciesRead more:Russian navy launches large-scale drills in Black SeaKuwait urges citizens to leave Ukraine amid escalationUkraine-Russia crisis: Everything you need to know so far
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: UAE embassy in Kyiv requests citizens postpone travel to Ukraine

Mazloum Abdi, who heads the Democratic Forces, warned that ISIS fighters are still very much present in the wake of a deadly attack by the extremists on a Syrian prison last month..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Syrian Kurdish commander says ISIS threat growing despite US raid