Middle East Experience

Tensions between the Palestinians and the Gulf countries escalated after the signing of the Abraham Accords.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Gulf Arabs slam Palestinian terror groups for ‘supporting’ Houthi attacks

New research indicates the 46 mutations found in the COVID-19 Omicron variant have rendered antibodies ineffective, accounting for the high number of re-infections and breakthrough cases.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: High number of Omicron mutations render antibodies ineffective - study

The attack on a prison in northeastern Syria and a separate attack in Iraq were reminders of the Islamic State’s persistent threat and the unfinished business of the war against it..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: ISIS Fighters Attack Syria Prison to Free Fellow Jihadists

The United Arab Emirates has stopped all flying operations by owners, practitioners and enthusiasts of drones, including light sports aircrafts, effective January 22, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Interior.In a statement posted on its Twitter account, the ministry said that this decision was “put in place in coordination with the General Authority for Civial Aviation and in line with the relative guidelines,” adding that the ban encompasses also air and sail sports.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The Ministry of Interior said the decision came after the misuse spotted recently, not limiting “the practice of these sports to the areas identified in the user permits and trespassing into areas where these types of activities are prohibited.”As for entities which have work contracts or commercial or advertising projects that rely on filming using drones, they must “communicate with the permit authorities to take the necessary exceptions and permits to carry out their work.”MOI said disregarding guidelines will be subject to legal liabilities.Read more:Arab League to host extraordinary meeting to discuss Iran-backed Houthi attack on UAEArab Coalition intercepts three drones aimed at Saudi Arabia’s southern regionThree dead, six injured in Abu Dhabi tanker fire; Iran-backed Houthis claim attack
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: UAE stops all private drone activities, light sports aircrafts

Lebanese officials will start talks with the International Monetary Fund on Monday, an official government source told Reuters.An IMF spokesperson also told Reuters on Saturday that a team will start virtual talks with Lebanese authorities next week.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The Lebanese government has said it hopes to reach an initial agreement with the fund for financial support between January and February. Lebanon is in the grip of an unprecedented financial crisis and an IMF deal is widely seen as the only way for it to secure aid.The fund said in December it was assessing a $69 billion figure announced by Lebanese officials for losses in the country’s financial sector.Disagreements in Lebanon over the size of the losses and how they should be distributed torpedoed IMF talks in 2020. The central bank, banks and political elite rejected figures set out in a government plan that was endorsed by the IMF at the time.Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in September that the financial recovery plan to be drawn up by his cabinet will include a fair distribution of losses suffered by the financial system, but the cabinet hasn’t convened since October.It will convene again on Monday to discuss the 2022 budget, but no clear details have been released about the recovery plan.The Lebanese financial system collapsed in 2019 because of decades of corruption and waste in the state and the unsustainable way it was financed. The trigger was slowing inflows of hard currency into the banking system, which lent heavily to the government.Several reforms the IMF would likely seek, including cutting subsidies and unifying the numerous exchange rates in Lebanon’s chaotic cash economy, are already becoming realities as hard currency dries up, political sources say.Read more:Lebanon’s PM Mikati to meet Kuwait’s foreign minister al-Sabah in BeirutLebanon draft budget applies range of FX rates: Official sourceLebanon judges to visit Paris over central bank chief probe
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Lebanon to start virtual talks with IMF on Jan. 24

Settler violence is a phenomenon that needs to be rooted out from its core. Saying so doesn’t dirty the names of the rest of the residents of Jewish communities in the West Bank.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Government ministers must condemn extremist settler violence - editorial

A British national held in Iran for four-and-a-half-years on spying charges vehemently denied by supporters is beginning a hunger strike to protest his situation and lack of pressure to secure his release, his family announced on Saturday.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Anoosheh Ashoori, 67, who holds British and Iranian passports, is one of over a dozen foreign nationals detained in Iran who activists argue are held as hostages in a bid to extract concessions from the West.He was arrested during a visit to Iran in August 2017 and then jailed for 10 years on charges of spying, an accusation rubbished by his family.Ashoori will begin the hunger strike on Sunday in Tehran’s Evin prison where he is held, his daughter Elika Ashoori announced in a video shared on social media channels.“Needless to say we are extremely concerned for his physical health as he approaches his 68th birthday,” she said.But she said her father would begin the hunger strike “in the hope of bringing global attention to the plight of these individuals held by Iran”.He was taking the action having failed to see “any progress” in British efforts to bring about his release and “no sign the welfare of hostages held by Iran is a priority of the US, European and UK governments”, she said.Ashoori is going on hunger strike after a similar move in December by Frenchman Benjamin Briere who has been jailed in Iran for over a year-and-a-half on spying charges.Briere, 36, who was arrested in May 2020 while travelling, went on trial on Thursday severely weakened by the hunger strike, his lawyers said. A verdict in his case is expected in the coming days.Campaigners and families of those held fear the issue of detainees is being forgotten by the West as powers seek to negotiate a revival of the 2015 deal on the Iranian nuclear programme in Vienna.Elika Ashoori said her father’s action was in “full solidarity” with a hunger strike begun in Vienna by Barry Rosen, a former US diplomat and veteran of the 444 day hostage siege of the US embassy in Tehran from 1979-1981.Rosen, 77, who is on day four of his hunger strike, has said he started the strike to demand the release of all the foreign “hostages”, insisting “they are human beings, not bargaining chips”.He has since been joined in Vienna on the hunger strike by Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese national and US resident who was held in Iran on spying charges from 2015-2019.Read more: Iran needs to stop interfering in Arab affairs: Jordan’s FMIran says decision time for US in nuclear talksIran detects new ‘realism’ from west in nuclear talks
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: British national jailed in Iran begins hunger strike: Family

South Korea has used $18 million of frozen Iranian assets to pay Tehran’s dues to the UN, Seoul said Sunday, in a move to immediately restore the country’s voting rights.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The payment was made Friday in cooperation with the United States and the UN after Iran made an “emergency request” asking South Korea to pay the dues, Seoul’s finance ministry said in a statement.Iran has more than $7 billion in funds for oil shipments frozen at two South Korean banks due to US sanctions.“Iran’s voting right at the UN General Assembly is expected to be immediately restored with the payment,” the ministry said.Tehran’s mission to the UN told AFP the payment had been “completed”.The Islamic republic was South Korea’s third-largest Middle Eastern trade partner before the United States unilaterally withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and reimposed crippling sanctions.The UN cited unpaid dues when it suspended Iran’s voting rights at the General Assembly earlier this month.Under the UN charter, a member country’s right to vote is suspended when its arrears equal or exceed the dues it should have paid over the preceding two years.Iran also lost its vote over unpaid dues last year. It said it could not pay even the minimum amount because of US economic sanctions.After months of negotiations it was granted an exemption -- it was allowed to access money blocked by the US Treasury -- and got back its vote in June in time for the election of new members of the Security Council.Read more:British national jailed in Iran begins hunger strike: FamilyIran says decision time for US in nuclear talksIran needs to stop interfering in Arab affairs: Jordan’s FM
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: South Korea pays Iran’s UN dues with frozen assets

At least 120 people have been killed in ongoing battles between US-backed Kurdish forces and ISIS fighters after an attack on a Syrian prison, a war monitor said Sunday, as clashes entered a fourth day.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“At least 77 IS members and 39 Kurdish fighters, including internal security forces, prison guards and counter-terrorism forces have been killed” in violence inside and outside the Kurdish-run Ghwayran jail in Hasakeh city since the start of the attack on Thursday, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.At least seven civilians have also been killed in the fighting, according to the monitor.Read more: More than 70 dead in fighting after Syria jail attack: MonitorKurdish forces kill 16 ISIS members in Syria prison clashes: MonitorISIS attacks Syria prison, freeing militants: Monitor
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: ISIS-Kurds battle after Syria prison attack kills over 120 in four days: Monitor

The US navy said Sunday it had stopped a ship carrying 40 tons of a fertilizer that can be used to make explosives as it travelled from Iran along a route previously used to smuggle weapons to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The navy said it boarded and searched the ship - which last year was caught carrying thousands of weapons - and handed the vessel to Yemen’s coast guard, after intercepting it in international waters in the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday.A US guided-missile destroyer and patrol ship “interdicted the stateless vessel transiting from Iran... along a route historically used to traffic weapons to the Houthis in Yemen,” the Bahrain-based US 5th Fleet said.“US forces discovered 40 tons (36,300 kilos) of urea fertilizer, a chemical compound with agricultural applications that is also known to be used as an explosive precursor,” it added.The seizure comes at a time of high tensions in the region after a deadly drone-and-missile attack on Abu Dhabi by the Houthis prompted the Arab Coalition to launch air strikes on Yemen this week.The same “stateless fishing vessel” was found to be carrying thousands of AK47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launches and other weapons when it was stopped last February, the US Navy said.The coalition and its allies, including the US, regularly accuse Iran of providing military support to the Houthis, claims that Tehran denies.Read more: Three dead, six injured in Abu Dhabi tanker fire; Iran-backed Houthis claim attackHouthi militia hijacks UAE-flagged cargo ship carrying medical supplies: ReportHouthi piracy of ships off Yemen coast was planned by Iran's IRGC: Arab Coalition
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: US Navy stops ship carrying ‘explosive precursor’ from Iran on Yemen route