Middle East Experience

A Treasury official told Reuters the move was unrelated to the talks on Iran's nuclear program. The Biden administration also removed some Iranian citizens from the list in June.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: US Treasury Department removes Iranians from designated individuals list

The United States said it would offer up to $4 million for the arrest of a senior al-Qaeda leader who encouraged attacks against the country.The State Department on Thursday announced it would provide the reward in return for information on the further identification or location of Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi.For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Al-Qosi is part of the leadership team that assists the current “emir” of the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).“Since 2015, he has appeared in AQAP recruiting materials and encouraged lone wolf attacks against the United States in online propaganda. He joined AQAP in 2014, but has been active in al-Qaeda for decades and worked directly for Osama bin Laden for many years,” the State Department said in a statement.Al-Qosi was captured in Pakistan in December 2001 before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay, according to the statement.He pleaded guilty in 2010 before a military commission to conspiring with al-Qaeda and providing material support to terrorism. However, he was released and returned to Sudan in 2012 pursuant to a pretrial agreement.The US often offers rewards in exchange for information on the whereabouts of terrorists that can range from $3 million to over $10 million.Read more:US offers up to $10 million reward for information on Hezbollah fundingUS offers $5 million reward for men kidnapped in AfghanistanUS offers up to $3 million reward for arrest of senior ISIS leader
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: US offers up to mln reward for arrest of top al-Qaeda leader

Iran’s sole nuclear power plant is back online following an emergency shutdown two weeks ago, state TV reported Saturday.The report quoted Mostafa Rajabi Mashahdi, spokesperson for the country’s energy ministry, as saying the Bushehr plant “returned to production energy” after the completion of needed maintenance.For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.Mashahdi did not elaborate but last week, Iran’s nuclear department said engineers were working to repair the plant’s broken generator.Authorities earlier this year had warned of Bushehr’s possible closure because of American sanctions barring Iran from procuring equipment for repairs.Bushehr is fueled by uranium produced in Russia, not Iran, and is monitored by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA acknowledged being aware of reports about the plant, but declined to comment.Construction on Bushehr, on the coast of the northern reaches of the Arabian Gulf, began under Iran’s shah in the mid-1970s. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the plant was repeatedly targeted in the Iran-Iraq war. Russia later completed construction of the facility.The 1,000-megwatt plant feeds the grid with enough energy for a tiny part of Iran’s nationwide 64,000-megawatt consumption.Read more:US drops sanctions on three Iranians, says move unrelated to nuclear talksUS ‘beyond fed up’ with Iran-backed Houthis: State DepartmentUS tells UN that weekend airstrikes aimed to deter Iran
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant resumes operations: State media

A bicultural school in Jerusalem has put the political conflict aside and is building a better future for Arab and Jewish students.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Jerusalem bilingual school promotes coexistence

Iran denied on Saturday US accusations that Tehran supported attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria, and condemned US airstrikes on Iranian-backed militants there, state media reported.On Tuesday, the United States told the UN Security Council that it targeted Iran-backed militia in Syria and Iraq with airstrikes to deter the militants and Tehran from conducting or supporting further attacks on US personnel or facilities.For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.But Iran’s UN envoy, Majid Takht Ravanchi, said: “Any claim to attribute to Iran... any attack carried out against American personnel or facilities in Iraq is factually wrong and void of the minimum requirements of authenticity and reliability,” according to the official news agency IRNA.Under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, the 15-member Security Council must immediately be informed of any action that states take in self-defense against armed attack.Washington told the United Nations that the airstrikes hit facilities used by militia blamed for an escalating series of drone and rocket attacks against US forces in Iraq.But Ravanchi said: “The US argument that such attacks were conducted to deter ...Iran and the so-called Iran-backed militia groups from conducting or supporting further attacks..., has no factual or legal ground, as it is founded on mere fabrication as well as arbitrary interpretation of Article 51.”“The attacks by the United States are conducted in flagrant violation of international law,” Ravanchi said in a letter, quoted by IRNA.Read more:Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant resumed operations: State mediaSaudi Arabia intercepts ‘hostile air target’ launched by the Houthis in YemenUS drops sanctions on three Iranians, says move unrelated to nuclear talks
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Iran denies involvement in attacks on US forces in Iraq, Syria

Six children were among eight civilians killed by regime artillery fire on Saturday in Syria’s last major opposition stronghold of Idlib in the country’s northwest, a war monitor said.The shelling on Saturday morning also wounded 16 others in several locations of the Jabal al-Zawiya area in the south of the stronghold, the Syria Observatory for Human Rights said.For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.It killed five members of the same family – a man, his wife and their three children – in the village of Iblin, two children in Balyun village, and another child in Balshun village, it said.In Iblin, an AFP photographer saw the bodies of the family arrive at a health dispensary, wrapped in woolen and cotton blankets.Nurses and others prepared the bodies for burial, cleaning the bloodied corpse of a young boy before swaddling it in gauze, he said.A nurse on site confirmed five members of the same family were killed.Saturday’s death toll is one of the highest since an international ceasefire came into force in March 2020 to protect the extremist-dominated bastion from a regime offensive.But violations of the truce, brokered by regime ally Russia and opposition backer Turkey, are relatively frequent, as government forces maintain pressure on the opposition enclave.In past weeks, Russian warplanes have pounded the southern Idlib region in tandem with artillery shelling by regime forces, according to the monitor.The war in Syria has killed nearly 500,000 people since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of peaceful demonstrations.Read more:Hundreds form human chain to protest against blocking of Syria aidIran denies links to attacks on US forces in Iraq, SyriaTurkey rejects ‘baseless allegations’ made in US report on its use of child soldiers
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Syrian regime shelling kills eight, including six children, in Idlib: Monitor

The Arab Coalition on Saturday said it foiled an imminent attack by the Iran-backed Houthi militia using two booby-trapped boats off the coast of the Hodeidah port in Yemen.The coalition was able to destroy the boats off the coast of the As-Salif village before the Houthis carried out their operation, according to a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.The Iran-backed group continues to threaten maritime navigation and international trade in the southern Red Sea, the Arab Coalition said.The Houthis also continue to violate the Stockholm Agreement by planning hostile attacks from the Hodeidah governorate, which is currently under their control, the statement added.The Stockholm Agreement, which was signed by the internationally-recognized Yemeni government and the Houthis in December 2018, called for the withdrawal of troops on both sides from the major port city of Hodeidah.The move was supposed to allow humanitarian aid to reach Yemenis suffering from famine. However, the Houthis continue fail to uphold their end of the agreement on the pullout.Read more:Saudi Arabia intercepts ‘hostile air target’ launched by the Houthis in YemenYemeni model abducted by Houthis tried to commit suicide in jail: LawyerUS ‘beyond fed up’ with Iran-backed Houthis: State Department
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Arab Coalition foils Houthi attack, destroys booby-trapped boats in the Red Sea

A first-time Moroccan novelist’s writing about wives confronting domestic violence has triumphed in the third Orange Book Award Africa, being hailed by the judges as a “tour de force”..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: Moroccan writer wins top prize with first book

Hamas’ military wing launched its military summer camps less than two months after Israel launched its aggression against the Gaza Strip.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Hamas launches military summer camps for Gaza youth

Dubai has started offering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to 12 to 15-year-olds..
Source: Albawaba
Full Article: UAE: 75,957 Covid vaccine doses administered in 24 hours