Middle East Experience

The US military confirmed Tuesday that it did not give Afghan officials the precise time troops would abandon the strategic Bagram air base for security reasons, even as it left the facility open to looters.According to reports, Afghan military officials, including the general who will run the base in the future, complained that they were not told in advance that US forces would leave in the early hours last Friday.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said senior Afghan political and military officials were told about the exit two days ahead and were given a walk-through of the sprawling base, the center of US and coalition operations against al-Qaeda and the Taliban insurgency for the past two decades.“The exact hour of departure was not divulged for operational security purposes,” Kirby said in a press briefing.“In general we felt it was better to keep that information as closely held as possible,” he added.The US withdrawal must be “safe and orderly,” Kirby said, pointing to the constant threat the Taliban poses to US forces.“I can’t speak to how the Afghans interpreted that decision,” he added, amid questions of whether it showed a fundamental distrust of US partner forces in the country.“It’s not a statement about whether we trust or don’t trust our Afghan partners. It’s a statement of the fact that we have to consider that this drawdown could be contested by the Taliban. And we have to take that into consideration.”“It was a turnover just like the previous six bases were turned over,” he went on.The United States has moved quickly to pull out thousands of service personnel and civilian contractors since President Joe Biden ordered them to leave in April, setting a September deadline.On Tuesday the US Central Command, which oversees Afghan operations, said the pullout was more than 90 percent complete.Read more:Vacated by Americans, Kabul’s Bagram Air Base bustles again as Afghans move inUS withdrawal from Afghanistan is more than 90 pct complete: PentagonAll US, NATO troops left Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base: Official
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Pentagon says did not give details of Bagram troop withdrawal for ‘security purposes’

At least 14 rockets landed on Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base that hosts American and foreign troops, a spokesperson for the United States-led coalition said on Wednesday, adding that two minor injuries have been reported.The base was hit at approximately 12:30 p.m. local time, according to US Army Colonel Wayne Marotto, spokesman for the US-led international military coalition.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.“At approx. 12:30 PM local time, Ain Al-Assad Air Base was attacked by 14 rockets. The rockets landed on the base & perimeter. Force protection defensive measures were activated. At this time initial reports indicate 3 minor injuries. Damage is being assessed,” he tweeted.The spokesman said that two people sustained minor injuries and that damage resulting from the attack was still being assessed.Washington often blames Iran-backed militias for such attacks, which are common, but no official claim of responsiblity has been made yet.The rocket attack comes just hours after a drone hit Erbil airport in northern Iraq with explosives.Kurdish security sources said the attack on Erbil airport was aimed at the US base on the airport grounds.Read more:Explosive-laden drone hit Erbil airport in Iraq, aimed at US base: Security sourcesUS forces shoot down armed drone over Baghdad embassy: Iraqi officialsRockets hit Iraq’s Ain al-Asad base housing US forces, no casualties: US coalition
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Two injured after 14 rockets hit Iraq’s Ain al-Assad air base: US Coalition

The French ambassador rebuked Lebanon’s prime minister for saying the country was under siege and blamed years of “mismanagement and inactivity” by Lebanese leaders for its economic collapse.For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The World Bank has called Lebanon’s crisis one of the worst depressions of modern history. The currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value and more than half of the population has been propelled into poverty.French Ambassador to Lebanon Anne Grillo was speaking on Tuesday in response to a speech by caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who told envoys that a siege had been imposed on the country and warned of imminent social unrest.In a recording of her comments circulated by the French embassy on Wednesday, Grillo blamed Lebanon’s “political class” for the downfall.“But what is frightening Mr Prime Minister, is that today this brutal collapse ... is the deliberate result of mismanagement and inactivity for years,” she said.“It is not the result of an external siege. It is the result of your own responsibilities, all of you, for years, of the political class. This is the reality.”Diab has been serving in a caretaker capacity since resigning in the wake of the catastrophic Aug. 4 Beirut port explosion. Since then, fractious sectarian politicians have been unable to agree on a new government.Donors have long demanded reforms to stamp out state corruption and waste - widely seen as root causes of the crisis.Diab had noted repeated calls for assistance to be linked to reform, but said “the siege imposed” on Lebanon was not affecting the corrupt - an apparent reference to politicians.Lebanese were running out patience and “linking Lebanon’s assistance to the formation of a new government has become a threat to the lives of the Lebanese and to the Lebanese entity”, he said, saying the country was a few days away from a social explosion.Grillo noted that France, with the backing of other powers, had organized two conferences on Lebanon since the Aug. 4 explosion and was working on a third.Though Diab’s government was serving in a caretaker capacity, she said it could take steps including implementing a social safety net with World Bank financing.Read more: Saudi Arabia seizes over 14 mln Captagon amphetamine pills coming from LebanonLebanese security forces foil drug smuggling operation to Saudi ArabiaCrisis control mode: No one outside of Lebanon plans to come to the rescue
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: French envoy slams Lebanon PM for shifting blame on economic collapse

Iraq's Ain al-Asad air base was hit with the second rocket attack in just over 48 hours.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Militias launch spate of attacks on US positions in Iraq

Militia attacks on US bases in Iraq have risen and the government is beginning to treat them as terror groups.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Iraqi government calls militia's attack on US base terrorism

A report from the World Bank, United Nations and European Union found that the 11-day conflict caused between $290 and $380 million in physical damages alone to the Palestinian enclave.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Report raises cost of Gaza's recovery to 5M

Newly inaugurated President Isaac Herzog pledged to work to mend the rifts and divides in Israeli society.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Isaac Herzog sworn in as Israeli president

The recent protests and the effects of the pandemic have emphasized the need to expedite structural economic reforms..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Oman: Will the Protests and Covid-19 Lead to Structural Economic Reform?

While the Kyrgyz government has denied helping Turkish intelligence services kidnap a Turkish-Kyrgyz educator, rights groups say it's unlikely that he could have been taken otherwise.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Kyrgyzstan denies role in Turkey's rendition of Gulen-linked educator

The United Nations called on Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt on Tuesday to recommit to talks on the operation of a giant hydropower dam, urging them to avoid any unilateral action, a day after Ethiopia began filling the dam’s reservoir..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Tunisian UN resolution calls on Ethiopia to cease filling Nile dam reservoir