Middle East Experience

Several Abu Dhabi-based banks orchestrated attacks on Doha’s economy during the 2017 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) crisis in hopes of damaging its ability to host the 2022 World Cup. Qatar has settled a lawsuit it had filed against Emirates NBD Bank PJSC and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC in November 2020, over claims that both entities ..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Qatar settles 0 million currency manipulation lawsuit against the UAE

A Turkish court on Monday rejected a request to release philanthropist Osman Kavala who has spent more than four years in jail without conviction..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Turkey keeps philanthropist Kavala in jail despite European warning

This is the first official response the filmmaker has made since the accusations of racism and misogyny against him, denying all allegations.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Joss Whedon says Gal Gadot misunderstood him after claims of threatening career

Israel offered “security and intelligence” support to the UAE after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia launched an attack on Abu Dhabi leaving three people dead, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Tuesday in a letter to Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed.“Israel is committed to working closely with you in the ongoing battle against extremist forces in the regions, and we will continue to partner with you to defeat our common enemies,” Bennett wrote.He added: “We stand ready to offer you security and intelligence support in order to help you protect your citizens from similar attacks. I have ordered the Israeli security establishment to provide their counterparts in the UAE with any assistance, should you be interested.”For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi was rocked on Monday when drone attacks led to a fire breaking out and resulted in the explosion of three petroleum tankers, killing three people and wounding six others. There was also another fire that broke out in the area of the new construction site of Abu Dhabi International Airport.Yemen’s Houthi militia claimed responsibility for the attack saying it conducted an operation “deep in the UAE”.UAE’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed vowed that the attack “will not go unpunished,” and the ministry said the country “reserves the right to respond to those terrorist attacks and sinister criminal escalation.”Bennett's letter was released on his Twitter account through which he said: “Israel stands with the UAE. I stand with Mohammed bin Zayed. The world should stand against terror.”Read more:UAE foreign minister says Houthi attack on Abu Dhabi ‘will not go unpunished’Houthis’ ‘terrorist’ tampering with stability will not affect UAE security: GargashHouthis attacked UAE in retaliation for Arab Coalition gains in Yemen: Analysts
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Israel offers security, intelligence support to UAE after Houthi attack on Abu Dhabi

The US Treasury Department has sanctioned three Lebanese men and one company for being linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah.Three men and their Lebanon-based travel company were designated for facilitating and laundering finances to Hezbollah.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“This action comes at a time in which the Lebanese economy faces an unprecedented crisis and Hezbollah, as part of Lebanon’s government, is blocking economic reforms and inhibiting much needed change for the Lebanese people,” a statement from the Treasury Department said.For his part, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said Hezbollah was just like other corrupt actors in Lebanon. “Hezbollah continues to profit from insulated business ventures and backdoor political deals, amassing wealth that the Lebanese people never see,” he said.He added that Tuesday’s move was meant to disrupt businessmen from raising and laundering funds for the group “while the Lebanese people face worsening economic and humanitarian crises.”While the move was welcomed by current and former US officials, a cut in staff has negatively impacted the fight against Hezbollah, one former Treasury Department official said.“Today’s action is important, but the Treasury’s actions against Hezbollah have slowed to a crawl,” former Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea told Al Arabiya English.Citing “Spiderz,” the group of hackers that leaked names and information of people it alleged had accounts with a US-sanctioned financial arm of Hezbollah, Billingslea said the Treasury Department “knows and can do more.”But the cut in staff to “low, single digits” has impaired these efforts, he said.“The Under-Secretary needs to direct OIA and OFAC to reprioritize this mission,” Billingslea said, referring to the Office of Intelligence and Analysis and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Lebanon’s currency has collapsed, and an estimated 80 percent of the population lives in multidimensional poverty, according to the UN.Corruption and sectarianism have marred the country and led it to the current crisis, which Lebanese officials have yet to begin to rectify. The current government has not met in three months due to Hezbollah and its Shia ally, Amal Movement, blocking efforts to convene.Read more: End Hezbollah’s terrorist hegemony, Saudi envoy tells Lebanon’s politicians
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: US Treasury Department sanctions Hezbollah-linked individuals, company

The right approach is to look for signs of Egyptian culture in the Torah, Bar Ilan Prof. Joshua Berman says.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Did the Exodus happen? Israeli scholar tours Egypt to show it did

A security source charged that the violence against Kurdish and Sunni targets “convey the messages of the parties that lost in the elections.”..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: As Iraq Shia rivals jostle for power, violent attacks target Sadr allies

Iraq’s Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia congratulated Yemen’s Houthi militia for its drone attack on the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi which killed three people, the Shia militia’s leader Qais al-Khazali said.The UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi was rocked on Monday when drone attacks led to a fire breaking out and resulted in the explosion of three petroleum tankers, killing three people and wounding six others. There was also another fire that broke out in the area of the new construction site of Abu Dhabi International Airport.Yemen’s Houthi militia claimed responsibility for the attack saying it conducted an operation “deep in the UAE”.UAE’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed vowed that the attack “will not go unpunished,” and the ministry said the country “reserves the right to respond to those terrorist attacks and sinister criminal escalation.”For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“We congratulate the oppressed brothers in Yemen [the Houthis] on the glory and steadfastness. They are defending their country and their people against the unjust aggression of an unjust coalition,” Khazali said, referring to the Arab Coalition – led by Saudi Arabia and of which the UAE is a member – to restore the legitimacy of the internationally recognized government of Yemen.Asaib Ahl al-Haq was designated as a terrorist organization by the US in 2020, and the State Department said it was heavily funded and trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.Iraq’s Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Yemen’s Houthis are both Shia militias supported by Iran.Gulf countries have long accused Tehran of fanning the flames of violence in the Middle East through financial and military support to its network of Shia proxies in the region, specifically in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.Khazali, who is himself designated by the US as a global terrorist, commended what he described as the Houthis’ “tremendous progress in the power of deterrence.”He criticized the UAE for normalizing ties with Israel back in 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords, and alleged that the UAE interfered in Iraq’s internal affairs.“We warn the rulers of the UAE… against the consequences of their continuing interference in internal Iraqi affairs and sowing seeds of strife and division among our honorable people,” he said.Read more:Israel offers security, intelligence support to UAE after Houthi attack on Abu DhabiUAE foreign minister says Houthi attack on Abu Dhabi ‘will not go unpunished’Houthis’ ‘terrorist’ tampering with stability will not affect UAE security: GargashHouthis attacked UAE in retaliation for Arab Coalition gains in Yemen: Analysts
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Iraq’s Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia ‘congratulates’ Houthis on UAE attack

Economy Minister Amin Salam said work on the 2022 budget would be at the top of the agenda when ministers gather next week..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Lebanon cabinet to meet next week after three-month gap

Jessica Meir will join the Artemis mission to the moon.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: Jewish-American astronaut Jessica Meir may be first woman on the Moon