Middle East Experience

Beyond the sporting and entertainment value, there was a feeling that the games this year were about beating coronavirus.
Source: Jerusalem Post
Full Article: My Word: Kicking around the idea of home

Regional health officials now say 60 died, not 92 as initially reported by the state news media..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Iraqi Authorities Revise Down Death Toll in Covid Hospital Fire

Alistair Caton has not seen his family for more than a year due to isolation restraints and his job..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Covid: Travel rules stop bereaved pilot going home

Protesters angry over water shortages marched through streets late Thursday in an oil-rich, restive province in southwestern Iran and police apparently fire weapons to disperse the crowds, online videos showed.It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone had been wounded or arrested in the protests across multiple cities in Khuzestan province, including its capital, Ahvaz. Iranian state media had not reported on the unrest as of early Friday morning.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Videos showed people setting fire to tires, blocking roadways in anger. Anti-riot police in helmets and camouflage fatigues scuffled with demonstrators.Police also fired shotguns in one video, though it wasn’t clear if it was live ammunition or so-called “beanbag rounds” designed to be less lethal.Those in the videos chanted in Arabic, demanding others to join them. The province is home to ethnic Arabs who complain of discrimination by Iran’s Shia theocracy.Arab separatists long have operated in Khuzestan, which Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein tried to seize in his 1980s war with Iran. They’ve blown up oil pipelines in the past and have been blamed for attacks including a 2018 assault on a military parade that killed at least 25 people in Ahvaz.Water worries in the past have sent angry demonstrators into the streets in Iran. The country has faced rolling blackouts for weeks now, in part over what authorities describe as a drought striking the nation. Precipitation had decreased by almost 50 percent in the last year, leaving dams with dwindling water supplies to fuel the countryThe protests in Khuzestan province come as Iran struggles through repeated waves of infections in the coronavirus pandemic and as thousands of workers in its oil industry have launched strikes for better wages and conditions.Iran’s economy also has struggled under US sanctions since then-President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to unilaterally withdraw America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers, crashing the value of the Islamic Republic’s rial currency.Read more:Timeline: Iran’s assassinations and plots to kill dissidents living abroadIranians charged with plot to kidnap Alinejad targeted critics in Canada, UAE, UKFacebook says Iran-based spies targeted defense workers in US, Europe
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Protesters storm streets of Iran over water shortages; police fire at crowds

An international conference to discuss the ongoing crisis in Lebanon and the needs of the Lebanese people will be held on August 4, France’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.The conference will be hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron with the help of the United Nations, according to the government.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The conference, which will be held on the anniversary of the deadly Beirut port explosion, will address ways in which “to respond to the needs of the Lebanese whose situation is deteriorating every day,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.France called on Lebanon to immediately begin parliamentary talks to choose a new prime minister after Saad al-Hariri announced on Thursday that he would be stepping down from his role.Hariri cited “key differences” with President Michel Aoun as the reason behind his decision – a day after he had presented a proposal for a new Cabinet.“It is clear that we will not be able to agree with the president,” Hariri said after a 20-minute meeting with Aoun.“I have excused myself from forming the government. May God help the country.”Following Hariri’s announcement, France’s foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Thursday criticized Lebanon’s political class for failing to form a new government.“My understanding is that acting Prime Minister by interim Hariri ... had proposed a government to President Aoun ... who rejected it. ...it is only logical that the prime minister draws his conclusions, “Le Drian told reporters at the United Nations in New York.Lebanon had already been without a government for nine months, and the prime minister-designate’s announcement is expected to plunge the country into further chaos and uncertainty.The country has been reeling from an economic crisis that the World Bank has described as one of the world’s worst in the 19th century.(With Agencies)Read more:‘May God help the country’: Lebanon’s Hariri steps down after months of deadlockUS blasts Lebanon’s politicians for steering country into abyss‘It’s hell’: Lebanon’s pharmacists, doctors fear more deaths as crisis worsens
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Intl conference on Lebanon’s crisis set for August 4: France

Pilgrims from around Saudi Arabia have begun traveling to the city of Jeddah where tour operators are set to take them to Mecca for the annual Hajj season.Prior to the pandemic, millions of Muslims from around the world would flock to Saudi Arabia to perform the Islamic ritual.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page.The Kingdom limited the Hajj pilgrimage this year to 60,000 people residing in the country as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus.The application for a Hajj permit was limited to those aged 18 to 65 years old, those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, those who do not suffer from chronic diseases, and those who will be performing the rite for the first time.In 2020, only 10,000 Saudi Arabian citizens and residents were allowed to perform the pilgrimage.The Hajj season will begin on July 17 until July 22. The ritual is a rite for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it.Read more:Saudi soldier conducts Kingdom’s first female-led security briefing for Hajj seasonThree held for violating Saudi Arabia’s Hajj season regulationsSaudi Arabia announces Eid al-Adha to begin on July 20
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Ahead of Hajj, pilgrims around Saudi Arabia make their way to Jeddah

The United States is concerned over the deaths of several civilians, including children, in Syria’s northwestern city of Idlib, the US Embassy in Syria said in a tweet on Friday.The embassy called on the Syrian regime to abide by the terms of the ongoing ceasefire.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“We are saddened by reports of more civilian deaths – including reportedly several children – in Idlib yesterday, just 10 days after previous strikes also killed civilians. The ceasefire must be respected,” the embassy tweeted.On Thursday, nine civilians, including three children, were killed by Syrian regime shelling on Idlib, according to the Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.Syrian regime forces have intensified their attacks on the area in recent weeks, despite a ceasefire deal that was brokered by Turkey and Russia in March 2020.Last week, six civilians were killed by shelling on the outskirts of the Fuaa town in Idlib, the war monitor said.The United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, said the latest attacks were “a terrifying sign that violence is coming back” to Syria.Read more:Nine civilians, including children, killed by regime fire on Syria’s Idlib: MonitorUN demands accountability over Syria mass disappearancesUS official says there was an 'indirect fire attack' against troops in eastern Syria
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: US expresses concern over deaths in Syria’s Idlib by regime shelling

Beginning Monday, movement will be restricted from midnight to 5 a.m. and public spaces will operate at limited capacity.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Abu Dhabi returns to partial lockdown against COVID-19 variants

Authorities have arrested multiple people who were involved in the murder of Iraqi journalist Hisham al-Hashemi, Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said on Twitter on Friday.“We promised to capture Husham Alhashimi’s killers. We fulfilled that promise. We have arrested hundreds of criminals - murderers of innocent Iraqis like Ahmed Abdulsamad. We don’t care about media spin: we carry out our duties in the service of our people & in pursuit of justice,” the prime minister tweeted.For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The prime minister did not provide details about the identity of those arrested. However, a retired brigadier general in the Iraqi army told Al Arabiya that one of his killers was a lieutenant in the interior ministry and had confessed to being affiliated with an armed militia.Al-Hashemi, a 47-year-old researcher, journalist, and informal advisor to al-Kadhimi, died on July 6, 2020, after he was shot by three unknown gunmen outside his home in east Baghdad.Following his death, al-Kadhimi had vowed to bring his killers to justice, saying: “We promise the killers that we will go after them so they may be served their just punishment.”Al-Hashemi had reportedly been getting into his car when the gunmen on two motorcycles fired at him from meters away.The journalist was wounded at first and managed to duck behind his car, but the gunmen approached him and shot him four times in the head at close range, investigators told reporters at the time.AFP cited a medical source as saying that al-Hashemi had suffered “a hail of bullet wounds in several body parts.”Secret documents that allegedly belong to the late Iraqi activist may have been the reason he was assassinated, Al Hadath reporter Roula al-Khateeb had said in July 2020.An unnamed source – reportedly a senior government official – told Al Hadath that he had acquired the documents from another individual, who said had received them from al-Hashemi.Al-Hashemi, who publicly supported the popular protests that broke out in Baghdad in October, had told the official that he had a feeling that something was going to happen to him and that he wanted the information to be publicized if it did, al-Khateeb said.The documents, given to Al Hadath by an unnamed source, revealed that members of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) militias have been manning checkpoints alongside Iraqi security forces across Baghdad and using their position to extort money from Sunni citizens.Read more:Iraqi PM vows to bring Hisham al-Hashemi's killers to justiceSecret documents may be reason behind Iraqi activist al-Hashemi’s assassinationLebanese Lokman Slim, Iraqi Hisham al-Hashemi, assassinated in similar circumstances
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Iraqi police arrest several people behind murder of activist Hisham al-Hashemi: PM

Patriotic Union of Kurdistan co-chair Lahur Talabani has been peacefully ousted, and Ankara is clearly happy about the turn of events.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Power struggle in Iraqi Kurdistan on hold as Talabani brothers prevail